Manmadhudu 2 movie review: Nagarjuna, Rakul Preet starrer is a hopelessly bad rom-com

Manmadhudu 2
Director: Rahul Ravindran
Cast: Akkineni Nagarjuna, Rakul Preet Singh, Vennela Kishore, Lakshmi and Rao Ramesh
Rating: 1.5/5

Akkineni Nagarjuna’s Manmadhudu 2 may not have any connection whatsoever with Manmadhudu which released 17 years ago. The makers made it clear that the film is not a sequel and that it’s an official remake of French comedy, I Do. Nevertheless, the Rahul Ravindran directed film takes every single memorable memory of Manmadhudu (which is one of Nagarjuna’s best films) and butchers it with a hopelessly bad and unpleasant tale of a 40-something playboy with serious commitment issues and the IQ of a five-year-old.

Nagarjuna plays Samba Siva Rao aka Sam, who prefers one-night stands over serious relationship because he doesn’t like the idea of getting his heart broken. He lives with his best friend-cum-assistant Kishore, who spends half the time running in the middle of night to buy condoms and passing double-meaning dialogues. Sam is living life king-size but he has one pressing issue. His family which consists of his mother and three sisters want him to get married at any cost and they give him an ultimatum. Sam comes up with a plan and takes the help of Avantika (Rakul Preet Singh) to act as his girlfriend and ditch him on the day of the wedding. But things don’t go as planned and Sam is faced with a life-altering situation.

Nagarjuna and Rakul Preet play characters called Sam and Avantika respectively.

Even though Manmadhudu 2 is not a sequel to Manmadhudu, the lead characters from both the films have so much in common. Both Abhiram (from Manmadhudu) and Sam have their hearts broken and don’t believe in love or marriage. Both live life on their own terms and are selfish in more ways than one can imagine. Come to think of it, Sam in an extension of Abhiram’s character and it’s refreshing to see him play someone with no ethics. He’s full of flaws and isn’t ashamed to flaunt it. But the lousy writing doesn’t really make us root for Sam, in spite of all his flaws. The scenes between Sam and Avantika hardly elicit any reaction from the audience.

Also read: Priyanka Chopra hugs mother-in-law Denise as father-in-law Paul says ‘you just need to stop and take in the moment’. See pics

Another major grouse with Manmadhudu 2 is that it doesn’t know whether it wants to be an adult comedy or a romantic comedy. Initially, it conveniently uses a few double- meaning dialogues to pander to youngsters but quickly draws itself back and wants to appeal to family audiences as well. It also needlessly becomes a drama heavy on family sentiments and it miserably fails, simply because here’s a son who gambles with the sentiments of his own family.

Nagarjuna as Sam is decent and by now he’s gotten used to playing such characters. Rakul is Avantika is terrific but one can’t shake off the hangover from her character De De Pyaar De. The rest of the supporting cast has little to contribute to an otherwise bland film that has absolutely no redeeming moments. Except for a couple of funny one-liners, the film is a disgrace and shouldn’t belong to the world of Manmadhudu.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

First Published: Aug 09, 2019 14:29 IST