Hanumanthu is a faithful copy of Subhash Chandra Bose, made one year back with a better starcast, better budget and better director. Even the sensex was doing better then. It still flopped. It is surprising then that Chandra Mahesh, who directed such movies as Indra and Okkadu, should choose to remake
that film. Okay, so maybe Chandra Mahesh did not direct Indra and Okkadu, but that doesn't mean he won't, very soon.
There are 3 main differences between Subhash Chandra Bose and Hanumanthu. But since fullhyd.com has a policy of narrating only one main difference per review, let us go straight to the third. While Subhash Chandra Bose’s hero was a city slicker, Hanumanthu’s is a villager who wears dhotis that can be easily pulled off - and regularly are. If your life’s ambition was to see Srihari in those light-blue striped free-size
chaddis with
nadas holding them, it’s Thanksgiving everyday here. Yoohoo babe!
So Hanumanthu (Srihari) is the big brother of his village, and can beat up all the bad guys by performing certain stunts that you last saw in, well,
Hanuman. He stays with his grandmom, who stores him in a safe and dry place, out of the reach of any flashbacks. But flashbacks, like we all know, have a mind of their own. They ring the bell and run away, and you
have to answer the door.
So Hanumanthu discovers that he is the grandson of Hanumanthu, who lived and died before Hanumanthu did. The review can get a little confusing hereon, so please take a printout right now and mark the word Hanumanthu with a highlighter whenever we tell you to. The marked Hanumanthu stands for the grandfather, the unmarked Hanumanthu stands for the grandson. Anything else stands for what it means. If you see a dotted line anywhere, please cut along it – that’s what dotted lines are meant for.
Hanumanthu (mark), also played by Srihari but in weird clothes, is a total stud freedom fighter who his village idolizes. He protects the women’s honor, he leads the men from the front, he donates generously, and he listens when others sing. If you are wondering about the last bit, yes, that is important. Not wondering about it, but listening when others sing. If you do that, people will in turn listen when you sing. Otherwise, you have to make an expensive movie to make people listen to your songs.
Hanumanthu (mark) is betrayed by a rival Krishna Murthy (Pradeep Rawat) to the Britishers, and gets killed. It’s always hard to get killed, but Hanumanthu (mark) is made to die in a gruesome way – his head is chopped off, and he has to run a long distance like that to keep the Britishers from killing other villagers. This part can be moving if your IQ falls in the target band that this movie was intended for. Also, if you are still awake – the film goes on for so long, they allow the next show’s audiences into the theater anyway, asking them to stand next to their allotted seats.
After Hanumanthu (mark) is killed, Krishna Murthy kills all other villagers so that there is no witness to his betrayal. But Hanumanthu’s (mark) wife and son escape. This wife of Hanumanthu (mark) is the current Hanumanthu’s grandmother, and has raised him since her son with Hanumanthu (mark) was also killed by Krishna Murthy when he grew up, since he (Krishna Murthy) was scared to leave any remnant of Hanumanthu’s (mark) family alive. Alas, he doesn’t know that the grandson of Hanumanthu (mark), Hanumanthu, is still alive, and has marked (hee hee!) him for death.
Well, it’s not like you are going to watch this movie or anything - it’s one of those that are made so that they can be reviewed. The story is so illogical, it could be passed off as a news bulletin. There is too much gore, and the film plods on for almost 3 hours.
Srihari may be a good actor, but his appeal is too restricted, and he gets only these scripts. The performances are all good, and a bit of comedy in the beginning is enjoyable. The songs make you wonder why they put songs in these movies – do they expect them to be melodious or something?
Don’t get into any theater screening this, unless you are using it as a short-cut.