Manasaare film review

Manasaare is not a film which we can draw a comparison with the earlier movies of Yogaraj Bhat. The movie impresses due to the subtle narration and artistic work from all the departments.

Story:
The movie starts in a bang with the song “Ondu Kanasu” followed by the introduction of main characters like Manohar (Digant), his neighbour girl (Neethu), his friends and his uncle. Manohar is an orphan who is brought up by his paternal uncle (Achyut Kumar). Manohar is a careless boy, tries to make it big, but fails in his efforts.

Manohar is admitted into a mental asylum “Kamanabillu” by way of mistaken identity. Devika (Aindrita Ray) is a patient in the mental asylum who suffers from a mental disorder. How Manohar falls in love with Devika is the rest of the story.

Screenplay:
The first 20 minutes of the movie is entertaining with Manohar exhibiting his talking skills. The first half of the movie comes to a satisfying halt with Manohar eloping with Devika in an ambulance!

The second half of the movie becomes a bit serious. But it is not too serious — this is what is good about the second half. Second half is also nowhere dragging. The screenplay is as smooth as should be. As we move towards the climax, one feels anxious whether the it would be a tragic end. But Bhat gives a perfect end.

Direction:
Yogaraj is good in direction and has extracted the talent of Digant and Aindrita Ray. But there are few things in the movie which could have been improved. The song “onde ninna nota saaku” seems like it was placed in the last moment just as a filler. The climax could have been improvised with better editing.

Music and Lyrics:
Mano Murthy has tried to give a different feel in the music. Especially the song “ello maleyaagide endu” has used the instrument Santoor which sounds fresh and gives a ghazalish type of feel. The song “onde ninna” sounds a bit mediocre. The climax song bit “naanu manasaare” is silent and melodious. The singer Vikas Vasista sounds good, but Lakshmi Nagaraj sounds immatured yet to enter film music! The song “ondu kanasu” by Kunal Ganjawala has a different orchestration with more use of trumpets and raps. Ananya Bhagat suits Neethu.

Jayanth and Yogaraj together have given very good lyrics which the people will remember for long. Ello Maleyaagide Endu, Naa Naguva Modalene and Naanu Manasaare (climax song) have very good lyrics. These are some of the lines worth remembering:

kannali Moodide Hanigavana
kaayisi Nee KaaDidare

nootana bhaavada aagamana
nee biDade nODidare

nina dhyaanadi ninnade tOLinali
heegeye irabahude?
ee dhyaanava kanDare dEvarigoo kOpavu barabahude?

anumaanave illade kanasinali
mellane barabahude?
alemaariya hrudayada DEreyali neenu irabahude?

naanu manasaare
haaLu jagada nanTanu kaLedukonDe

naa naguva modalene
minugutide yaako hosa  muguLunage

naa nudiva modalene
todalutide hrudayavidu oLagoLage

Camera:
Satya Hegde has almost painted every scene. There is no scene where we can draw a comparison to Mungaru Male and Gaalipata. The scene where Aindrita wakes up in the morning (in the ambulance) and opens her eyes to the golden sun is captured so well amidst the silhouette of her face and the glow of her hair. Wish this scene could be shown in a slow motion for making it more effective. The song Naa Naguva Modalene has both silhouette and flash intelligently blended.

But one feels that the scene where Aindrita and Digant walk on Madikeri road could have been captured better. The scenes which express the mental state are simply shown by shaking the camera too much. Such shaking of camera goes over board. The mental state could have been shown in a subtle way without shaking the camera.

Editing:
Editing by Joni Harsha is good. But it could have been improved a bit. It seems that the editing lacks some aesthetics in the song Ello Maleyaagide endu and the scenes showing the mental state. Editing is too good in the song “ondu kanasu”.

Art work:
Art work by Shashidhar Adapa is worth mentioning for the fluttering colourful clothes used on the terrace of the mental asylum towards the climax scene (the scene where Aindrita runs on the terrace). Along with the camera work of Satya Hegde, this scene looks great.

Another example of good art work is the art work done for the song “naa nudiva modalene”. A beautiful dream like set has been erected and the use of flash in this song shows the collective work of Camera Man, Art Director and choreographer.

Performances:
Diganth has improved a lot in his acting. He has tried to create his own impression. Aindrita impresses with her innocent and childish performance. Achyut Kumar has done well. But the person who has played the role of the aunt of Digant has not done up to the mark. The artist who has spoken all over the movie in North Karnataka dialect is the one who registers in the mind of the audience in a subtle way.

Few memorable scenes:

1. The 2 days spent by Digant and Aindrita in their adventure outside the mental asylum is the sequence having some best scenes. Despite the limited time, these scenes make for the most beautiful moments of the movie. When Digant and Aindrita tell in the hospital before getting a shock treatment: “please see to it that the past two days memories are not erased from our memory, because they are the best moments of our life”. Anyone would feel the same.

2. The scene where Digant bids goodbye to the people in the mental asylum.

3. The scene where Digant and his uncle manage to have a glimpse of Aindrita with all the difficulties.

There are many more memorable scenes which I am unable to recall.

Climax:
Climax of the movie is just perfect. In the climax, Digant feels that he is almost mad. And then enters Aindrita. Digant says: “people here feel I am mad, I am useless”. So Aindrita says: “Its ok I don’t have any problem”. And the expression in the face of Digant changes in such a way that we can surely make note of it. Even the background music changes. The people around them changing into people of mental asylum was a good concept. It was a perfect end. What Aindrita says in the end sounds so sweet: “Where are we going? Even I don’t know”.

To conclude, the movie is really good. Not the usual commercial cinema with the usual college / rowdy stuff. The subject of mental asylum has been handled with care with no exaggerations. The film is a valuable package where you get to experience the ART aspect of camera, dialogues, posters, music and poetry portrayed so well. Cinema is truly used as a medium of art in this movie. Without hesitation, I can term this movie as one of the best movies which will make a deep mark on the soil of Karnataka. Just like how a small step of Aindrita makes an impression on the soil in the song Ello Maleyaagide Endu! The movie gives a subtle feeling.

Manasaare is a small pin. It hardly makes sound, you hardly notice it. It silently travels over all your senses and directly pricks at your heart!

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Tags:  Aindrita Ray, Digant, Manasaare, Mano Murthy, Yogaraj Bhat