Manchi Rojulochaie

Story: A young lady, who is in a live-in relationship with the man she loves, has to deal with an obsessive, controlling father who takes pride in the way he raises his daughter. How the two youngsters manage to convince him about and accept their love for each other forms the crux of the story.


Review: Of late, young filmmakers are going out of their way to attempt love stories that are modern, bold and try to take a departure from the olden days. While it's always good to see filmmakers experiment, when a rom-com gets predictable, it can be cumbersome to watch. In Manchi Rojulochaie, director Maruthi focuses on societal issues and showcases how a parent would rather believe his gossip-mongering neighbours instead of his own child.

The film revolves around Padma (Mehreen Pirzada) and Santhosh (Santosh Shoban), who are madly in love with each other and are living together in Hyderabad amid a COVID outbreak. Padma's father, Gundu Gopalam (Ajay Ghosh) is a sensitive, controlling man, who takes pride in how he raised his daughter with good values. He feels it's necessary to maintain a high moral standard in the society and is scared of anything that might hamper that. Gopalam's holier than thou attitude doesn't sit well with his neighbours, who try to teach him a lesson by spreading rumours about his daughter. How Padma and Santosh convince Gopalam about their love for each other and make him trust them forms the crux of the story.

The trouble with Manchi Rojulochaie is its repetitive nature. It seems like the same plot keeps repeating itself right through the film, with the neighbours instigating Gopalam and him getting paranoid. The twists and turns don't have the impact that you'd expect it to and the interval bang too is disappointing. The director tries to evoke a few laughs by adding comic elements but they look forced and hardly provide comic relief. It comes across as cliched and unimaginative. The emotion sequences, too, lack depth.

There are a few moments that work but the film slowly becomes predictable and worse, preachy as the film goes on. The characters lack depth and the emotional pull to keep the audiences glued. The COVID mention in the script also looks forced. Ajay Ghosh, however, is brilliant in the role of a sensitive, controlling father and he owns the screen with an impactful performance. Santosh Shobhan and Mehreen Pirzaada also put in decent performances.

While Manchi Rojulochaie is an out-of-the-box concept, the filmmaker falters in its execution and leaves the audience wanting for more.