''Manasaare'' is a 2009 Indian
Kannada
Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...
-language
romantic psychological film
In literature, psychological fiction (also psychological realism) is a narrative genre that emphasizes interior characterization and motivation to explore the spiritual, emotional, and mental lives of its Character (arts), characters. The mode of ...
directed by
Yogaraj Bhat
Yogaraj Bhat (born 8 October 1972) is an Indian film-maker, director, screenwriter, lyricist and producer who primarily works in Kannada cinema. He is most known for the 2006 film '' Mungaru Male''. The film recorded the highest box-office coll ...
. It stars
Diganth
Diganth Manchale (born 28 December 1983), known professionally as Diganth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Kannada cinema, Kannada films. Diganth made his lead acting debut in ''Miss California (film), Miss California'' (2006) and ...
and
Aindrita Ray
Aindrita Ray (born 19 April) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Cinema of Karnataka, Kannada also appeared in Bengali language, Bengali and Bollywood, Hindi films. Ray is a recipient of two South Indian International Movie Awards, alon ...
in the lead roles. The film soundtrack and score was composed by
Mano Murthy
Mano Murthy is an Indian musician and composer in the Kannada film industry. His is best known for his songs in '' Mungaru Male'', one of the biggest hits in the Kannada industry.
Before moving onto becoming a composer, he was an entrepreneur, ...
with lyrics by
Yogaraj Bhat
Yogaraj Bhat (born 8 October 1972) is an Indian film-maker, director, screenwriter, lyricist and producer who primarily works in Kannada cinema. He is most known for the 2006 film '' Mungaru Male''. The film recorded the highest box-office coll ...
and veteran lyricist
Jayant Kaikini.
Plot
Manohar "Manu" (
Diganth
Diganth Manchale (born 28 December 1983), known professionally as Diganth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Kannada cinema, Kannada films. Diganth made his lead acting debut in ''Miss California (film), Miss California'' (2006) and ...
) is an orphaned, unemployed young man, who is often looked down on upon by his family. However, his uncle (
Achyuth Kumar
Achyuth Kumar is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Kannada cinema, alongside a few Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. He is known for his performances in the ''KGF'', '' Kantara'', '' Sidlingu'', and '' Lucia''. He is the recipient ...
) is the only exception. His friend Satish (
Sathish Ninasam
Shiva, known by his Stage name, screen name Sathish Ninasam, is an Indian actor who appears in Cinema of Karnataka, Kannada films. Having made his film debut with ''Madesha'' (2008), Sathish appeared in small but significant roles in films like ...
) is a neighbour and cable operator, whose love for one of their neighhour - Bhamini, is unrequited. Bhamini marries a software engineer, and at the wedding reception, tells Manu that she loves him, but couldn't live with him (given his status). She also asks him to do something with his life, and not throw it away by spending his time criticizing the people around him. Meanwhile, Satish takes note of the "gulf" between Bhamini's new husband and himself, and decides to prove himself that he is indeed more worthy than she thinks of him. To that end, Manohar and Satish get together and invent a "electricity producing machine" which harnesses its power from vehicles that drive on roads (the fact that this isn't free energy, and that it would cost motorists who drive over it some extra fuel is not mentioned in the movie). His demonstration goes off well, but a police car chasing a criminal on a motorbike suddenly drives onto the machine, which causes the car to flip over, and in fact nearly kills the constables inside.
Manu and Satish are arrested and reprimanded for their foolishness, but they are soon released. Manu's aunt decides to marry him into a wealthy family, to get rid of him and an attempt to temper his behaviour. While they are visiting the intended's family, a baby next to Manu begins urinating. Manu takes a nearby tea-cup to catch the urine and prevent getting wet. Everyone sees this and his prior behavior as confirmation that he is mentally unstable. Manohar and Satish, both drunk, stop at an isolated hill top and tell one another their opinions about life; they get into a row. Satish drives off leaving behind Manohar.
