Maryade Prashne movie review: Class-conflict revenge drama is all bark and no bite

Maryade Prashne movie review: From the makers of Honeymoon, By Mistake and Hate U Romeo, comes a tale of Bengaluru's class divide.

Rakesh Adiga, Shine Shetty and Prabhu Mundkur in a still from Maryade Prashne

Maryade Prashne movie story: Suri (Rakesh Adiga), Manja (Poorna Mysore) and Sathisha (Suneel Raoh) are childhood buddies with modest dreams of a better tomorrow, and their fair share of struggles to find the means. A failed entrepreneur, Sathisha’s desperately trying to clear his debts as a food delivery agent; cab driver Manja wants to end his days with a hired car and is putting away whatever little money he can for the down-payment of his own vehicle, while Suri is the local MLA’s man on the ground, who hopes to get the politico’s support as the party nominee for corporator.

Even when things aren’t exactly going the way they hoped for, the friends find comfort in each other’s company, until a stray encounter with a bunch of rich and entitled guys ends in tragedy.

Maryade Prashne movie review: No matter the circumstances, the have-nots are not criminals and will do no wrong, but the haves, with their never-ending desire for more, are and are more than capable of unspeakable evil – that’s the basic premise that RJ Pradeepa and Nagaraj Somayaji have worked on for Maryade Prashne. But does that really hold true for society at large? Is maintaining a good reputation all that matters for the middle-class?

Maryade Prashne ‘attempts’ to hold a mirror to the day-to-day struggles of the middle-class and the supposed debauchery of the rich. After a hard day of work, the middle-class lets off steam over tea, cigarettes or the occasional tipple, griping about their existence, while the moneyed ones lounge around and have fun with women and alcohol.

I am no expert, but this does not feel like an honest representation of either set and is more like an outsider’s perspective of what it could be like. Like, for instance, someone from the upper middle-class belt, who’s neither here nor there and makes an educated guess about how life will be with or without money.

Even the friendships in the tale suffer from stereotypes – the have-nots have deep emotional bonds (even if the onscreen representation has a severe case of no chemistry between the leads), while the haves are incapable of the same, lurking in the shadows, ready to stab each other in the back at the first chance.

The bigger issue with Maryade Prashne, though, is that the big class conflict that’s at its centre ends up being a lot of hot air. A few insults are traded, but you never really feel invested in either party. You keep waiting for the fireworks that just never go off.

What the film does get right is the casting – a bunch of talented actors – Rakesh, Poorna, Suneel, Teju Belawadi, Shine Shetty, Rekha Kudligi, etc., each effective in his/her own way within the limitations of the script. The one who’s really struck jackpot is Prabhu Mundkur as Rocky, the rich arrogant one who’ll stop at nothing to have things go his way. He’s the guy with the pompous Delhiite attitude in upscale Bengaluru; Prabhu looks and plays the part to good effect.

Maryade Prashne verdict: Maryade Prashne’s noble intention of highlighting the perils of drunk driving, gets watered down, amid a tepid narrative that offers no solid pay-off. It’s not all down-hill and the film has its moments, albeit few and far between. If you are looking for something light to watch this week, this is it.

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