English Manja review: A not-so-bad outing that forgoes the opportunity to be much better

2.5/5

Story:

Manjunath M, aka English Manja, is fascinated with crime and the underworld, right from the time he could remember. When his college education takes him out of his tiny town and brings him in touch with a ganglord and a bunch of low-level gangsters, Manja finds himself in the thick of the gruesome crime world. However, interestingly, he turns out to be quite the natural at the job and soon enough, he finds himself as THE English Manja, a man who has wielded the machete several times and gained notoriety. But when a woman enters the picture, all hell breaks loose and Manja's own friends turn foes. Can he rescue himself from the mess and find redemption? Or does his tryst with violence prove to be catastrophic?

Review:

"As far back I can remember, I always loved gangsters," says English Manja, echoing the sentiments of one of Celluloid's most famous gangsters, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta in Goodfellas). But unlike Hill, Manja has only grown up reading about the underworld and its vibrancy in newspapers, and it isn't till his post-teenage years that he gets his first taste of violence. He is a natural at it, turns out, and thanks to his tall and bulky frame he is selected almost instantaneously to be the next big thing in the crime world. The world is restricted to the Kolar - Kataripalya region but Manja's clout is big enough that his escapades reach beyond the defined perimeter. English Manja, in essence, is the journey of a wide-eyed innocent boy into becoming a dreadful gangster, much like the ones he grew up reading and watching about.

At the outset, this story is starkly similar to those of Om and Aa Dinagalu (the film itself acknowledges this at one point) and here, too, the crux is the aspect of romantic love. English Manja sets himself on a defined path to be a gangster but when love knocks on his heart, he doesn't have any choice but to accept it and pay heed to its demands. He must drop the wielded macchu or longu (machete) and work at a dance bar as a bouncer, drive auto rickshaws and repent his past errors. Manja does all that with great heart but have we ever come across a gangster love story that has ended well?

On paper and as an idea, English Manja works quite well but I must confess that after having watched the trailer, my expectations were extremely low. The film takes on an interesting note when the protagonist, wounded almost to death, recounts his founding story and takes us back in time. Pramod's baritone helps in making things intriguing, even though the execution on the screen in terms of cinematography, performances etc. is quite underwhelming. The flashback approach also helps in creating a non-linear narrative and keeping things fairly engaging and the story, too, moves on without major, unpardonable blips.

But soon enough, we realize the subject in hand needed a lot more skilful director at the helm. The idea of first eulogizing gangsters, and then later dissing them and the concept of bravado & violence (especially in commercial cinema), is enterprising but the tone and the manner with which the story unfolds are terribly loud and over-the-top. Writer-director Arya M. Mahesh finds himself seesawing between tiringly-long monologues and scenes of hero-elevation, giving himself very little space in between to discuss the theme. And as a result, the film is rendered very verbose, long and cliched.

There are a few decent moments on offer as well but they occur sporadically. Just like the film, most scenes, too, work on good ideas but they are not fully fleshed out - the idea of the girl declining a gangster's proposal and instead proposing love to his friend (Manja), the idea of a series of misinterpretations leading to Manja's downfall, or the idea of Manja trying to redeem himself by urging fellow gangsters to quit the world of crime. The performances, barring those of Pramod, lead actress Thejaswini Sharma and a couple of others, are unnecessarily loud and by no means do they help the film.

Verdict:

Pramod is regarded as one of the brighter talents of his generation and evidently so. The actor, following his breakthrough performance in Rathnan Prapancha, went on to land a major role in Prashanth Neel's Salaar and is likely to attract many more exciting opportunities. However, his previous two releases (Bond Ravi and now, English Manja) fail to do complete justice to the promise he carries and one would wish for him to proceed with caution in the future. As far as English Manja, the film definitely boasts a few merits but all-in-all, it comes as a tad disappointing experience. Pramod, along with some of the cast members, is good as the titular character but the execution feels a little too outdated. Do give it a try if you are in the mood for a "mass" movie this weekend.