Rating: 5.5/10 (OK Abbayi)

Cast: Nani, Sai Pallavi, Vijay Varma (Introducing), Bhumika Chawla, Rajeev Kanakala, Priyadarshi, Posani, Raccha Ravi, Naresh, Pavitra Lokesh, Vennela Kishore

Story-Screenplay-Dialogues-Direction: Venu Sriram

Producer: Dil Raju

Banner: Sri Venkateswara Creations

Natural Star Nani has been on a roll with 7 successfully commercial films. His latest release, MCA directed by Venu Sriram hit the screens on December 21st. The 2nd outing from Nani and Dil Raju this year, does the film live upto the expectations? Let's find out

Plot: A youngster named Nani tries to protect his sister-in-law (Bhumika Chawla), a transport official, from a dreaded goon named Siva (Vijay Varma) who runs an illegal road transport business.

Performances: Nani is just superb. With his recent streak, he has done something only SS Rajamouli can boast of in terms of delivering successful entertainers back to back to back. His performance as his namesake is flawless and he is superb in the emotional sequences. If Nani continues to act like this, he could easily be on the way to being of the all time great actors in TFI history. He is easily the biggest non film background actor that we have ever seen and his market will surely go to another level with this film.

Sai Pallavi makes a questionable selection as the heroine in this movie. While her performance is good, her role is nowhere near as good or important as it was in Fidaa. She plays the typical commercial heroine who is there for a few romantic scenes and the scenes at regular intervals.

It is Bhumika Chawla who steals the show. She is outstanding as the vadina in her comeback film.

Debutant Vijay Varma is very good as Siva and it;s nice to see a fresh face as a villain. However one feels his characterization could have been more menacing and better written.

Vennela Kishore gets a hilarious role and his scene in the 2nd half in the market is a laugh riot. Priyadarshi entertains to an extent with some one liners.

Naresh, Rajeev Kanakala, Posani, and the rest of the friends gang for Nani are all adequate.

Direction: Venu Sriram made an unsuccessful debut with Oh my Friend in 2011. The film was also produced by Dil Raju but something went wrong in conveying his message and the film was a flop. While his intentions were good, the audience didn't seem to gel well with the content. After a gap of 6 years, he gets another chance to prove himself with MCA with a commercial entertainer and he does an adequate job. There is nothing outstanding about the film yet it proceeds in an entertaining manner. He succeeds in making an entertaining first half while the 2nd half feels a bit flat with a bland mind game and a few dragged scenes at the end. He extracts superb performances from his cast and gets the entertainment portion right for the most part. Had he written a better and more engaging first half, MCA would have gone from passable to a good film. Overall, its a decent job from the director in his comeback film.

Technicalities: Music and BGM by DSP is alright. While the songs are a nuisance, the background score is pretty good. Cinematography by Sameer Reddy is excellent. The visuals in Warangal are very fresh and pleasing to the eye. Dialogues are pretty good. Editing by Prawin Pudi is alright. Fights by Venkat are pretty good. Art by Ramajaneyulu is good for the house sets in Warangal. Production Values by Dil Raju are superb as usual.

Positives: 

+ Performances

+ Cinematography

+ First Half Comedy

Negatives: 

-  2nd Half

- Bland Mind game

- Dragged Climax

Analysis and Final Take: MCA is a regular commercial entertainer that features an decent story with a fairly new background. But the presentation is pretty much the same as any other commercial film.

There is nothing new in the movie to watch but it is passable due to the performances of the lead cast and some good entertainment on the first.

All of the review sites such as Greatandhra and Gulte have lambasted the movie for being overly routine and gave it a 2.5/5 but the movie is easily better than the rating.

The film opens with Nani and showcases his photographic memory trait and then proceeds to to show the strained relationship he has with this vadina. When they move to Warangal, there is some good comedy showcased here with the little things in life being shown as comedy. The film takes a huge u-turn and proceeds into action mode from the interval into the 2nd half. While the 2nd half could be called as a yawn and features some highly illogical sequences, the film is decent and not a terrible film.

Some examples of the illogical sequences are a warning scene where Nani has a gas tanker and unlocks it and drags it across the floor while giving a warning to some goons and dragging the tanker across the floor. His vadina is sleeping but doesn't hear a word or anyone screaming and then she wakes up only after the goons left. Also Nani gets a job but never goes to it so he can follow his vadina around the city to protect her from the villain. The climax is also extremely dragged and over the top with Nani's photographic memory trait coming back into the picture. The songs are also speedbreakers to the narrative.

Despite these hiccups, MCA is a decent one time watch just for Nani himself. You can't help but like the guy even if he is doing routine films. This should be another hit for him at the box office.

Overall, MCA is an OK one time watch. The performances from the lead actors and fairly entertaining first half are cancelled by some illogical sequences and a bland mind game between the hero and villain in the 2nd half. You can watch it at your own leisure.