Of late, more films are being made for a niche audience. If some are experiments, others merely juggle combinations and numbers to do good business. Meeku Maatrame Cheptha ( MMC) banks on actor Vijay Deverakonda’s image as he turns producer; people are curious about his choice of film. However, once the movie is out, the story decides its screen life.
In MMC , Rakesh (Tarun Bhascker) works in one of those television channels who nobody knows and whose TRP ratings are abysmal. He suffers from an anxiety disorder. He has a childhood buddy Kamu (Abhinav Gomatam) with whom he shares all his secret. Well almost, because there’s one he hasn’t told Kamu yet. A few days away from his wedding, Rakesh is scandalised and petrified that a video of his in a compromising position with a woman has been uploaded and is briskly gaining views. It obviously means greater number of people have seen it either for its content or because the man in the video is recognised as Rakesh by his acquaintances. Kamu embarks on a journey to help Rakesh out of this embarrassing situation. They have to find out who leaked the video online, why they did it and how to remove all the links connected with it.
- Cast: Tarun Bhascker Dhaassyam, Abhinav Gomatam, Vani Bhojan
- Director: Shammeer Sultan
- Music: Sivakumar
The first half of the story is interesting, with its focus on the easy camaraderie that Kamu and Rakesh share and humorous situations like when the former is asked not to reveal his best friend’s secret, it inevitably spreads like a virus. Another notable aspect is the dialogues, natural, innocent, cute and effortless.
The characters make it easy for any adult to identify with. For instance, the opening scene where school friends whose hair has greyed meet those who aren’t yet married, at a playground, to play cricket…only on a promise they’d come if given the batting first. The entire film revolves around Rakesh and Tarun Bhascker,would have us convinced he is truly a man in distress. However, his romantic relationship with Steffi (Vani Bhojan), a doctor, is not well established, and we don’t understand why Steffi wants to marry Rakesh.
The second part moves along expected lines with a blackmailing episode. The fun slowly evaporates and barring a few sparkling, witty dialogues, there is hardly anything that keeps you glued to the seat. Our patience wears out when we see the twist in the finale that is neither thrilling nor surprising.
As a showreel of Tarun Bhascker’s acting chops, it gets a thumbs up, but director Shammeer Sultan fails to sum up the story well. Abhinav Gomatam is funny and his chemistry with Tharun is a treat to watch. While Vani Bhojan and Pavani Gangireddy have hardly anything to do, Avantika Mishra makes her presence felt albeit in a few minutes. Anasuya does well in a strong and impactful role. Music and cinematography are in tandem with the subject. This being Vijay Deverakonda’s maiden production, his song and dance comes up as the credits roll, but does it really add value to the story?
