Kannada film director Phani Ramachandra is famous for his healthy comedy Ganesha series like Ganeshana Maduve, Ganeshana Galaate, Gowri Ganesha and Ganesha-Subramanya. All these were all clean comedies that entertained everyone.
Phani is now back with Ganesha Maththe Bandha, that sends out the message that compatibility in love or arranged marriage rests in the minds of the couple involved.
As in the case of Phani Ramachandra's other films, even Ganesha Maththe Bandha reflects the aspirations, emotions, dreams of the tradition bound lower middle class families. The film is about what happens in a Vataara (cluster of lower middle class houses built in a small colony) of lower middle class people.
But neither the songs nor their picturisations match the grandeur seen in today's films. Cinematography is below par. If music and photography were of high class, Ganesha Maththe Bandha could have been a top class product.
Ganesha gets a job in Bangalore as a software engineer. His father wants him to stay in a Vataara with his friend Padmanabhacharya. Being a youngster with modern outlook, Ganesha finds many paradoxes in Padmanabhacharya's family. But he likes Gayathri, the second daughter of Acharya who is innocent and attached to traditional moorings. Ganesha wins over Acharya and his wife and gets married to Gayathri.
Acharya's first daughter loves a bike specialist without knowing that he belongs to a farmer's family in a village. Overruling objections of her father, she marries her lover but soon gets disillusioned. Even Ganesha's marriage also faces many problems. How these problems get resolved forms the rest of the story.
The acting department clearly belongs to veterans Anant Nag, Vinaya Prakash and Doddanna who are superb. Vijaya Raghavendra shows his talents in comedy as well as singing. Pragna has shown her class in her second film.
Ganesha Maththe Bandha is an entertainer like many of Phani's films of the Ganesha series. Go and watch it.
Rediff Rating: 
