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Critic Review
Sri ManjunathThere is village called 'Dharmasthali'. There lives a guy called Manjunatha (Arjun) who hates the Lord Shiva (Chiranjeevi) and feels that Lord Shiva is a cheater. There is another beautiful lady Katyayani (Soundarya), who is an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. This couple meet with each other on and off in pucca Raghavendra Rao style. During one night, this couple is forced to stay in a jungle as Katyayani was wounded. Manjunatha fixes her wound. But the village heads pass a judgement that Katyayani is no more a respectable lady and they force her to become a devadasi. Manjunatha marries her to avoid her becoming a devadasi. Katyayani's devotion to Lord Shiva irks Manjunatha. Katyayani gives birth to a kid, with the blessings of Lord Shiva. Even the kid turns out to be a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva. An irked Manjunatha slaps the kid and later on realizes the power of Lord Shiva.There is king (Ambarish) in that territory who is also a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva and he acquires the kaala gnanam (Knowledge of the time - knowing the future).
Manjunatha visits the Lord Shiva shrine at Dharmastali along with his family. During his visit, a few bad omens occur. The other devotees accuse Manjunatha as the cause. King happens to be there at that place. He asks Manjunatha to prove his innocence by making all the diyas glow again. Manjunatha sings the breathless song (Mayakaya Deepam by Shankar Mahadevan and written by Maharshi Veda Vyasa) and make the diyas glow. Everybody realizes that Manjunatha is a changed man and is a greatest devotee of Lord Shiva.
Manjunatha wants to get himself acquitted of all the sins he has made in the past. He installs a crore of Shiva Lingas in a place (Dharma Sthali). Lord Shiva visits that place in the form of old man asks devotee to give him some food. Meanwhile, old man behaves in such a way that Manjunatah sends him out without offering food. Manjunatha realizes his mistake later. But it was too late.
After few more gripping incidents, the king felicitates the Manjunatha. During that time king realizes that Manjunatha is going to die on that particular day (as king knows kala gnanam).
Will Manjunatha die? Is premature death the presentation he gets for all his devotion toward Lord Shiva? You have to watch this heart-touching climax on the big screen to enjoy this 3-hour long devotional film..
Chiranjeevi as Lord Shiva plays his role to the hilt. And so does Soundarya hers. But clearly, the most commendable performance is that of Arjun, who makes a smooth transformation from his action king image to that of a devotionally charged character. His.
First half is little slow in this film. It took one hour for K Raghavendra Rao to take the entire audiences into his narrative grip. Once he has the audiences spellbound, there is no looking back. He takes us through a journey till the heart-touching clim.
