Curious Eyes Cinema’s Mannu Kya Karrega? (UA) is a love story of Mannu (Vyom) and Jiya (Saachi Bindra). It relies on the theory that ikigai — the Japanese concept which means ‘the reason for being’ or ‘the reason for living’ — can give us a direction in life.
Mannu (Vyom) and Jiya (Saachi Bindra) study in the same college and fall in love with each other. However, all hell breaks loose when Mannu is debarred from examinations due to poor attendance despite the fact that his own mother, Rashmi Chaturvedi (Charu Shankar), is the college head. In a bid to not lose Jiya, Mannu lies to her and tells her that he and his friends had been busy with a start-up and that’s the reason for his frequent absence from the classroom. Jiya believes Mannu. However, Mannu stands exposed a few days later when Jiya learns that the start-up and even the office premises were all a hoax. Mannu’s directionless life is now there for all to see. How Mannu’s professor, the college dean (Vinay Pathak), introduces him to the concept of ikigai to show him the way out forms the crux of the latter part of the story.
Saurabh Gupta’s story is weak and makes almost no sense because it is sketchy. That Mannu is so directionless in life doesn’t come through to the audience till Jiya announces so, because a dialogue here and a firing from the college dean there don’t underline the problem which the story writer (Saurabh Gupta) and screenplay writers Saurabh Gupta and Sanjay Tripathy are trying to underline. The drama has been written in such a uni-dimensional manner that Mannu’s mother doesn’t even know in advance about Mannu’s lack of attendance despite being the college head. Why the dean did not sound her about such an important thing has simply not been explained. Mannu’s father keeps making light of the fact that Mannu is not serious in life as if it were as inconsequential as he waking up at 8 a.m. instead of 7.45 a.m. Jiya seems to be so dumb that she believes Mannu’s cock-and-bull story about the start-up without questioning him about how his best friend and associate in the start-up, Chand (Naman Gor), had managed to attend college in spite of being busy with the same business. Since the drama needed to be prolonged, Saurabh Gupta and Sanjay Tripathy seem to have glossed over the first meeting of Mannu with Jiya’s father (Rajesh Kumar) without revealing what transpired in that meeting. In other words, Jiya’s father is as dumb as Jiya to not have guessed that Mannu is a liar. Mannu is not even shown as a cute teenager or a fun-loving boy for the viewers to fall in love with his character despite his directionless life. Although the professor understands that Mannu is hoodwinking Jiya, he doesn’t correct or expose him. Just why? Because he was asked to wait for the opportune time to guide him? And who would decide the right time? Jiya chides Mannu about having misled her by planning a beautiful life together, but the audience wonders when did he ever plan a blissful life together? For, the two seem to be in love but rarely, if ever, talk about a future together. Likewise, Jiya thanks Mannu for being her ‘ikigai’ in life, making the viewers wonder whether a young man, who is himself so stupid and misguided, could — even unwittingly — be so profound as to guide a young lady so beautifully. All in all, there is no depth or warmth in the love story of Mannu and Jiya. Furthermore, it often appears as if half the story remained in Saurabh Gupta’s mind only. The other characters in the drama — including Mannu’s parents, Jiya’s father, the father’s friend, Jiya’s sister, the college dean, Mannu’s friend, Chand, Savi (Aayat Memon) — are so inconsequential that the poor scripting gets even more underlined. What, therefore, happens is that the audience don’t identify with a single character and are left unconcerned about the unfolding drama. Saurabh Gupta and Sanjay Tripathy’s dialogues are barely passable.
Vyom makes an average debut as Mannu. He lacks the looks of a dashing hero. Saachi Bindra is okay in her maiden attempt as Jiya, and although she is a fair actress, she doesn’t impress much. Vinay Pathak performs well but one fails to understand his character. Why is he not more forthcoming? As Mannu’s father, Kumud Mishra acts ably but he has such a silly role that it’s not even funny. Charu Shankar gets hardly any scope in the role of Mannu’s mother and college head. Rajesh Kumar goes through his role, as Jiya’s dad, quite mechanically. Brijendra Kala lends ordinary support as the friend of Jiya’s father. Naman Gor is so-so as Chand. Aayat Memon gets almost no scope to perform as Savi. Dimple Sharma is average as Jiya’s sister, Diya. The rest of the artistes hardly deserve separate mention.
Sanjay Tripathy’s direction is as weak as the script. Lalit Pandit’s music is about the only good point in the film. All the songs are melodious but they aren’t too popular. Lyrics (Javed Akhtar, Sharad Mehra, Lalit Pandit, Kumaar and Alok Ranjan Jha) are alright. Song picturisations (by Savio Barnes and Shabina Khan) are ordinary. Amar Mohile’s background music should’ve been more impactful. Cinematography (by Raghav Ramadoss) is okay. Leena Bhandula’s production designing is functional. Aarif Sheikh and Varun Kulkarni’s editing leaves a lot to be desired.
On the whole, Mannu Kya Karegga? is a non-starter and will go largely unnoticed.
Released on 12-9-’25 at Metro Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PEN Marudhar Cine Entertainment. Publicity & opening: weak. …….Also released all over. Opening was very poor everywhere.
