Mr. Medhavi Review

Vishwaksen could have been a role model if they didn't choose to reform him. Like we at fullhyd.com always say, alas.

Mr. Medhavi is the story of a man who is blessed with a knack for thinking beyond the first outcome of an action he will perform. Since he visualizes the next outcome and then the next outcome and then the next outcome, his act itself is usually different from that of a normal person in the same situation.

In daily English, that is called plotting. And it is actually not "knack" - it is "will". We can all plot - we are simply too lazy. Sure, Vishwaksen can also find the roots of quadratic equations, and perhaps even draw intersecting parabolae on a co-ordinate plane, but the world has too many of those that can and too few people determined enough to think a few steps beyond the immediate outcome. Somehow, it seems to explain all the misery in the world - and in your life, no?

So you'd think with a knack - will - for that, Vishwaksen would live life the way we all want to: always in control. Unfortunately, he falls in love, and uses his skills to land the girl. Apparently that's wrong. But then remember that this is a movie - in real life, most people do not think of what is right or wrong if it is not obvious in the first outcome of an action they perform. Especially in love. So Viswaksen is still a good enough role model.

But perhaps you want to know more about Viswaksen now.

Mr. Medhavi is the tale of the son of a poor laborer who gets a proper education thanks to a good samaritan village teacher (Tanikella Bharani). While in school, he falls in love with Swetha, a girl from Canada who comes to live and study in his village for a year, and who likes him as much as he does her. He's heart-broken when she leaves, and grows up with the memories.

An extremely smart student, Vishwaksen learns in college that he can use his brains to cleverly plot to help friends in trouble, and even gets money for it that they gratefully give him. This changes him into a person who manipulates others for his benefit, though he causes no nation-wide damage.

He goes on to get an MBA from a local college, but a good job despite that thanks to his scheming. And extremely coincidentally, the daughter of the MD (Suman) is his childhood sweetheart (Genelia), who recognizes him instantly when she returns to India, and turns great pal all over again.

Vishwaksen has to make her fall in love with him, and does what comes best to him - plotting. He thinks he's succeeded, but then in comes Siddharth (Sonu Sood) - good-looking and well-built, an IIT-IIM graduate, articulate and intelligent, quite compassionate, honest and helpful, and in general a great human being. Like we at fullhyd.com always say, alas.

Mr. Medhavi is kind of watchable, but mostly for its first half - it shows a winner always in control, and we all love that. And then you figure out in very little time what the twist in the second half is, whereupon it is mostly going through the motions. And even otherwise, none of us likes to see selfless sacrifice on screen - we want to see people getting what they want and being happy. That's why we go to movies, remember?

Sure, the change in Vishwaksen is what good stories are made of. It's rumored in most religious texts that if you can sacrifice your happiness for that of someone else, you're getting close to somewhere, and whether you'll like the second half or not depends on how conversant you are with that feeling.

Also, at the risk of some spoiler stuff, the script of the second half doesn't come close to what might happen real life - Swetha pulls a stunt that can badly backfire. People see faults in themselves only when they want to, and the truth of the world is that that's a painful wait. Careful planning works only in author-backed movies. And there, that's a welcome hint for you - the film's not a tragedy. It's just gets slower with time.

Raja is evolving - the things he can do are overshadowing the ones he can't. Genelia is, as always, the life-blood of a movie that gives her a substantial role. Sonu Sood has a role and delivers a performance that will perhaps have the women in the audience drooling more over him than Raja, despite rationed screen time.

Mr. Medhavi is worth a watch if you want to believe that it's possible to get your way if you plot well enough. Indeed, Vishwaksen could have been a role model if they didn't choose to reform him. Like we at fullhyd.com always say, alas.