MISS INDIA

After Penguin, yet another movie of Keerthy Suresh’s hits OTT platforms, and this time around, it’s Miss India on Netflix. The story is quite simple or rather not worked upon well. Keerthy as Manasa Samyuktha takes it upon herself to conquer the world of business, countering all sorts of challenges, most of which appear amateurish, to say the least.

The film appears to have a distinct Telugu flavour and the Tamil dubbing of a few characters are not on point. Nadiya plays Manasa’s mother and her characterisation struggles to develop a natural chemistry with her on-screen daughter and looks a tad mechanical in a few scenes.

The dialogues also come across a bit unconvincing and unnatural. The conflicts aren’t built up well and adding to the chaos is the melodramatic tone, the film takes, at times. The movie’s slow pace is also another dampener.

A few progressive things about women that are said in the film are nice to hear. But that’s about it. Technical departments are adequate – neither do they deserve special mention nor have added more value to the story.

Jagapati Babu plays the villain in what is we-have-seen-this-a-million-times role. There is hardly any rhyme or reason for his and Keerthy Suresh’s characters to cross swords with each other but what to do, our heroine needs a villain

Even Manasa’s business idea doesn’t come across as remotely interesting – it’s not like no one consumes tea in America. Presenting her as someone who conquers with an everyday item that is nothing out of the ordinary seems to have misfired.

We brace ourselves to see some semblance of novelty in which Manasa goes about setting her business. Alas, as with most other things in the film, here too, we face disappointment. Keerthy Suresh has lost oodles of weight and it shows. Sadly, the film doesn’t ever allow for her to rise above its mediocrity.

Had the makers worked on the script and screenplay's engagement, the thousands of dollars that went into making the film would have made better sense. The only way Miss India could be recommended is if anyone is curious to know what went wrong!