Maska (2009 film)

Maska (transl. Buttering)^[a] is a 2009 Indian Telugu-language romantic action comedy film. It was directed by B. Gopal and starred Ram Pothineni, Hansika Motwani, Sheela, and Sunil. It was released on 14 January 2009 with 300 prints in 550 theaters.

Maska
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	B. Gopal
Written by	Paruchuri Brothers (dialogues)
Story by	Krishna
Produced by	M. S. Raju
Starring	Ram Pothineni Hansika Motwani Sheela Kaur Sunil
Cinematography	Sekhar V. Joseph
Edited by	Kotagiri Venkateshwara Rao
Music by	Chakri
Production company	Sumanth Art Productions
Release date	14 January 2009 (2009-01-14)
Running time	156 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	₹4.5 crore (equivalent to ₹13 crore or US$1.5 million in 2023)[1]

It has been remade in Bengali (Bangladesh) as Onnorokom Bhalobasha in 2012 and as Hero 420 (Indo-Bangladesh joint production) in 2016.

Plot

Krish (Ram) is a happy-go-lucky guy who lives with his brother (Naresh) and sister-in-law (Jhansi). He was in love with a girl named Manju (Sheela), who happens to be the daughter of Simhachalam (Mukesh Rishi). Krish's only intention is to become rich by marrying her, and he does not have any feelings whatsoever towards her. He weaves a love story between him and a girl called Meenakshi, aka Meenu (Hansika Motwani), to make Manju fall for him. He also meets Meenu, starts to like her for real, and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Simhachalam and Shinde (Pradeep Rawat) run against each other in a presidential election in Delhi. Shinde is a man of misdeeds and tries to find faults in Simhachalam's personal life so that he can expose him in front of the high command of the party so that his route will be clear to get the party ticket. Shinde comes to learn that Simhachalam has another wife (Seetha) and a daughter who lives in Hyderabad. He sends his men to find them. Unfortunately, Simhachalam fixes Manju and Krish's marriage, but Krish loves Meenu. Manju discovers it and points a gun on Meenu, but she leaves Krish to her and reveals that Meenu is the illegitimate daughter of Simhachalam and the sister of Manju. Simhachalam, Krish, and Shinde arrive. Meenu and Manju emotionally ask their father to forget everything and live happily. He gives up the election to Shinde. Krish then marries Meenu, and Manju lives happily.

Cast

• Ram Pothineni as Krishna (Krish)
• Hansika Motwani as Meenakshi (Meenu)
• Sheela as Manju
• Sunil as Bhadra, Krish's friend
• Ashish Vidyarthi as Raj Gopal, Krishna's father
• Suhasini Maniratnam as Snehalatha, Krishna's mother
• Mukesh Rishi as Simhachalam, Meenu and Manju's father
• Seetha as Lakshmi, Meenu and Manju's mother
• Brahmanandam as Doctor
• Pradeep Rawat as Shinde
• Naresh as Krish's brother
• Jhansi as Krish's sister-in-law
• Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao as Venkatachalam, Simhachalam's assistant
• Chandra Mohan as Chandram, Jailor
• Dharmavarapu Subramanyam as Software Company M.D.
• Telangana Shakuntala as Shakuntala, Shinde's sister
• Krishna Bhagavaan as Akuvakkala Ananda Rao
• M. S. Narayana as Priest Narayana
• Venu Madhav Venu, Bhadra's friend

Soundtrack

Maska
Soundtrack album by Chakri
Released	25 December 2008
Recorded	2008
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	28:03
Language	Telugu
Label	Aditya Music
Producer	Chakri
Chakri chronology
Neninthe (2008) Maska (2008) Raju Maharaju (2008)

The music of Maska was launched at a function organized in song set erected at Rama Naidu studios on the night of 25 December 2008. Dasari launched the audio CD and gave the first unit to D Rama Naidu. D Suresh Babu launched the audiocassette and gave the first unit to the main leads of the film.^[3] "Gunde Godarila" was the first song that was composed for the film and "Aa Vaipunna Ee Vaipunna" was the second.^[4]

All lyrics are written by Kandikonda.

Track-List^[5]

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Hare Hare Rama"	Suraj Jagan	4:25
2.	"Gunde Godarila"	Zubeen Garg, Kousalya	5:11
3.	"Kalloki Dilloki"	Chakri	4:17
4.	"Kalagannana Kalagannana"	Chakri, Kousalya	5:31
5.	"Aa Vaipunna Ee Vaipunna"	Hariharan, Sadhana Sargam	4:12
6.	"Bhagdad Gajadongai Vasta"	Ravi Varma, Sunidhi Chauhan	4:27
Total length:			28:03

Reception

Jeevi of Idlebrain.com rated the film three out of five stars and wrote, "The plus points of the film are Ram and first half. On the flip side, there is a bit of lag in the last half an hour of the film and more clarity is needed in love triangle. On a whole, Maska has got entertainment elements that might work at box office."^[6] Radhika Rajamani of Rediff.com gave the film two out of five stars and wrote, "The saving grace of the film seems to be Ram. He is cool, casual and effortless. He is brilliant in the dances and equally effective in action too. However, his spirited performance cannot salvage a film whose script has nothing much new to offer."^[7]

Notes

1. Maska means to praise people in expectation for some benefit in return.^[2]