Manohar walks back home and sees a van coming from a distance. The van is transporting about a dozen patients bound for an asylum. The inmates cause a commotion in the van, the guards loose order of the inmates' paperwork and photographs but the inmates are subdued by the guards. The van stops so that the guards can relieve themselves, and the patient Mahendra G. escapes. Manu was near the van when the guards went after the escapee. The guards notice him and take him as the escapee. Manohar is forcibly taken to the Kaamanabillu asylum.
At the asylum, Manohar demonstratively attempts to explain the mix-up but he is not believed. Soon, his family find out and go to remove him from the asylum. An altercation between Manohar and another inmate cause the family to rethink their decision to take him away because they believe he insane. So, they decide to leave him there. Manu's life is thrown out of gear, as he realizes that he has no choice but to live the life of a lunatic, although he is not. He settles down and starts bonding with the patients: Dollar (played by
Pawan Kumar), who is a brilliant engineer, but considered a lunatic when one of his inventions, - a baby ass washing machine - injures a baby. He also bonds with Raju Thalikote, who is a self declared veteran of the asylum. Manu soon discloses his story to Shankrappa, who advises him to talk to Dollar, who in turn has always had an uncanny knack to escape from the asylum.
Soon, Manu manages to slip out, but during his escape, which takes him through the female wing of the asylum, he catches a glimpse of Devika (played by
Aindrita Ray
Aindrita Ray (born 19 April) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Cinema of Karnataka, Kannada also appeared in Bengali language, Bengali and Bollywood, Hindi films. Ray is a recipient of two South Indian International Movie Awards, alon ...
) and is smitten by her. Although he escapes, he changes his mind and returns to the asylum to pursue a relationship with her. As they are not allowed to mingle by the asylum staff, the inmates (under Shankrappa's leadership) hatch and execute a plan to allow Manu to meet Devika. Shankrappa is well aware of the doctors' tendency to perform the exact opposite to what he request them to do - since they perceive him to be insane - and he uses this to get them all sent for electro-shock therapy (since the EST room is within the women's wing). Dollar has manufactured a non-conducting gel which they then switch with the EST gel, so that they're not really affected by the shock. They fake syncope, and when the staff leave for a prayer assembly, they sneak out to meet Devika. It turns out that Devika is sleeping (having been given an illegal pill, by a doctor who, unbeknownst to everyone engages in (implied) sexual abuse of female inmates, using the pill). Nonetheless, Manu - with Shankrappa's assistance, carries Devika to an ambulance, and drives it out of the asylum.
Devika is a dental student who is in the asylum as she has cultivated intense misandry, after a lecturer misbehaved with her. This manifests itself as aggressive behaviour from time to time, where she stabs any man she deems dangerous. When she awakens the morning after being spirited away by Manu, she attacks him. However, Manu manages to subdue her and professes his love to her. Devika and Manu decide to return to the asylum. On the way, at Devika's insistence, they take a temporary detour to her childhood home, where Devika has a flashback - of her uncaring father (who drove her mother to suicide). They then proceed to the asylum, but stop for the night. Manu spouts a monologue of his love for her, once she sleeps - and this is recorded by a CCTV camera that was activated accidentally by Devika, when they had hit a bump in the road earlier. The next morning, she discovers this, but while waking up Manu, unintentionally scares and nearly kills him when he falls down a railway overbridge. Manu is angry, and is about to leave her to her own devices, when she laughs at his rant, and he is smitten again. As they continue on foot (the van having run out of fuel), even as Manu pleads with her to go back (and not to the hospital). She doesn't respond right up until they go to the hospital, and convinces Manu to re-enter it.
As their relationship reaches serious levels, Devika asks Manu point blank whether he is capable of cheating her, to which the latter replies in the negative. However, once the escaped inmate (Mahendra) is caught, and brought to the asylum by the police (Mahendra is a murderer), the staff realise their mix-up. However, in front of everyone, they accuse Manu of being complicit in the charade, so that he could enjoy a free ride at the hospital. Devika construes this as Manu's betrayal, and of the disingenuousness of his love, and spurns him. A shattered Manu is thrown out of the asylum, bidding a tearful farewell to his fellow inmates with whom he had developed a bond. As he leaves, he encounters Dollar (who had managed to finally escape) returning to the asylum, claiming that there was nothing in the world worth living for outside the asylum.
