Mahanati Telugu Movie Review

The person in search of the story behind Savitri the legendary actress from this side of the Vidhyas – Madhuravani (Samantha) states: I searched for a story and found history! The film is just the reverse. It makes a story of a history. Biopics here have a credibility crisis – since they invariably end up as eulogies and not a critical analysis of the life and times of the subject. The times are less tolerant. Even an off the cuff remark could invite the wrath of the followers and the heritage inheritors”. The film maker Nag Aswin therefore has a huge task on hand. Kudos for making the attempt and for adding as much credibility to the end product as he could. Does it stand up to the persona? Does it deal with her life – its sweep and consequence, its myriad dimensions and its impact on the world of cinema? The answer at best is a sheepish yes.
What works for the film is the feel and texture of the times – thanks largely to the work done by Gaurav Shah and Naveen Sangli. Apart from the costumes and the jewellery great effort is made to make Keerthi Suresh look like Savitri. This is a huge challenge. The iconic actor had a face that could literally launch a thousand ships. To a generation that perceives beauty and acting as something far more peripheral to recreate the ethereal is not easy and the film maker achieves this.
It is a film makers choice to decide which aspect of the life of the subject impresses him the most and to deal at length with that part of life of the subject. However, if committed to a holistic display and chronicling the times and life, this salute lacks the required stiffness. It talks of the rags to riches to alcoholic poverty, it tells of her romance with Gemini Ganesh (Dulquer Salman – a performance so easy on the eyes!!), her tragic end largely unattended and about how the tripping form the pedestal can happen in the world of the arch lights. The tale is very linear, it is very lack lustre and the script meandering. Robbed of many facts it tells us a few: that she could have played Sowcar – a role that went to Janaki; how she was selected for Maya Bazar; how she directed Chinari Paapallu etc. There are scenes that seem to be an extension of other stories a la Abhimaan and the reported incident of Rekha and Raj Babbar at Marine Drive.
Largely it deals with the fragility of love and success; the transience of happiness, the hidden tears behind the make belief laughter of actors. Oh! Those glass windows, now glass walls, now glass houses- all in quick succession. It tells of a lady seemingly exploited but largely in a life that is a making of hers own. Flops and hits make actors, not their capabilities. Savitri arguably the greatest actress from the South alongside the likes of Meena Kumari and Suchitra Sen, was a story waiting to be told. She too suffered box office rejection and for a cause. Simply meaning that with the audiences there is no absolute. And there lies a tale.
The film obviously rests on the capabilities of Keerthi Suresh to translate the enigmatic Savitri to a living actor. She looks amazingly like her. The compare must stop there. It is a huge call to replicate the talent of the iconic actress. If it were easy we would not have a Mahanati made. We would not have such a large women audience out in the morning braving the sultry summer morning to salute Women Power.
Perhaps in her shortcoming lies the greatness that made Savitri a Mahanathi.

L. Ravichander.