Moggina Jade, to a cute looking hair-Review

 Movie: Moggina Manasu [2008]
Starring: Shubha Poonja, Radhika Pandit, Sangeetha Shetty, Manasi, Yesh, Skanda, Manoj, Harsha
Music: Mano Murthy
Lyrics :Jayanth Kaikini, Shashank, Sini
Director: Shashank
Producer: E Krishnappa, G Gangadhar
Music On :EK Audio
Release: 2008

A chubby schoolgirl resides with her parents, grandparents and a cousin in a locality that is usually described by geeks as ‘very conservative'. Here, the florist and the milkman make their early morning rounds, disbursing milk and flowers to each household, and dispensing local gossip as well. A piece of R K Lakshman's Malgudi town perhaps?

But Bangalore is no longer just about its quaint charms. Bangalore today means a booming IT-BT industry, a young crowd flaunting its wealth, in turn fuelling middle-class dreams, and burying many more.

So this family also has the now-common set of characters — an ambitious ‘working' daughter-in-law who prefers partying with the jet-set over old-fashioned social interaction, a son who is willing to accommodate all the changes for the sake of meeting commitments, old parents who are mute spectators and two children who are best friends, unaware of adult complexities.

Things might have continued in the same vein but for one thing. The little girl is fascinated by the sight of another girl wearing a moggina jade (plait of jasmine buds); she begins pestering her grandparents for one, after seeing her cousin get a bicycle for himself.

Things turn ugly and the parents set up a separate household. The girl's spirit wilts and in a filmi climax, the parents learn their lesson.

Baby Shreesha and Master Anirudha seem natural and this perhaps is the saving grace of this film. Among the adults, Rajesh stands out for his restrained performance. The insensitive mother's role is a cakewalk for Pavithra.

Harshitha as the smart maid Nagarathna is a pleasant surprise — the director has chosen well. But a langourous pace and artificial dialogues in places ruin the film. This one is a children's film alright, though the intended audience is not the young ones.

For viewers who are already jaded with an overdose of a variety of emotions, Moggina Jade offers no distraction, except maybe a stray thought or two. But like in most households today, even these thoughts will vanish the moment a new filmi distraction comes along.