When he arrives at his uncle's place however, he is once again exposed to the ridicule of people.
The movie ends with Devika encountering him near his house. It is shown that she is cured of her dementia when she remembered Manu, who helped her to let go of her painful past, and move on; when she fought back the abusive doctor, and having watched the tape again, Devika is convinced that his love for her was real. The doctors have also concluded that Manu was responsible for "curing" Devika, and she says that is why she has returned to him; but Manu says that he himself is deemed to be uncured, and insane - being laughed at by society. Devika asks him, rather nonchalantly, as to how could that be his problem, and Manu comes around - with both of them pitying society, and walking away. The final scene closes with a voice-over, of a line that Shankrappa had delivered to Manu when the latter first arrived at the asylum - "Those in this world that come to an asylum, are those who can be cured. The ones who cannot be cured at all, remain outside. There's a chance that you'll be cured of madness, which is something that others outside don't have. Whoever comes here is only temporarily mad, but the ones on the outside are permanently so."
The movie has shades of "One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest", the conundrum illustrated in "Catch-22" and also shows the 'institutionalisation' depicted in "The Shawshank Redemption". The main thrust of the movie is to show the hypocrisy of a society which classifies behaviours, and, by extension, people into 'normal' and 'abnormal'.
Cast
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by
Mano Murthy
Mano Murthy is an Indian musician and composer in the Kannada film industry. His is best known for his songs in '' Mungaru Male'', one of the biggest hits in the Kannada industry.
Before moving onto becoming a composer, he was an entrepreneur, ...
.
Reception
Critical response
R G Vijayasarathy of ''
Rediff.com
Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...
'' scored the film at 3.5 out of 5 stars and says "Sathya Hegde, the cameraman and Mano Murthy, the music composer. Hegde goes to the deep, inaccessible corners of Madikeri, Karwar and other places to add lot of visual strength to the movie. Hats off to Mano Murthy for his superb music. Manasaare is a must-watch for all Kannada film viewers who are tired of watching a series of remakes and eagerly waiting for original stories". A critic from
Deccan Herald
''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...
wrote "The director takes care that this doesn’t happen but cannot pump up the film’s pace, held down by a couple of songs and scenes. The film has a sudden end and does not touch the viewer. Then again, ‘Manasaare’ may not be everybody's cup of tea". A critic from
Bangalore Mirror
''Bangalore Mirror'' is an English-language daily published by The Times Group in Bangalore, India, as a compact newspaper. It is a deputed newspaper and is the second-largest circulating English daily in the city. In 2020, as part of its COVID ...
wrote "The best things in the film are the dialogues, camera work (Sathya Hegde), lyrics by Jayanth Kaikini (even though it is still about rain) and music by Mano Murthy (that still sounds like the rain and showers you have heard before). Bhat’s inspirations come from various old sources, but that is not enough to beef up this film". A critic from
The New Indian Express
''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naidu ...
scored the film at three-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote "The editing and art work add strength to the movie. "Ello Maleyaagidhe Endhu", "Kanna Haniyondhige Kenne Maathaadidhe" and "Naa Naguva Modalene" are superb compositions. The fantastic visuals, melodious music and Yogaraj Bhat's dialogues are the high points of Manasaare".
Box office
The movie was the one of biggest hit of the year 2009.
Awards
;
Filmfare Awards
The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Times G ...
*Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist - Kannada -
Jayant Kaikini - "Yello Maleyaagide"
;South Scope Awards
*Best Film
*Best Director
*Best Actress
*Best Lyricist
References
External links
*
{{Yogaraj Bhat
2000s Kannada-language films
2009 films
Films scored by Mano Murthy
Rockline Entertainments films
Films directed by Yogaraj Bhat