'Mr. Pregnant', produced by Mic Movies, hits the cinemas this Friday (August 18). In this section, we are going to tell you whether the film is worth a watch.
Story:
Gautham (Syed Sohel) is a renowned tattoo artist who was orphaned as a child. Mahi (Roopa Koduvayur), a good-for-nothing Manic Pixie Dream Girl, falls in love with him. Gautham spurns her repeatedly without giving her any reason. One fine day, he tells her he doesn't want to get married because he doesn't like begetting kids. They get married with the pre-marital consensus that they won't have children.
After marriage, Gautham decides to become pregnant after a bout of emotional encounter with a pregnant lady. What are the social, psychological and physiological consequences of this strange decision? That's what the second half is about.
Performances:
'Lucky Lakshman', 'Organic Mama Hybrid Alludu' and now 'Mr. Pregnant'. Sohel is on a roll, doing one worthless movie after another. The Bigg Boss Telugu fame actor is frittering away his goodwill by doing silly movies non-stop. As Gautham, he is too soapy and occasionally one-note in 'Mr. Pregnant'. The characterization, too, is vague. The director wanted him to look comical in some scenes and vulnerable in others without making Sohel get into the skin of the complex character.
Roopa of 'Uma Maheshwara Ugra Roopasya' fame has got homely looks. But her performance fits TV serials more than cinema. Suhasini Manirathnam is seen as a gynecologist who behaves with Gautham as though he is her school-going son. Her characterization is unintentionally hilarious. Harsha Chemudu fails to evoke laughs. Ali is seen in a cameo and he does what he has been doing for ages: utter double-meaning lines.
Raja Ravindra is seen as the female lead's perennially flustered dad. To be sure, any father who has an idiotic daughter would be like him in real life. Brahmaji's forced character has been used as an excuse to deploy crass gay 'comedy'.
Technical aspects:
The music by Shravan Bharadwaj is unoriginal. In some scenes, the background score harks back on the kind of soundscape MM Keeravani has popularized. The cinematography by Nizar Shafi is mediocre. No location looks realistic. Looks like they shot the whole thing in an artificial studio setup. The editing by Prawin Pudi is devoid of any smartness.
Analysis:
There are some ideas that have to be told only in one way to the Indian audience. That's the way of entertainment. Writer-director Srinivas Vinjanampati knows this. But the problem is that he thinks gay 'comedy' is comedy. He thinks Harsha Chemudu being called 'bandodu' is comedy. He thinks Brahmaji calling someone 'panodu' is comedy.
'Mr. Pregnant' comes with the premise of a husband willingly becoming pregnant. The premise itself is so strange that only Rajkumar Hirani of Bollywood could have weaved a touching story around it.
After introducing the conflict plot point, the film proceeds to bombard us with absurd scenes and lame ideas. Sohel's character is shown reading books related to pregnancy and motherhood. He uses this instant knowledge to deliver an emotional monologue in the climax. You don't have to become pregnant to sensitize society (read men) about what women go through during pregnancy.
This film is a labour pain if you think of the characterizations and world-building. The lead pair live in a colony where neighbours gossip (one of the uncles is played by dance master Shivashankar). Is this a Kodi Ramakrishna universe from the 1990s? Pregnancy care has been upgraded by corporate hospitals but our films remain stuck in a time warp.
Sohel is a celebrity tattoo artist, we are told. His profession has no direct bearing on the story or his emotional journey. Does he make the brave choice of coming out in the open about his pregnancy? No. Instead of using this novel approach, the film makes a negative character (who comes in the first 15 minutes and re-enters only in the climax) become a catalyst. This is an outdated way of developing a story and conflict.
Closing Remarks:
This film is like unplanned pregnancy - both unwanted and harmful. Avoid it!
