Maa Inti Baangaram Review

Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s last two films in lead roles were Yashoda (2022) and Shaakuntalam (2023). Though Yashoda did reasonably well, Shaakuntalam ended up being a huge disaster. After the debacle of Shaakuntalam, she took a break and then teamed up with B. V. Nandini Reddy, for ‘Maa Inti Baangaram’, an action comedy thriller film. Since Samantha and Nandini Reddy, earlier delivered a blockbuster, ‘Oh! Baby’, in their combination, the expectations on, Maa Inti Baangaram, instantly increased when the film was announced. The expectations further increased when it was announced that, Raj Nidimoru, a ‘family man’ web series fame and Samantha’s husband, had written the film. After generating enough curiosity among the audience with an interesting teaser and trailer, the makers of the film released the film today in theatres. Did Samantha and Nandini Reddy, deliver a blockbuster yet again in their combination? Did, Raj Nidimoru’s writing help the film? How did, Santhosh Narayanan, score the music for the film? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Anirudh(Dignath Manchale), marries Swarna(Samantha), against the wishes of his family members. After staying away from his family for three years, he and Swarna, pay a visit to his village to attend his sister’s marriage. On their way to the village, a stranger sees Swarna and thinks that she looks like Jhansi(Samantha). Who is Jhansi? Are Swarna and Jhansi, two different people or just one person living two different lives? What is the backstory of Jhansi? Why did the stranger follow her? What is Jhansi’s relationship with an ex-Naxalite leader, Karuna(Gulshan Devaiah)? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Samantha in the role of Jhansi/Swarna did a superb job with her performance. Her subtle expressions during the comedy episodes and her body language during the action episodes were a treat to watch on the screen. Gulshan Devaiah in the role of the antagonist came up with a terrific performance. His role was not well-developed at the writing table but he made sure to leave an impact with his performance. Both Samantha & Gulshan Devaiah, are non-Telugu people but both of them seemed to have put in enough effort into learning the Rayalaseema dialect. Kudos to both the actors for opting for their own dubbing.

Sreemukhi in the role of a textbook reference to a daughter-in-law, made her presence felt and generated good comedy in a few places. The actress(unfortunately, her name is not available on any of the film’s official pages), who did the friend role, did a very good job with her performance. Dignath Manchale, did a decent job with his performance. Gauthami, Sreemukhi, Srinivas Gavireddy, senior actress,Lakshmi, Chaitanya and Anand, made their presence felt and did their roles well.

Technicalities:

Santhosh Narayanan’s background score is one of the major highlights of the film. His score gave the film a very fresh feel it was so nice to see a film where the music director did not opt for a loud score to elevate the proceedings. The chartbuster song ‘Thassadiya’, looked very good on screen. Om Prakash’s cinematography gave the film a very pleasant look. Though the film was made on a controlled budget, Prakash’s visuals provided the film a very slick, stylish and rich look. Editing by Dharmendra Kakarala was good during the first hour but his work would have been a bit better in the second half. Let’s discuss more about the writer and director’s work in detail in the analysis section.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠First Half
2.⁠ ⁠Humour
3.⁠ ⁠Background Score
4.⁠ ⁠Action Sequences

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Routine Second Half
2.⁠ ⁠Lack of Twists & Turns
3.⁠ ⁠Rushed Backstory

Analysis:

When ‘The Family Man’ fame, Raj Nidimoru’s name is associated as a writer, the audience expect certain elements from the film. Intriguing writing with the right amount of thrilling moments at regular intervals along with subtle humour, are two of his trademarks. The first hour of Maa Inti Baangaram has Raj Nidimoru’s trademark written all over it. The ‘cute & innocent’ family drama was blended very well with situation driven subtle and clean comedy, throughout the first hour. Right from the start until the pre-interval, the proceedings unfolded in a very intriguing manner. However, for some reason, the makers’ decision to execute the second half of the film in a very familiar manner without any twists and turns, brought down the overall graph of the film.

At a time when most of the film makers using social media memes and spoofs to generate comedy in the film, the director, Nandini Reddy and her writing team deserve appreciation for coming up with clean and original humour. The situations were created so well in the first half to generate organic humour and it worked very well in favour of the film. The comedy, the curiosity around the backstory of the lead character and Samantha’s performance, worked out very well in keeping the audience entertained and engaged for one hour into the film. It was so nice to see satirical humour on a few of the social practices without getting preachy.

The director succeeded in building up the intriguing factor around the lead character very well in the first half. One of the major highlights of the film are the slickly choreographed action sequences. Samantha’s first confrontation sequence with a man who follows her in the village, the ‘temple visit’ action sequence, the action sequence in the bus and the climax fight, worked out very well. All through the action episodes, we can see the extra effort which Samanth put in to make those episodes look believable. Another good thing about the film is the perfection in using the Rayalaseema dialect. Both Samantha and Gulshan Devaiah, seemed to have put in enough effort to get the dialect right and at no point did their dialect sound artificial.

It is in the second act that the film starts to loss it’s freshness. After executing the film so well for an hour, the backstory of the lead character was revealed in a rushed manner and ended the first half on a very routine note. All through the first half, the suspense was built as if the lead character is on a mission. It is not your fault if you end up thinking the lead character is an undercover agent or a spy, after looking at the suspense they built in the first half. But what we get to see is a routine evil man versus a strong woman.

The decision to execute the entire second half of the film as a tug of war between protagonist and antagonist without any external motive apart from a man’s love or attraction or lust or infatuation towards a woman, worked against the film. This decision left the writing team with no scope to include any twists and turns. Since there is no scope for including any subplots and twists, the writing team and the director banked heavily on the action sequences to pull off the film but it did not work out. When you want to run a majority of the film through a tug of war between two individuals, the least you can do is come up with a strong and detailed backstory but what we get to see is a rushed ten-minute episode to reveal the backstory, right before the interval. Yes, a couple of action sequences in the second half worked out big time and drew loud cheers from the audience in the theatre but the director’s intention to blend the ‘Commercial Hero’ into an action comedy thriller, misfired in the second half.

Overall, Maa Inti Baangaram deserves a watch in theatres with friends and family for its very well-executed first half, clean humour, slick action sequences and Samantha’s performance. It is most likely to work well with the patronage of the family audience. However, the second half of the film did not completely live up to the expectations set by the first half. A bit more care in writing and executing the second half, would have made the film a sure-shot blockbuster.

Bottomline: Everything & Anything For ‘Family’

Rating – 2.75/5