What’s it about?
Gowtham (Syed Sohel) is a well-known tattoo artist. Maha (Roopa) is hopelessly in love with him and insists that they get married. They tie the knot despite Maha’s dad’s objections. Gowtham requests an abortion or a gestational transfer from Maha when he learns of his pregnancy.
She is taken aback by his strange proposal, but he is able to win her over by citing international examples of husbands carrying their wives’ pregnancies and by disclosing a traumatic event from his past. She finally decides to accept his proposal.
Gowtham finds a doctor (Suhasini Maniratnam) who is willing to transplant Maha’s uterus to him, despite the fact that many other doctors laugh at his idea.
But what will his life be like as India’s first male pregnant?
Analysis
As the title suggests, “Mister Pregnant” is about a man who becomes pregnant. The film’s hero, we are told, is the first male to become pregnant in India. The concept of a male pregnancy is not only odd, but it is also a challenge for any writer or director to narrate it convincingly. Even though we read about some men becoming pregnant in other countries, it is hard to comprehend.
Srinivas Vinjanampati, in his first feature film, devised a novel plot. He dispels all of our concerns about a man becoming pregnant right away by including a scene in which a doctor, played by Suhasini Manirathnam, informs us that it is possible to transplant a female’s uterus into the body of a man and hormonal injections help the man carry his wife’s pregnancy. Medically feasible, but what about the other complications and the reaction of society? This is the sole focus of the post-interval.
The first half of the film focuses on why the hero wants to carry his wife’s pregnancy and how a man can become pregnant. The second half is devoted to the complexities and societal problems. This is a difficult subject, but we can see that the makers have resorted to using standard tropes and commercial elements such as comedy, and family-oriented sequences.
All sorts of predictable patterns and sequences are revealed to us along the way. The director took a ‘safe approach’ to make it as commercially viable as possible, which has generated conflicting reactions. More care should have been taken for key sequences. Especially, it lacks emotional beat.
Sohel as male pregnant is impressive. His acting is appreciable in the final sequences. Telugu girl Roopa Koduvayur of “Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya” is okay. The camerawork is satisfactory.
Bottom line: “Mister Pregnant” definitely has a unique storyline. A male protagonist becoming pregnant is an unusual premise, but the director sticks to a tried-and-true narrative style that gets the job done. It has more predictable approach. A safe delivery, but not without some pain.
Rating: 2.5/5
Film: Mister Pregnant
Cast: Syed Sohel, Roopa Koduvayur, Suhasini Manirathnam, Viva Harsha, Brahmaji and others
Music: Shravan Bharadwaj
Cinematography: Nizar Shafi
Editing: Prawin Pudi
Art: Gandhi Nadikudikar
Producers: Appi Reddy, RaviReddy Sajjala, Venkat Annapareddy
Story, Screenplay, dialogue and Direction: Srinivas Vinjanampati
Release Date: Aug 18, 2023
