Mayapetika is a Telugu-language comedy-drama which is directed by Ramesh Raparthi. The film has Viraj Ashwin, Simrat Kaur, Payal Rajput, Rajath Raghav, Sunil, Prudhvi Raj, Srinivas Reddy, Himaja, Shyamala, Jagadeesh Prathap & others in important roles. The music is composed by Guna Balasubramanian and the film is produced by Magunta Sarath Chandra Reddy & Tharaknath Bommi Reddy under Just Ordinary Entertainments banner.
Story:
The film follows the journey of a mobile through a varied collection of people from various socioeconomic groups and backgrounds as they acquire this particular smartphone at different stages in their lives. The rest of the film is about how they travel and how their respective lives get affected by this particular mobile.
What about on-screen performances?
Srinivas Reddy is the pick among all the actors. He delivers a refreshing performance in his transgender role with dual variations. He does the fun parts and the emotional scenes with full conviction and passes with flying colors.
Sunil & Shyamala are quite relatable and funny in their respective roles. They portray similar characters to that of the famous Tiktok couple Durga Rao and his wife Ratnam. Their track provides the required comedy angle to the film.
Payal Rajput looked glamourous on screen and her solo song in the film is very stylishly shot. Apart from this, there is nothing special about her act.
Viraj Ashwin, Simrat Kaur, Prudhvi Raj, Himaja, Jagadeesh Prathap, & Rajath Raghav are pretty decent with their performances in their respective stories.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Ramesh Raparthi has nothing special to offer in terms of novelty. Apart from having a good concept of showcasing the importance of phones these days, there is no strong purpose for these particular short stories.
The screenplay is fine. The way the writers make the mobile transfer from one hand to another is done in a convincing manner but the emotions related to the particular story are not tapped to the fullest abilities.
The dialogues by Tirumala Nag are neat and a few emotional lines in the Srinivas Reddy track are well-written.
Director Ramesh Raparthi does a passable job with his presentation. The way he showcases all the stories is good but as said there isn’t a convincing reason to present all these 6 short stories. The stories needed more weight or there had to be some sort of a thrilling element to tell a concept like this. To be honest, the idea of telling human drama through a mobile point of view isn’t something that can make an audience come to the theatre to watch it on a big screen.
The camera work by Suresh Ragutu is one of the biggest assets of the film, especially the shots towards the climax portions are superly showcased.
The songs by Guna Balasubramanian are forgettable. Even the rap songs which sounded good, they couldn’t make an impact in the narrative. His background score is fine.
The edit by D.Venkata Prabhu & Naveen Vijay Krishna is crisp while the production values by Just Ordinary Entertainments are first-rate for a small-budget film like this.
What’s Hot?
* Srinivas Reddy’s Performance
* Sunil & Shyamala’s Track
* Decent Second Half
* Cinematography & Production Values
What’s Not?
* Not So Impressive First Half
* No Proper Justification For First 3 Stories
* Forgettable Songs
* Weak Climax
Verdict: Overall Mayapetika is half baked anthology of 6 small short stories which are interconnected by a phone. Apart from Sunil & Srinivas Reddy’s track, there is nothing special in the film. Can give it a try once it starts streaming online.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2/5