Manaroopa


Manaroopa is a 2019 Indian psychological crime thriller film based on the philosophy of Existentialism in Kannada language. The film also addresses the subject of Nihilism and Narcissism. The film is written and directed by Kiran Hegde. Produced by CMCR movies, the music of movie is given by Sarvanaa and cinematography is done by Govinda Raj. Dialogues of this movie are given by Mahabala Seethalabhavi and Kiran Hegde. 90% of the movie has been shot in and around the hinterland of Sirsi and Siddapur forests of Western Ghats of Karnataka that are unexplored.
Manaroopa's story is about the dilemma of millennials and their maskaphobia. The film also captures narcissist characteristics that are portrayed by people in virtual world. The entire story takes place over 40 hours and offers a strange experience for the viewers to enjoy and probably relate to this era of selfies and self-obsession

Plot

The plot revolves around five former college friends who go for a night trek to a place in forest called Karadi Guhe. En route, they find many ominous signs. However, they decide to setup the camp and the group finds two people missing when they wake up. Another of their friend is gagged and tied up. They also find that all that they had was stolen overnight. There is a cryptic message on a balloon and they decide to split up to find their friends and go back to home. The story revolves on a two-day journey of a strange experience of all five friends. It keeps the audiences hooked as they too feel as if it is their own self-obsessions having a causal relation with the story of this movie.
Manaroopa is considered a bold attempt by Kiran Hegde, debutant director, due to the relevance of its sociological theme in consonant to the current era. It accommodates multifaceted human feelings from thinking perspectives of the new generation especially their inestimable contrasting attributes of ambiguity, obsessed with love & relationships, crime, morality, loneliness and helplessness.

Cast

Manaroopa has Dileep Kumar, Anusha Rao, Nisha B.R, Aryan, Shivaprasad as the five friends in the lead roles. The film also has B. Suresh, Amogh Siddarth, Gaja Ninasam, Prajwal Gowda, Ramanand Inakai, Satish Golikoppa, Pawan Kalmane, Yashodha Hosakatta and K.N.Hegde in the supporting roles.

Reception and criticism

Tanvi PS from Times of India gave Manaroopa 3 star out of 5. She said, "Manaroopa has the makings of a good psychological thriller - it is dark, eerie, a tad disturbing, and packs in some good thrills." Vijay Karnataka also gave it 3 out of 5 stars and called this film as 'a new age psychological thriller'. Kannada Prabha writes “Manaroopa film has a strange storyline which address on loneliness, self-destruction, psychological issues in the backdrop of forest in a good manner” and gave 3 stars.

Awards and recognition

Manaroopa film won many awards from various international film festivals. Film's theme, direction, performances of the artists, music, cinematography, and sound design have received the most attention from festival's juries. Manaroopa has won the following awards and recognitions since its release:
The movie is available on Amazon Prime Videos.