Maleyali Jotheyali

“

Another Mungaru Male...” - is the conclusion you will easily draw after watching ‘Maleyali Jotheyali’, Ganesh’s latest movie. Director Preetham Gubbi seems to have consciously made efforts to follow the footsteps of Yogaraj Bhat, the director of ‘Mungaru Male’. After all Gubbi himself was part of the ‘Mungaru Male’ team. ‘Maleyali Jotheyali’ is the first production of Golden Movies, and Ganesh’s wife Shilpa is the producer.

The movie has much in common with ‘Mungaru Male’. The best parts of both the movies are shot in coffee estates of Malnad. Name of the hero in both the movies is Preetham. Devdas (rabbit) of ‘Mungaru Male’ has a role here too. Krishna, cameraman of ‘Mungaru Male’ has teamed up with Gubbi. However, ‘Maleyali Jotheyali’ makes a poor cousin of ‘Mungaru Male’ when it comes to music. The Jayanth Kaikini - Manomurthy combo which gave poetic touch to ‘Mungaru Male’ is missing in this movie.

Ganesh, like in many of his past movies, continues to play the role of a happy-go-lucky youth. It is a  love triangle. Unlike ‘Mungaru Male’, in this movie there are two heroines - Yuvika Choudhari and Anjana Sukhani. Both the damsels fall in love with Ganesh. But one heroine withdraws from the hero’s life and the other living on a borrowed time due to ill health, accompanies him for the rest of her life. So Ganesh is not a dejected hero unlike in ‘Mungaru Male’.

Ganesh has done justice to his role as an entertainer. Performance of Anjana Sukhani and Yuvika Choudhari, the first-timers, is average. Krishna’s camera work deserves appreciation. Harikrishna’s music for two songs is a treat for the audience. Rangayana Raghu and Sharan have again proved that they are good entertainers. When will Ganesh and some of our directors come out of the ‘Mungaru Male’ hangover?