Prayanam

Starring: Manchu Manoj, Payal Ghosh, Brahmanandam and others

Direction: Chandrashekar Yeleti

Music: Mahesh Shankar

Release date: 29 May 2009

The film Prayanam is about the story of a young boy and girl who meet at the Malaysian airport. The boy falls in love with the girl at first sight but it is not so for the girl. What happens next is the story.

Story:

Dhruv (Manchu Manoj) arrives at the Malaysian airport along with his two friends. They are on their way to Singapore on a holiday. Harika (Payal Ghosh) is studying fashion designing in Malaysia and is on her way to India to meet a boy arranged as a match by her parents.

Dhruv falls in love with Harika at first sight. He then tells his friends that he is hopelessly in love and wants to win over her love. He learns that Harika is going to India to see a boy whom she may marry if she likes him.

Dhruv is slightly disappointed but decides to try his luck. He has exactly two hours at his disposal to try and woo her before her flight takes off. He is ably assisted in his efforts by his two friends. The stumbling block is Harika’s menacing looking friend whom they nickname as Judo.

Dhruv divides the two hours in eight blocks of 15 minutes each and plans what to do in the eight segments. The story takes an interesting turn from this time. We also have Swamy (Brahmanandam) an award wining Indian farmer who is also waiting to catch a flight. 

The story moves in a lighthearted manner with some neat comedy interspersed with the story. How Dhruv finally manages to convince Harika that he truly loves her forms the basis for the story that unfolds on the screen.

Performance:

Manchu Manoj is the boy who falls in love at first sight. He does a cool job and looks every bit the young and in a hurry to please lover. This film will definitely give a big boost to Manoj’s efforts to establish himself as an actor to watch.

Payal Ghosh is plain looking but she fits the bill perfectly. Her role is to just try and ward off the advances of Manoj and she succeeds to a large extent. Brahmanandam as a farmer does some neat comedy. He has very few dialogues but manages to evoke laugher with his expressions and silent acts. The girl who played Payal’s friend has done a good job and so do the two guys who play Manoj’s friends.

Mahesh Shankar’s music is good and the production values and cinematography are also good. The direction is impressive.

Prayanam is a lighthearted feel good film with neat comedy, fast paced songs and a bit of suspense. The film runs at an even pace and manages to engross the audience till the end. The film is quite different from the routine formula stories and comes as a breath of fresh air.

The film should do reasonably well at the box office and mark the arrival of Manoj on the big scene.