This is the section that I usually begin with a little summary of the film but for the sake of not giving out spoilers, I shall keep even the basic premise of Mangalavaaram under wraps. And I must say that the story even from the concept point of view is pretty good with the right elements of shock to keep you invested in the drama. The core concept is unique even though the situations created around it may have been explored in the recent past but the story as a whole is impressive. But it is the screenplay standing at almost 150 minutes that lacks coherence while I did get a feeling that the writing was manipulative as well, introducing twists for the sake of it. And hence the screenplay and the haphazard execution of the drama didn’t quite allow a good story to translate on celluloid. 

The drama opens with the introduction of children being a part of a village who worships the Mahalaxmi Goddess, and instantly when there is a mythological flavour to the drama, I am interested. You could feel the tension in the air as there are characters introduced through the lens of the children while the drama abruptly halts and jumps to a futuristic timeline. The villagers continue to have faith in Goddess Mahalaxmi while a parallel investigation begins following the untimely demise of a couple of folks from the village. As the investigation is carried out, a couple of more bodies are found thus setting up things for an interesting whodunnit. But I must say that while the drama is watchable, I did not get the high that I was expecting from the narrative. 

The proceedings are decent but way too scattered for my liking, and this had more to do with the screenplay branching out across various directions at the same time. So there was a hint of horror sprinkled in while masking the drama as a whodunnit that honestly felt like neither. The buildup was decent but the tone of the drama was a little faulty especially because the writers did not fully utilize the atmospherics of the drama, something that was done so well in the Telugu film Virupaksha. The extended flashback may have seemed to be fine on paper but what that did was eliminate the building tension in the drama on the current timeline which did not quite sit well with me. Even the sensitive issue being addressed lacked a solid justification in terms of the actions of a particular character. 

A lot has been said about the final 30 minutes of the film wherein the film throws in multiple twists and turns in the drama. But I must say that while the twists are decent, some just felt way more manipulative to allow the writing to reach from point A to point B. The drama lacked the coherence here which was further exposed during the staging of the drama where the focus was on getting past the multiple twists as opposed to the twists creating an impact for the user. Even the revelations were half-baked which didn’t quite come together at the end. Overall, the patchy screenplay ensures that the impact of the drama is diluted.