Movie: Mantra 2
Rating: 2/5
Banner: Green Movies
Cast: Charmme Kaur, Chethan, Rahul Dev, Tanikella, Rajeshwari & Others
Music: Sunil Kashyap
Cinematography: Tanikella Rajendra
Editor: M R Varma
Producers: Showry Reddy, Yadagiri Reddy
Direction: S V Sateesh
Release Date: July 31, 2015
The second part of 'Mantra', one of the biggest hits in Charmee's career, is here. 'Mantra 2' is neither a sequel to the movie that released seven years ago, nor is it made by the original makers. But it is called 'Mantra 2' since the movie has Charmee like the original had. Let's see how this part two is.
Story
Mantra 2 follows the story of a young Vizag girl named Mantra (Charmee) who moves to Hyderabad when she gets a job in a software company.
She lost her parents some years back and stayed her adult life mostly in hostels in Vizag and hence she wants to stay with a family as paying guest instead of accommodating in hostels.
Her company driver takes her to old couple (Tanikella and Delhi Rajeshwari) who welcome her as paying guest.
In Hyderabad, she is constantly followed by some strangers, she also gets a feeling that someone is trying to attack her. She reports this to her college friend who is now serving as Police officer (Chetan) in Hyderabad.
He along with a channel reporter and the media crew go to the house she is staying and find out that the old couple were killed two years back and the house has been seized by the police long back. Then with whom is Mantra staying there? The real drama starts from here.
Artistes’ Performances:
Charmee, in her slim avatar, is looking better. Her performance is adequate to the story. She has done what is required. But there is no glamour quotient like Mantra had in the form of 'Maha Maha' song here.
Chetan as the police officer is okay. Tanikella and Delhi Rajeshwari test ones patience with their poorly developed characters. Although the film has several other actors in minor roles, they don't make much impression.
Technical Excellence:
Apparently, the film is made with shoestring budget therefore we see poor technical and production values. Cinematography is substandard. Editing should have been better. Sunil Kashyap's music is also not effective.
Analysis:
Though it is called a sequel, there is no similarity between Mantra and Mantra 2 and even the movie is not made by the same makers.
Directed by newbie S V Sateesh, this horror thriller follows the same pattern of many horror movies we have seen - dream sequences, a villa like house where all the action happens, characters dying one by one.
A good horror thriller is one that engages the audiences with thrills, not with the story alone.
Mantra 2 wastes entire first half on unnecessary moments, cheating sequence and comes to the point only after 70 minutes have passed (total runtime is 110 minutes). By then we lose the interest.
Till interval, the story doesn't move. Post interval, some sequences are really interesting. Despite many loopholes, these sequences put the audiences on the edge of their seats. Better scenes in the movie are the sequences that happen between interval and the pre-climax episode.
We get to know who is killing them but the suspense maintained as to why they are being killed. But the movie falls flat again with the weak climax. The track of Tanikella and Delhi Rajeshwari's is also boring. So is the comedy track.
The director's inexperience can be seen from the beginning. His framing, setting up of the scenes is amateurish. Bad writing and cheap production values are downers too.
Charmee on her part has tried her best to make us invest in the movie. She alone is the main attraction.
On the whole, Mantra 2 is not an engaging thriller like the original Mantra.
Bottom line: Not even half good as Mantra
(Venkat can be reached [email protected] or https://twitter.com/greatandhranews)
