Mahanati Review

There are a very few real stories that are inspiring, touching and has a lot to learn. They are made into movies very rarely and when they are made right, they just stay in the hearts of people forever. Yesteryear actress Savithri, who is called as Mahanati Savithri affectionately for her acting by people. A very few know her story behind the screen and a biopic on her life is made by Swapna Cinema under the direction of Naga Ashwin who earlier made Yevade Subrahmaniam with Nani. This has got a lot of buzz and craze among moviegoers and normal people. The film features Keerthi Suresh as Mahanati Savithri and Dulquer Salman, Samantha Akkineni, Vijay Devarakonda and other in some important roles. Let’s see how it works on us as it is released into theatres today.

Story

Savitri (Keerthi Suresh) is born in Vijayawada and she is brought up by his father’s brother (Rajendra Prasad) whom she calls Nana, so dearly. She learns dance by seeing other kids without any tutor to prove that she can do when poked by his uncle. With this, her uncle start sending her to dramas and finally she ends up being an actress. What happened to her life after she became an actress and how has her life changed?

Cast and Performance

Keerthi Suresh has proved that she is the apt choice for the role of Mahanati Savithri and she has put her heart to live in the role. This movie stays forever as a milestone in her life. Dulquer Salman as Gemini Ganeshan is fantastic. Samantha Akkineni as Madhuravani, a journalist who writes a story on Mahanati is superb and her performance in climax stands out. Vijay Deverakonda as Anthony is perfect. Rajendra Prasad as KV Chowdary, uncle of Savithri is nice. Prakash Raj as Aluri Chakrapani, Krish as KV Reddy, Mohan Babu as SV Ranga Rao are perfect. All other actors did a pretty nice job in their roles.

Writing Department

This movie has no story but it has a life, the life of Mahanati Savithri which is told well with engaging screenplay and well written dialogues.

Technical Departments

Songs composed by Mickey J Meyer are superb and fantastic lyrics by Sirivennela and Ramajogaiah Sastry made them sound even better. Mickey has done fantastic work in creating background score. Cinematography by Dani Sanchez-lopez is a delight. He has created the looks of various times that happen in the movie so authentically with the color palettes he chose. His visual structure is supported very well by art department who created even a small minute detail with so much perfection. Production values of Swapna Cinema is superb.

Highlights

Keerthi Suresh as Savithri
Samantha Akkineni as Madhuravani
Music by Mickey J Meyer
Cinematography by Dani Sanchez-lopez
Art direction
Direction by Naga Ashwin

Minus

Runtime

Verdict

As we all know, Mahanati is the life of Mahanati Savithri who is one of the legends of Telugu Cinema if not Indian cinema. This could be called as one of the very daring attempt by the team and they succeeded in portraying her life as they know. Director Nag Ashwin has done a fantastic work for this movie which is supported by producers Swapna and Priyanka Dutt. He seems to have done a lot of research and it’s not easy to make a biopic as research has to be done for every character so accurately and he has succeeded well in that and also in getting right actors and perfect crew to make his dream come alive. Even though, the movie is engaging, the runtime which is nearly three hours acts as a negative. A better short runtime could have made a lot of difference. To sum up, Mahanati is a well made tribute to Mahanati Savithri.