Manmadha Leelai Review: Venkat Prabhu delivers a fun entertaining film

Cast: Ashok Selvan, Samyuktha Hegde, Smruthi Venkat, Riya Suman
Music: Premgi Amaren
Direction: Venkat Prabhu

After a blockbuster ‘Maanaadu’, one would expect Venkat Prabhu to make a film in a bigger canvas with bigger stars, but he decides to give us a quick adult comedy film. Maanaadu released in November, 2021 and we have Manmadha Leelai in April, 2022. And he quirkily adds the tagline ‘A Venkat Prabhu Quickie’. He kicks off the fun from the tagline itself.

The film revolves around two incidents from Satya’s (Ashok Selvan) life which occur 10 years apart, one in 2010 and one in 2020. The writing is brilliant in narrating the two incidents simultaneously and wonderfully mirroring the proceedings. Back in 2010, Satya enters into Poorni’s (Samyuktha Hegde) house whereas in 2020, Leela (Riya Suman) comes to Satya’s house. The scenes keep mirroring each timeline across the film until climax. Yet another great writing from Venkat Prabhu.

His films always have a fun quotient. This film’s genre is comedy and hence its absolute fun. Ashok Selvan is perfect for this role and he scores with his comedy timing. His expressions are accentuated by Premgi’s background music. The background score was quite refreshing. This film also has some unexpected twists that adds to the fun.

But the last big twist did put me into some thinking because it dilutes the characterization of Satya. In both the timelines, Satya is someone who tries to seduce the woman. The characterization is almost similar to Madhu from 1985 Manmadha Leelai. But after the climax, we get the traces of Manmadhan (2006 film). The title’s font is combination of these two films’ titles only, yet the amalgamation of two characterization doesn’t get portrayed well. Nevertheless, the film is entertaining and fun to watch.

Verdict: Venkat Prabhu delivers a fun entertaining film