Cast: Akhil Akkineni, Nidhi Agerwal, Rao Ramesh, Naga Babu, Priyadarshi, JP and Sithara
Director: Venky Atluri
After his first two films tanked, Akhil Akkineni decided to do a film more suited to his age. For ‘Mr Majnu’, he teams up with director Venky Atluri who is fresh from the success of ‘Tholi Prema’.
Vicky (Akhil Akkineni), doing his MS in London, is a playboy and comes across Nikky (Nidhi Agerwal) who has more traditional views on marriage. They realise later that they are related. Nikki sees his good side and falls in love with him.
She proposes that they date each other for two months to get to know each other better. Vikky doesn’t like her possessiveness and they go their ways. The rest of the film ties up the loose ends.
Venky Atluri tries repeating the ‘Tholi Prema’ formula in ‘Mr Majnu’ with some family drama thrown in. The first half is entertaining and features Akhil as a jovial character, which actually suits him.
The director shifts the action from London to India and adds many characters. Somewhere along the way, you get the feeling you have seen similar scenes. That is because Venkat almost replicates the second half of ‘Tholi Prema’ and adds “inspired” scenes from films like ‘Geetha Govindam’ and ‘Orange’.
The second half is supposed to be emotional, but the director doesn’t quite manage to convey it. The climax is normal and the action scenes are forced.
Compared to his first two films, Akhil has improved a lot and one can see that he is more comfortable in ‘Mr Majnu’. His performance is definitely the highlight of the film. He looks handsome and is good in the dances.
Nidhi Agerwal plays the female lead and does a neat job. The chemistry between her and Akhil works well. Priyadarshi as Akhi’s friend in the first half and Hyper Adi in the second half provide a few laughs. Many actors in supporting roles, like Rao Ramesh, Naga Babu, Jaya Prakash, Sithara and Pavitra Lokesh, do their jobs well. Cinematography is neat and Thaman’s music is good. The dialogues are well written. ‘Mr Majnu’ is a neat film and perfectly fit for Akhil, who was looking for a break. It could have done with some more emotion in the second half.
