Starring: Manoranjan Prabhakar, Keerthi Kalkeri, ‘Kaddipudi’ Chandru, Hanumanthegowda and others

Directed by: Manu Kalyadi

Produced by: Jagadish Kalyadi

Stars: 2.5

When the trailer of ‘Prarambha’ was out, there was a doubt whether the film has been inspired from Telugu hit ‘Arjun Reddy’. Apart from a few similarities, the film has nothing in common with ‘Arjun Reddy’, but neither is fresh nor stands apart.

The film tells the story of a rich youth called Manthan (Manoranjan). Manthan is a painter and Prarthana (Keerthi Kalkeri) falls for his skills. After some earlier misunderstandings, slowly love blossoms between the two. However, Prarthana’s father turns villain to their love story and gets her married off to another youth. The dejected Manthan turns a alcoholic. He is admitted to a rehab centre by his friends and what happens next forms the story.

The first half of the story about how Manthan and Prarthana fall in love and what all happens between them is told in flashbacks. The second half shows him how he fights back his solitude and bad habits through rehabilitation. The hero tries to discover himself in this part of the film. However, there is nothing new or fresh or unusual about this film. The film is one of the hundreds of love stories, which have been released till now.

Manoranjan like his previous films continues to be sober in this film also. Though he is good in action sequences, he lacks energy in acting. Keerthi Kalkeri has nothing much to do. Supporting actors ‘Kaddipudi’ Chandru, Hanumanthegowda have done their bit. But it is the screenplay and the narration that is the real enemy of the film.

‘Prarambha’ actually has a good storyline. The story is much needed to be told in the current situation as many youths are spoiling their lives after a love failure. The debutante director Manu Kalyadi could have made it interesting according to today’s mindset. But the film falls flat because of a poor screenplay and narration.