‘Oh Manapenne’ movie review: A feel-good romance that feels refreshing despite its contrivances

It is just a boy meets girl story. But how they meet and how that meeting changes their lives makes it heart-warming.

(Disclaimer: I have not watched Oh Manapenne’s original, Tharun Bhascker’s National Award-winning Pelli Choopulu. In a way, that is good because, with remakes, the film-watching mostly becomes an exercise in comparison.)

.

Despite its Telugu cinema roots, Kaarthikk Sundar’s debut film, Oh Manapenne, reminded me of Malayalam cinema. The feeling of warmth it attempts to evoke through simple, no-frills storytelling we have now come to associate with filmmakers in Kerala. There is hardly anything that does not serve the purpose of the plot. No unnecessary action sequences. No independent comedy tracks. No narration-pausing songs. And, there is nothing extraordinary at stake, too: it is just a boy meets girl story. But how they meet and how that meeting changes their lives makes it heart-warming.