'Maryade Prashne' Review: Nagaraja Somayaji’s Solid Revenge Drama Is Undermined By A Haphazard Narrative

Director: Nagaraja Somayaji
Writer: Nagaraja Somayaji and RJ Pradeepaa (Story)
Cast: Rakesh Adiga, Suneel Rao, Poornachandra Mysore, Teju Belawadi, Prabhu Mundkur, Shine Shetty, Rekha Kudligi, Nagendra Sha
Language: Kannada

“Maryade Prashne” is a phrase commonly used among Kannada speakers in several different circumstances. Literally meaning the "question of dignity or respect" (izzat ka sawaal, as they say in Hindi), its usage encompasses almost all emotions and events related to keeping up appearances — from treating friends to an expensive meal to maintaining secrets — and is known to come in handy as a general rule of self-preservation., The same phrase becomes the underlying emotion of Nagaraja Somayaji's film of the same name, a social thriller under the garb of a syrupy family-and-friends drama.

Suri (Rakesh Adiga), Sathisha (Suneel Raoh) and Manja ( Poornachandra Mysore) are childhood friends who have grown up in the lower middle-class crevices of Bengaluru's Chamarajapet. The three have individual jobs and dreams, but what ties them together is their social identity and the desire to step beyond their confines. Suri toils hard in the local MLA’s (T.S. Nagabharana) team to become the next area corporator, while Satisha hustles as a delivery boy and Manja as a cab driver. 

A lot of Maryade Prashne’s spirit stems from how the friends navigate life together and separately. Conversations about broken TVs, ailing parents, debts, loans, EMIs and many such 'middle-class' topics are discussed at the trio's daily local tea stall rendezvous or the occasional bar visit. Somayaji spends ample time delivering exposition and gradually shows us that the lives of these young men are more intertwined than previously thought: If Suri, an orphan, lives vicariously through Satisha's happy family, Manja is in a relationship with Satisha's sister Lakshmi (Teju Belawadi). What the writer-director also stealthily brings to the fore is that the group is so tight-knit that  they will have each other's backs at any cost.

Two of the film’s best scenes, both arriving pre-interval, exemplify this relationship. In the first, one of the friends’ jolly birthday celebrations ends in a way that none of them could have imagined and a new set of characters enter the fray from out of nowhere. Each of these new entrants is about the same age as the protagonists, but also much richer and luckier, with swanky cars and expensive clothes. In the second, the rich guys are revealed to be the antagonists of the story but the scene, executed and staged superbly with the help of Sandeep Valluri's cinematography and Arjun Ramu's background score, also raises the stakes and gives the good guys the much-needed opportunity to vent.

It is at this juncture that Maryade Prashne starts to draw a binary between its two sets of characters by juxtaposing them against each other.. The film clearly bats for the underdog and wants Suri & Co. to win the fight against the elite, but it does so with little subtlety and starts to over-pronounce their glaring social differences. The result is a slew of cliches that  belong to a bygone era. If Rocky aka Rakesh (Prabhu Mundkur), the main rich bloke, disparages the friends for their unkemptness and frequently calls them "low class", they respond by vapidly hailing the middle-class as more ethical and united. If Suri, Manja and the others are willing to put their lives on the line for the sake of their loved ones, Rocky's clique won't bat an eye before stabbing each other in the back.

Perhaps this is how a mainstream film about class conflicts is meant to be staged? The answer might be unclear, but what helps Somayaji and story writer RJ Pradeepa (also the producer under Sakkath Studios) overcome their debatable characterisation is the film’s strong emotional undercurrent. The middle-class boys, at one point, are rendered helpless because of the wealth and the systemic clout that the rich guys boast of, but a revenge drama — which the film now wholeheartedly is — needn’t necessarily be all about bloodshed and an eye-for-an-eye mentality. It could be a psychological combat, in which one encroaches upon the other’s private, sanctimonious space and slowly starts to exploit the cracks existing in their relationship dynamics. The fun begins when Maryade Prashne heads in the latter direction and makes its bad guy, Rocky, the most important asset. Mundkur, in that vein, is particularly impressive in how he exudes a measured and authentic conceit,  which also becomes a great weapon against Suri’s raw conviction.

The film’s scattershot screenplay, however, doesn’t allow it to fully explore the psychological aspects of this drama. The scenes in which Suri and Manja attempt to break Rocky with everything in their power — including physical and verbal threats — are interesting, but Maryade Prashne makes it a little too easy for them to get the job done. Suri’s backstory, involving a slain father and a mother he made a promise to, plays spoilsport, consistently interrupting the narrative flow. Formulaic devices like video clips, sex tapes and kidnappings are also aimlessly implemented, diluting the film’s energy. Even Shine Shetty, as a character who promotes himself from Suri’s social strata to that of Rocky’s, is left unexplored.

In the end, Maryade Prashne offers a rather simplistic solution to a remarkable problem, but the film somehow still lingers in the mind because of its many small, extremely close-to-life moments. For instance, how Lakshmi’s boss makes her feel for trying on a dress while working as a salesgirl at a mall. Or how Sathisha’s mom finds pride in telling another delivery boy that her son too works for Zomato. Or how a belittled Suri breaks down in abject fear when Rocky tries to show him his place in society. The film should have capitalised on these instances but it still makes a valiant attempt, nevertheless, at voicing a concern that pertains to an entire demographic in urban India.