TODAY'S DEEDS CARVE MORROW'S DESTINY

“When you fall in love, it is temporary madness,” is what someone has pithily, but poignantly said. At times though, love is permanent madness.

"ಮೈನಾ" ('Mynaa') is a 2013 Kannada film inspired apparently by real life incidents. The romantic drama has the theme of love-induced mayhem and murder...or, madness, in other words. The film was a trailblazer at the box office and won a slew of awards too; critical appreciation was heaped on it in no mean measure. As reported the flick is being remade in Hindi.

The male protagonist of the movie, Sathya (Chethan), an orphan, falls in love with a differently-abled girl, Myna (Nithya Menen). He fakes a disability himself to win her heart. The two tie the nuptial knot and settle down to a blissful wedded life together. But then, destiny has different plans.

Enter Dr. Anirudh Desai (Ajay), who under the pretext of curing the disability, takes a few nude snaps of anesthetised Mynaa unethically and blackmails her. Enraged Sathya kills him and dumps the body in a river. So that is when Police Officer BB Ashok Kumar (R Sarath Kumar) begins his investigation. How absconding Sathya is tracked down and arrested is woven into the narrative, which leads to an unexpected climax.

Director Nagashekar, who is the scriptwriter too, has ushered in a whiff of fresh air into the cobwebby world of masala film romance...featuring macho boys with Adonic bodies; powdered Barbie-Doll-like girls; silly, slapstick comedy sequences; and, outlandishly choreographed song and dance scenes of couples in love. He deserves great credit for his soft, sensitive portrayal of romance of a physically-challenged person in flashback, the serpentine turns and twists conjoined with belaboured theatrics...and, a painfully long chase sequence in the screenplay notwithstanding.

Nithya Menen, the female lead, has given an amazing rendition rich in its purity and simplicity; Chethan and R Sarath Kumar are on the money with their performances too. Veteran Anant Nag is immaculate in his itsy-bitsy cameo. Jassie Gift's music has some catchy, if not memorable tunes. Sathya Hegde's camerawork is delightfully good.

I rate this romantic drama generously, if only because of its unusual plot and deft narration: 8.0 on 10!


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