A story of Desire
Manu – a film directed by Phanindra Narsetti. ‘Phanindra Narsetti’ this name was enough for 112 movie lovers to produce Manu. We all know Manu is a crowd funded movie I’m pretty sure they all did it because of one person. A person who made short films like Madhuram,Her,Backspace etc made an impression to everyone that he will be a revolutionary filmmaker of Tollywood. But Manu didn’t do as good as expected. May be because it’s too artistic to understand or maybe a bit hard to stay with the movie while watching. That is why they call it new age cinema I guess. Keeping aside how it did or why it didn’t, Manu is like a painting made with a lot of painting references (Landscapes,Portraits etc). Below frame is inspired from John Constable’s painting Hove Beach (I came to know about this after watching Manu’s colorist’s interview :P)
There are a lot of frames with references of these kinds. Music,colors and sets everything narrates the story of Manu in it’s own style. These details are evident that team of Manu maintained their artwork as artistic as possible. So I thought Manu is a movie with a lot of hidden details to be decoded. But I found Manu’s storytelling pretty straight-forward. That might be because either I couldn’t find anything or it is actually straight-forward. Anyway, watching Manu for the second time was a beautiful experience and I decided to break Manu down on what made it so beautiful.
Storyline
Story of Manu followed a basic Three act structure.
PS: Couldn’t make one illustration . Sry for the poor drawing.
Movie basically tells us two stories. 1) Manu,Neela and Killer. A love story which involves a villain 2) Neela, Father and three goons. A revenge story for killing her father.
Writers gave us the initiation of these two stories in Act one. Manu meets Neela for the first time, Manu meets her father then his father shares his desire that his valuable diamond should belong to his valuable daughter, Three goons killed her father for that diamond.Then Manu movie title shows up indicating story has been started(End of act one).In Act two writer showcases his talent with a complicated screenplay. In Act three Manu finds the killer, Neela finds Manu is also dead, Killing the killer and seeking revenge, both of them finds out where their love led them to, Neela gets that diamond.So, it’s totally like a conclusion to everything that started in Act one. This is the structure of the story of Manu.
‘Manu’ in detail
Story of Manu is a tale of emotions – Love,Greed,Revenge,Pain. So every technician did his/her best in bringing out that emotion. Music is very compelling so as to delivering us the emotion before story could move on. Colours did their part in the movie. Manu always wears black, Neela wears warm colours etc. Did you know that Blue colour is used to show coldness,isolation,cerebral,melancholy,passivity,calm nature?. And that is who exactly Manu is. Manu’s wall is blue in colour indicating his nature.Shades of green are used to show danger,ominous and yellow is used to show insecurity,obsession. Now you can find out how these two colours are mixed in Neela’s flat shows required emotions (Neela’s wall is green in colour and most of the objects are in yellow). Change in shades lead to different emotion. For example pale green shows immaturity but dark green shows envy.Even the tiles of Manu’s room are like a chess board. I feel that Phanindra Narsetti is an artist obsessed with detailing. His camera techniques like macro photography,very tight closeups and dialogues with deeper meanings are evident to his detailed storytelling.For example In one shot Manu is under a railway bridge which tells us about his dark side and childhood. When he starts to share about his mother who left him at the age of 7, a train comes showing Manu’s feelings are uprising all of a sudden inside him. An eagle is shown when Neela meets the goon at the sea-side,an eagle searching for its prey.
Manu and Neela
Manu is a guy who bears a lot inside him and never shares anything. Which is why he always wears black(A colour which absorbs everything and doesn’t emit it out).He is a local artist who paints only with black expressing what he is feeling. Neela is a girl who spends most of her time with herself with habits like stitching,photography,drawing,growing plants,music etc. Both of them have one main thing in common which is ‘Loneliness’ . That is the reason why Neela is interested in Manu. A simple love story of a boy and a girl falling in love with each other’s nature. Entire love story is told in one scene where Neela gifts him a painting. A painting similar to Manu’s painting. Manu’s version is balck in colour. A boy is in pain. A girl hiding her face with an axe showing her fear,dead trees,bats,vultures,cactus. Neela’s version is colourful. A boy dressed black and is in pain. A girl with a rose expressing her love,green trees,pleasant surroundings. This one scene clearly shows the root of their love. Neela is in love with his hidden pain and is ready to bring colours into his world. She was fond of his dark painting and was able to create a colourful version out of it.
Conclusion
Like I told Manu is a story which tells us about the strength of desire. Manu’s unexpressed love and Neela’s incomplete revenge didn’t let them to leave this world. Finally the movie ends when Neela gets her father’s diamond which was a desire as well. May be her father’s desire was the base of the entire movie. Manu means the progenitor of the human race and giver of the religious laws of Manu. It also means still alive .(As told in the movie) Personally I felt Manu as ‘Manalo Okadu’. We all have darkness in us like Manu who is like the colour black. Waiting for something to fill that part with colours and that something gives birth to desire.Pain,Revenge,Suffering are very personal and nothing is personal in front of love. That might be the reason Manu took part in Neela’s revenge and ended her suffering. They shared their death as well. So Manu’s Love is full of purest things like pain,revenge and death. It was great enough to share them all and fight with them. This is love.Pure love. Strong enough to live a life. Born from nothing and became everything.
That is why I think Manu is a great love story beautifully painted which was more than enough to move us and make us love Manu the movie
Thanks for reading – Yashwanth Seelam
Nerd Writer 