Director: Manju Mandavvya
Cast: Yash, Shanvi Srivatsava, Suhasini Maniratnam, Avinash, Ravishankar, Achyuth Kumar, Chikkanna
What is the connection between Bhagat Singh and Yuva, a random rowdy-sheeter from Karnataka? Actually, there isn’t any. But Manju Mandavvya, the director of this week’s release, Masterpiece , seems to have perceived some such connection. Masterpiece is Yash’s latest and in the name of creating a mass entertainer, the film tries to get away with the most perplexing message.
Yuva (Yash), a college student, has had a penchant for violence since childhood. His mother Durga (Suhasini Manirathnam) tries to counsel him but fails. However, we are told that she has brought him up narrating stories of Veer Savarkar, Subhash Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh, hoping that her son will grow up to be patriotic and do good for the country. But Yuva grows up to be a local goon. He meets Nisha (Shanvi Srivastava) and falls in love with her.
Just as one is wondering where the plot is headed, more than half way into the film, Yuva and Nisha run into Boss (Ravi Shankar), a druglord. Boss nabs Nisha and to save his girlfriend, Yuva punches Boss. The drug mafia then targets Yuva and strategises to defame him by spreading a rumour that he is the real kingpin of the drug world. Durga is shattered to hear this about her son and wants him dead. The rest of the story is about how Yuva clears the air.
What is baffling is how Mandavvya links this plot to the freedom struggle. In the last scene (spoiler alert), Yuva corners the druglord and gang. He asks his friend to shoot a video on his mobile phone of the entire scene. Boss tells Yuva that everyone, right from the police to the politicians, are part of the drug mafia and that soon drugs will be easily available in provision stores. This angers Yuva and he shoots the drug lord. The video, uploaded on the internet, goes viral and the youth of the State gather to demand the release of Yuva. Durga comes to visit her son in jail. The film ends with Durga seeing the persona of Bhagat Singh in Yuva.
The link with Bhagat Singh is very laboriously contrived. Mandavvya’s definition of a revolutionary, specifically, of Bhagat Singh appears reductive and misunderstood. Yuva is no revolutionary. He is just a local goon who is suddenly inspired to shoot some bad guys. And that too, to clear his name.
In terms of form, Masterpiece appears glossy with elaborate slow-motion fight sequences. Mandavvya freely ‘borrows’ from other films. Scenes involving the revolutionaries look a lot like Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti . Then there are obvious references from films like Mad Max and The Matrix and out of nowhere Ghost Rider appears in a song.
Masterpiece also has an overdose of masculinity. Yash’s beefed up persona and puffy chest is in every frame. His dialogue delivery is high-pitched and monotonous as is his acting. Shanvi as Nisha is over the top. In the name of comedy, Masterpiece also attacks those who do not know Kannada. A Russian working as a masseuse in Goa is told to learn Kannada through an app because she ‘massages’ five people a day and knows only four languages.
Masterpiece is definitely one of a kind. Not necessarily in a good way.
