Maa Nanna Super Hero Review: Utterly Ordinary Tale, Nanna!

BOTTOM LINE
Utterly Ordinary Tale, Nanna!

RATING
2/5

CENSOR
U, 2h 7m

What Is the Film About?

Jani (Sudheer Babu) is picked up from an orphanage by Srinivas (Sayaji Shinde) after his biological father is convicted of a long jail sentence. Srinivas, who initially adores Jani, becomes a grumpy and angry foster father as the kid turns adult due to the circumstances.

How do the situations force Jani to travel with his biological father without knowing who he really is? What is the turn of events that intertwine the lives of these characters and how it ends is the movie’s overall plot.

Performances

Sudheer Babu is sincere, and that’s the first thing that comes to one’s mind when looking at how he goes about his work. However, there is nothing impactful at the same time. Things go on flatly, with a couple of expected emotional moments that don’t particularly shine.

Aarna Vohra is the namesake female lead. She doesn’t have much to do as most of the story revolves around the veteran actors playing the father characters. She appears briefly and is passable in the given space.

Sai Chand and Sayaji Shinde get the major roles along with the hero. The former plays the biological father waiting with unshaken belief and hope of meeting his son one day. The latter plays the foster parent who slowly starts to dislike the son and blames him for all the ill happenings in his life. Both the senior actors do well in what’s given to them.

Sai Chand has a better character arc compared to Sayaji Shinde. He gets many crucial moments in the second half and is okay in them. The sincerity in acting screams from everyone, but the writing lets them down.

Analysis

Abhilash Kankara co-writes and directs the movie. It is basically a coming-of-age drama with a road trip angle thrown in equal measure.

The movie begins on a fairly decent note establishing the central dramatic premise involving a father. However, much time isn’t passed before one starts to get bored. The hero’s introduction and his world establishment are unexciting and boring right from the onset.

Also, it doesn’t take long to understand the problems with Maa Nanna Superhero. The love-hate relationship between the foster parent and his son is where the movie falters. The scenes lack depth and bland execution (courtesy of weak writing) makes things worse.

A scene or two in between shows the potential, but the sheer blandness aided by the predictability makes it hard for one to emotionally invest in the proceedings. The subplot involving the love track just doesn’t work at all. That, it gets a significant time during the first hour adds to the misery.

A little bit of momentum is built during the pre-interval segment once the two tracks involving the real father and the son merge. It leads to an okayish interval. But, the problem again here is the utter predictability it creates in the audience’s mind.

As expected, the second half turns into a road trip movie involving the real father and son pair who are not aware of their relationship yet. The unexpected journey, sprinkled with moments that later turn into memories is the staple of the genre which is religiously followed. However, the ‘moments’ don’t work and the whole stretch feels like a big drag.

Once again, like the first half, little momentum is built during the pre-climax moments when a bit of emotion surfaces as time is running out for the hero. The subsequent events at a hospital look too familiar to a track from an anthology movie that came out more than a decade and a half ago. Despite the familiarity, it is okay and the film later ends on a more unsurprising note.

The lack of surprises, a formulaic narrative with no heartwarming moments or heart-melting drama is ultimately the bane of a movie that promises to be an emotional drama in the first place.

Overall, Maa Nanna Superhero is a coming-of-age drama involving a unique set-up of two fathers, and a son. Unfortunately, the bland execution and content with no organic emotional connection play spoilsport. Try it if you like such dramas, irrespective of the shortcomings. Otherwise, stay away.

Performances by Others Actors

Apart from the three principal leads, the rest appear briefly doing predictable parts which also include the heroine. The director brings some of the actors from his web series Loser like Sashank, for example, and he is fine. However, the characters fail to rise above the template tropes they represent. It applies to everyone appearing in small or bits and pieces roles like Devi Prasad, Raju Sundaram, Vishnu Oi, Venkat and others.

Music and Other Departments?

The songs generally play a big role in narratives like these, unfortunately, none work here and come as speed breakers at times. Jay Krish fails with the music but does a decent job with the background score. It is on predictable lines, but is okay.

The cinematography could have been better conspiring the places the proceedings move. It has that scope, we never get that feel via the visuals. The editing should have been tighter. The writing is the biggest letdown for a story like this.

Highlights?

Basic Plot

Pre-Interval

Ending

Length

Drawbacks?

Zero Emotional Connection

Writing

Predictable Narrative

Weak Execution

Did I Enjoy It?

No

Will You Recommend It?

No

Maa Nanna Super Hero Movie Review by M9