Martin Luther King is a 2023 Indian Telugu-language political satire film directed by Puja Kolluru in her directorial debut. It is the official Telugu Remake of the Tamil film ‘Mandela’ which is written and directed by Madonne Ashwin. The film, titled after the late American Baptist minister Martin Luther King, stars Sampoornesh Babu in the titular lead role while Naresh, Sharanya Pradeep, and Venkatesh Maha play supportive roles. The music is composed by Smaran Sai and the film is produced by S. Sashikanth, Chakravarthy Ramachandra & Venkatesh Maha under YNOT Studios, Reliance Entertainment & Mahayana Motion Pictures banners.
Story:
Smile (Sampoornesh Babu) is a cobbler in the village of Padamarapadu. He doesn’t have an identity and does all the small works in the village to earn his living. One day, Smile’s fate turns overnight when he becomes the deciding vote in the village elections which is contested by two brothers, Jagjivan Ram (Naresh) and Lokmanya Tilak (Venkatesh Maha). How does Smile turn into Martin Luther King? What happens with his vote? Needs to be seen in the film.
What about on-screen performances?
Sampoornesh Babu takes a complete U-turn from his usual slapstick comedy and gets into a realistic space which is refreshing to see. He delivers a natural performance that looked genuine and his act never goes over the top. This is a kind of script that perfectly suits him and he shines well as an actor.
Saranya Pradeep, who plays the role of a post office officer in the village, delivers a noteworthy performance. Despite her limited screen time, she does well in all scenes she is there in the film.
Naresh VK continues to win hearts with whatever role he is been playing in recent times. He indeed is in great form and continues the same in this film as Jaggu.
Venkatesh Maha is just about okay in his part as Loki. He is decent while he shows the negative shades but he still needs to improve his dramatic skills and comedy timing.
Chakradhar who plays Bata, Goparaju Ramana as the Government officer, and Raghavan as the father of Jaggu & Loki generate good comedy in their short portions.
The rest of the supporting actors who play the villagers are okay in their respective parts.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Madonne Ashwin is well-written and is very relevant to today’s scenario. He neatly tells us the importance of a single vote in an election with good political commentary and also sheds light on caste discrimination that happens in the villages. He also takes jibes at voters who sell their valuable vote for some money from the corrupt political parties. The other good thing is that he never targets a particular party to tell the message.
The adapted screenplay by Venkatesh Maha is almost similar to the original. Except for changing the profession of the lead from a barber to a cobbler in Telugu and a few slight changes to suit the Telugu nativity, most of the scenes are quite similar. The writing keeps us entertained but there could have been a lot more changes done to the setup to make it more rooted to the Telugu people. Also, there was scope for more comedy in the film which wasn’t utilized fully.
Debut director Puja Kolluru does a pretty decent job with her first outing. Her presentation is good and her narration is clear.
The dialogues by Venkatesh Maha are well written and go in flow with the genre of the film.
The cinematography by Deepak Yaragera is superb. He captures the village atmosphere in good light.
The songs by Smaran Sai are satisfactory and they are mostly sitational. His background score is good and goes well with the narrative.
The edit by Puja Kolluru is fine but a few scenes in the latter half needed a sharp cut.
The artwork is done well and the production values are first-rate.
What’s Hot?
* Sampoornesh Babu’s Performances
* Naresh & Saranya Pradeep’s Performances
* Very Relevant Story
* Message That Tells The Importance Of A Vote/Voter
* Good Background Score
What’s Not?
* Slow Pace
* Few Repetitive Scenes
* Stretched Out Second Half
* Sync Sound At Places
Verdict: Martin Luther King is a wthoughtful, and optimistic political satire that tells how even a single vote can change the fate of an election. Sampu’s sincere efforts and good writing are appreciable. It is definitely not better than the original but it is a one time watch if you haven’t watched the Tamil film.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2.5/5