MLA

MLA story: A young man is thrown a challenge by his prospective father-in-law. If successful, he gets to marry his lady love, failure would mean giving up on her. Will he succeed?



MLA Review: Kalyan (Kalyan Ram) is an easy-going young man who is referred to as MLA (Manchi Lakshanalunna Abbayi) for his good qualities. He falls in love with Indu (Kajal Aggarwal), who turns out to be the managing director of his company. When land belonging to the company is seized by a local goon (Ajay), Kalyan promises to get it back on the condition that Indu accepts his love if he is successful. The latter accepts his condition but after Kalyan retrieves the land, comes a twist in the tale. The action then shifts from an urban backdrop to the village of Veerabhadrapuram where Gadappa (Ravi Kishen), a ruthless politician, has been consistently winning the elections for decades against his arch rival Nagappa (Jayaprakash Reddy) and his family. Why did Kalyan go to Veerabhadrapuram? Is Indu really what she professes to be? What impact will the tussle between the families of Gadappa and Nagappa have on the residents of Veerabhadrapuram?



Kalyan Ram as Kalyan does a decent job. He is adequate for his role, as is Kajal Aggarwal. The comic element in the film is provided by Posani Krishna Murali, Brahmanandam and Pruthvi. Brahmanandam as the corrupt lawyer Pattabhi and Posani as a womaniser and Kalyan’s boss, manage to tickle the funny bones. So does Pruthvi as the PA to the villain. Ravi Kishen as the bad guy gets a stereotyped character along with Ajay. In terms of story, MLA has nothing new to offer. We’ve seen it all before. However, debut director Upendra Madhav succeeds in narrating the same old fare in an entertaining way. Although, there is a sense of predictability throughout, the screenplay is good enough to hold the audience’s attention. Upendra makes his mark in one particular scene in the second half. The hero convinces the poor villages to stop sending their children to work and send them to school instead. A young boy writes the name of his father on a slate. The father then tells the mother: Seeing him (the child) write my name on the slate has given me more happiness than the Rs 2,000 he used to bring home every month. He then nails the slate to a wall as a reminder. There are only four songs in the movie composed by Mani Sharma of which Hey Indu is a good number. Even then, the songs interfere with the narrative. All the songs have been shot in Azerbaijan and the visuals are good if not striking. The production values of the film are good.

If you are looking for something unique or innovative this summer, MLA might not be your cup of tea. But if you are looking for an entertaining, ‘time-pass’ kind of a film to watch along with your family, then do watch MLA, you will not be disappointed.