Manasantha Nuvve

Manasantha Nuvve (transl. “My heart is full of you”) is a 2001 Telugu romantic drama directed by V. N. Aditya, in his debut, and written and produced by M. S. Raju. Uday Kiran and Reema Sen play childhood friends separated as children who spend years hoping to find each other again, and R. P. Patnaik‘s songs were a big part of its appeal. Released on 19 October 2001, it was one of the biggest Telugu hits of the year and was remade in five other languages.

What the story is about

In a village in the Araku Valley, Anu, the daughter of a wealthy government officer, befriends Chanti, the son of a poor widow who lives in a hut beside their house. Her father disapproves, but the two are inseparable until he is transferred to Vizag. As a parting gift, Anu gives Chanti a musical alarm clock, which he keeps as a reminder of her.

Chanti’s mother dies soon after, and he scrapes a living selling breakfast to railway passengers until a kind couple, Mohan Rao and Sudha, adopt him, rename him Venu and raise him as their eldest child. Anu, meanwhile, is educated in Malaysia but never forgets her friend. She comes back to India to look for him, and when she cannot find him, she starts writing their story as a magazine serial called Manasantha Nuvve, under the pen name Renu. Venu’s younger sister becomes the serial’s biggest fan. We will leave the reunion, and what stands in its way, to the film.

Cast and crew

• Uday Kiran as Chanti (Venu)
• Reema Sen as Anu (Renu)
• Tanikella Bharani as Anu’s father
• Chandra Mohan as Mohan Rao, Venu’s adoptive father
• Sudha as Venu’s adoptive mother
• Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao as Sivaram, editor of Swati weekly
• Brahmanandam as Daya
• Sunil as Sunil, Venu’s friend
• Tanu Roy as Shruthi

Director: V. N. Aditya. Writer-producer: M. S. Raju (Sumanth Art Productions). Music: R. P. Patnaik. Lyrics: Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry. Runtime: 144 minutes.

Making of the film

V. N. Aditya had assisted directors such as Jayanth C. Paranjee and Singeetam Srinivasa Rao before this, his first film. M. S. Raju said he took a chance on a new director and a relatively new actor on S. Gopal Reddy’s recommendation, after his previous production, Devi Putrudu (2001), failed. Mahesh Babu was first offered the lead.

R. P. Patnaik’s eight songs, all written by Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry, were popular. “Cheppave Prema” was inspired by Cher’s “Dov’è l’amore” (1999), and the hit “Tuneega Tuneega” was rearranged from Vidyasagar’s “Kannadi Koodum Kootti” from the Malayalam film Pranayavarnangal (1998).

Reviews and box office

Critics were less won over than audiences. Sify called it “a romantic film which peters out to be another melodrama”, while Jeevi of Idlebrain.com rated it a little over 3 out of 5. At the box office it completed a hat-trick for Uday Kiran after Chitram (2000) and Nuvvu Nenu (2001), as India Today later recalled. The trade site T2BLive credits it with a distributors’ share of ₹18 crore.

Remakes

The film was remade in Kannada as Manasella Neene (2002), in Hindi as Jeena Sirf Merre Liye (2002), in Tamil as Thithikudhe (2003), in Bangladesh in Bengali as Moner Majhe Tumi (2003), and in Odia as Neijare Megha Mate (2008).

Where to watch Manasantha Nuvve

We do not have a confirmed streaming listing for Manasantha Nuvve on file. If we verify one with a platform, it will appear on this page.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Manasantha Nuvve and the reviews and reports it cites, linked above; our own cast and crew records.