Mangala Review

Charming girl Charmee hasn't had a solo release for long now. Ever since Mantra which released in 2007, Charmee doesn't have a hit. She is relegated to item numbers, stage shows and store inaugurals. Perhaps in a desperate attempt to bounce back, Charmee worked again with Osho Tulasiram in a horror thriller 'Mangala' to recreate the magic of 'Mantra'. Here is what we think of Charmee's 'Mangala'.

Story

A witchcraft man(Pradeep Rawat) could go to any extent to earn money for the sake of his son Chinna. He even does witchcraft for rich only to get money for his son. Chinna takes that money and purchases a car for his favourite actress Mangala. He goes to Hyderabad to gift it to her.As he approaches her at her house, she mistakes someother fan's hand on her to be his' and slaps him. He is beaten severely by Mangala's friends. Humiliated, Chinna commits suicide. To avenge his son's death, witchcraft man(Pradeep Rawat) imposes Sakochi devil on Mangala.As she is posessed, she pukes blood, flies out of her dining room, becomes a status and screams on her movie sets. A Baba tries to find out her problem and asks Mangala's friends to plead for aplogy with the witchcraft man. The rest of the story is on whether the man forgives Mangala and how she overcomes the posession of Sakochi devil.

Performances

Charmee is iconic,uncontested and has no equals in South Indian cinema to do such roles.As a victim of witchcraft, she was vulnerable,scary,innocent,witchy and funny. She is as beautiful as ever and performed with ease. She delivers a lot of WoW moments to the audience with her hip moments while dancing,tongue twirling as a girl in captive of a ghost. Pradeep Rawat manages to scare and his action as a witchcrafts man brought in the necessary 'scary' element to the film. The scene where Charmee flies out of her dining table comes so suddenly that it leaves a great impact on the minds of the audience. Uttej,Anand Bharathi,Vijay Sai were decent. Priya as a Sadhvi looks out of place. Overall, the star cast for this horror genre was apt and they gave their best exponents of acting.

Clapworthy moments

Cinematography is clapworthy. The shots are in accordance with the genre of the movie. Shivendra the cinematographer is the maximum star of this film after Charmee. Background score by Viswa suited well.  The yogis and sadhus looked authentic and the make up artiste has done a proper research on their look. Charmee's dance for 'Ice Teesuko' was the highlight of the film.The way she moved her hips was sensuous and aesthetically shot. The interval bang gives the audience goose bumps. Charmee oozes oomph factor even as a vulnerable victim. As she collapses and twirles due to posession of devil, she flaunts her clevage several times unabashedly. The sadhus look real with ash smeared across body and barely any clothes.

Cringe worthy moments

The story is as old as horror films are. It is utterly predictable and cliched. Any regular movie goer can foresee the scenes. Though the background score is impressive, the music makes you cringe. It sounded like someone was talking fast with drums beating at the backdrop. There was no melody or recall value at all.  The comedy scene with a pigmy sized man in the first half didn't have any meaning or relevance to the story. We are still wondering what it was. Let us know if you got that joke. The mantras and witch hymns in this film are overtly funny and take away the seriousness of the horror script. For instance, Charmee is asked to say 'Kilari Kicha Kicha Thu Thu Thu' by a baba who is try to help her. Why comedy with ghost stories? The scenes where Tamil director is belittling Telugu filmstars and movie makers seems forced into the story. Perhaps the director wanted to give a 'Message' and hence inserted it into this horror thriller.  The climax is hopeless and is sure to put you off. Even fairy tales have better logic than such a low key, wierd and senseless climax.  Lord Shiva's water Lingam appearance and a splash of it on Charmee's face bringing her to normalcy is a great fall from the hype generated in the first half. The song in the climax had no meaning and we doubt if there was a choreographer at all while shooting that song.

Verdict

Career best performance by Charmee. Hilariously stupid climax and weak screenplay with a below average impact.

Released on: 2nd March, 2011