Manamey

Manamey (transl. “Ourselves”) is a 2024 Telugu romantic comedy drama written and directed by Sriram Adittya, starring Sharwanand and Krithi Shetty as two strangers who end up raising a friend’s toddler together. It was produced by People Media Factory and Ramsey Studios Production, with music by Hesham Abdul Wahab, and released in theatres on 7 June 2024 to mixed reviews.

What the story is about

Vikram is a happy-go-lucky young man doing his master’s degree in the UK. A call from India brings bad news: his close friend and London classmate Anurag has died in a fire along with his wife. Vikram flies home and finds himself made the caretaker of the couple’s two-year-old son, Kushi. Subhadra, a close friend of Kushi’s mother, is given the same responsibility. The two become joint guardians of the child back in the UK, and the film follows how a careless Vikram and a devoted Subhadra learn to put aside their differences for Kushi’s sake.

Cast

• Sharwanand as Vikram Balisetti
• Krithi Shetty as Subhadra
• Vikram Adittya as Kushi, the son of Anurag and Shanti
• Thrigun as Anurag, Vikram’s best friend
• Mounika Reddy as Shanti, Anurag’s wife and Subhadra’s best friend
• Tanikella Bharani as Mahendra, a British Consulate officer
• Vennela Kishore as a doctor
• Seerat Kapoor as Tanya, a tour guide
• Sachin Khedekar and Tulasi as Vikram’s parents
• Mukesh Rishi and Seetha as Kushi’s maternal grandparents
• Rahul Ravindran as Joseph, Anurag’s business partner and rival
• Rahul Ramakrishna as Rolex Ramulu, Vikram’s assistant
• Shiva Kandukuri as Karthik, Subhadra’s fiancé

Making of the film

The project was announced under the working title #Sharwa35 on 6 March 2023, the actor’s birthday, and only received the name Manamey a year later, on 6 March 2024, with a first-look glimpse. Roughly 80% of the film was shot in London, with further portions filmed in Bangkok, Shankarpalle and Hyderabad; principal photography wrapped on 24 October 2023. The teaser followed on 19 April 2024.

Hesham Abdul Wahab composed the songs and background score, his first collaboration with the director and the lead actor, recording at HW Studio in Kochi. The soundtrack runs to sixteen songs. Singles were released in the run-up to release: “Ika Na Maate” on 28 March 2024 (its video uses English locations such as St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol, Leadenhall Market in London and Shelter Hall in Brighton), “Oh Manamey” on 25 May, the wedding song “Tappa Tappa” on 30 May and “Boom Boom” on 6 June, with the rest arriving as a jukebox on 8 June.

Reviews

Critics were split. Balakrishna Ganeshan of The News Minute gave it 3.5/5 and welcomed it as “no-judgement entertainment” at a time of violent, misogynistic action films. The Times of India (3/5) called it “a delightful blend of romance and comedy”, and OTTplay’s Avad Mohammad (3/5) found it a feel-good family drama with endearing moments in both halves. Others were cooler: Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu called Wahab’s music the film’s lifeline but said his melodies “cannot make up for the lacklustre writing”, while Priyanka Sundar of Firstpost (2.5/5) felt it chose melodrama over real emotional context.

Box office

According to the Deccan Chronicle, Manamey grossed ₹8 crore in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in its first three days. English Jagran later put its total gross at over ₹21.85 crore. A ten-day worldwide figure quoted on Wikipedia carries no source, so we have left it out.

Where to watch Manamey

Our record lists Manamey on Amazon Prime Video, streaming from 7 March 2025. That date comes from the film’s Wikipedia article rather than a platform listing, and the same article says it also began streaming on Aha from 10 April. Check the platform before you press play, as availability can change.

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