Ek Mini Katha
Ek Mini Katha (transl. A "Mini" Story[lower-alpha 1]) is a 2021 Indian Telugu-language adult comedy film directed by debutant Karthik Rapolu and written by Merlapaka Gandhi.[3] Produced by UV Concepts, it stars Santosh Shoban, Kavya Thapar and Shraddha Das. The film premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 27 May 2021.[4]
Ek Mini Katha | |
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Directed by | Karthik Rapolu |
Screenplay by | Merlapaka Gandhi Sheik Dawood G |
Story by | Merlapaka Gandhi |
Produced by | UV Concepts |
Starring | Santosh Shoban Kavya Thapar Shraddha Das |
Cinematography | Gokul Bharathi |
Edited by | Satya G. |
Music by | Pravin Lakkaraju |
Production company | UV Concepts |
Distributed by | Mango Mass Media Amazon Prime Video |
Release date |
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Running time | 134 minutes |
Country | India |
Language | Telugu |
Budget | ₹5 crore[2] |
Plot
Ram Mohan, a university professor, visits psychiatrist Dr. Satya Kishore and explains his son Santosh's sex addiction and need for counseling. Later, Santosh visits the psychiatrist and explains his past. Santosh, a civil engineer, believes he has a small penis, based on few incidents from his childhood until college. During the same time, his father perceives that Santosh is a sex addict. Santosh is also part of a social media group called SDG and follows different methods, medicines, and devices suggested by members for penis enlargement, but all efforts go in vain. Finally, he opens up about his problem with his colleague, for which Sudarshan suggests going for penis enlargement surgery and arranges an appointment with a urologist. However, the urologist suggests Santosh that it's a high-risk surgery with a success rate of 1-2%. Alternatively, Sudarshan takes him to a prostitute's house to remove Santosh's stigmas and fears. Unfortunately, the house is raided and Santosh is caught. The cop warns Santosh and scolds Ram Mohan about their upbringing.
Enraged, Ram Mohan arranges an alliance with Amrutha. On the day of the meeting at Amrutha's house, Santosh learns that the girl has a code of expressing her rejection by spilling coffee on the man. Santosh falls in love with Amrutha and Amrutha also knew Santosh previously based on an incident where Santosh reveals his positive mindset towards women. Amrutha instantly likes Santosh but accidentally spills coffee on Santosh's pants. Santosh considers this as a rejection and leaves the girl's place. Amrutha meets Santosh again and tries to clarify as a result both start liking each other. Amrutha expresses to Santosh that she has big dreams to which Santosh perceives that Amrutha likes everything big and his small one cannot satisfy her wishes. He tries to explain to Amrutha his problem but fails. But Amrutha likes Santosh's honesty and the marriage gets fixed. Later he decides to get the risky penis enlargement surgery for Amrutha, for which he loans around 15lakh rupees from a local goon. On the day of surgery, the urologist dies in the operation theater due to his heart condition while Santosh is under anesthesia, thus Santosh doesn't get his surgery done as well cannot get back the money for at least one month.
As the marriage date approaches, Santosh decides to reveal the truth to Amrutha. They meet at a joggers park on Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, Santosh's father comes to the same park, seeing Santosh and Amrutha go behind a tree. But they are caught by the right-winged Hindu group that doesn't encourage Valentine's Day. They forcibly get Santosh married to Amrutha and is all covered on live TV which becomes an embarrassment for both families. They come to terms with it and plan a grand reception. During the reception, Amrutha gets to meet all of Santosh's maternal cousins, including Yadagiri who is mad about Santosh, a cousin with suicidal tendencies due to love failure, a TikTok addict girl, and a grandfather who is obsessed with Pooja Hegde. Santosh's father doesn't like them and never allows them to visit his house.
The families plan the first night for the couple, however, Santosh tries to delay it due to his problem. He tricks all his cousins to stay for the next ten days thus delaying it. He also foils the honeymoon trip sponsored by his company by deliberately missing the train. He also learns from his social media group that a new Ayurvedic medicine has come for penis enlargement. Sudarshan goes to get the medicine and brings Sanyaasini to personally deliver the medicine. Shraddha Das says she has to stay at Santosh's house to deliver the medicine personally to him. Sanyaasini instructs Santosh that the medicine is a 7-day course and has to be taken daily at 3 am. She also warns him about the side- effects like excess hunger, rage, and severe stomach ache. Santosh accepts it and starts taking the medicine personally prepared by her. The suicidal cousin along with Ram Mohan suspects that Santosh has an affair with the Shraddha Das. The cousin tries to explain to Amrutha but she never believes it. Side effects have a toll on Santosh's married life, especially with the rage. Sanyaasini also appreciates Santosh's love for Amrutha because he is the only person who has continuously taken the medicine for four days while the rest stopped it within 2 days. On the final day of the course, the medicine gets mixed in lunch preparations thus consumed by all cousins they fight among each other as a side effect. Santosh has sex with Amrutha and realises that she had no complaint on his penis size.
Things go well and Amrutha's family comes to visit her. Unfortunately, the cop who caught Santosh in the raid is Amrutha's uncle and he reveals his encounter with Santosh and his father. Amrutha's family felt cheated and they take her away. Santosh tries to reconcile with her for the past three months but the family doesn't allow him to meet and tries to break the alliance. The psychiatrist listens to Santosh's issue and then he explains that his fears and stigmas are rather mental-oriented and it doesn't have to do anything with his penis size. He suggests Santosh stop worrying about society's perception, stop believing in all kinds of medicines for penis enlargement and immediately meet Amrutha, tell her the truth come or may, and apologize to her. The psychiatrist later meets Ram Mohan and blames him that he failed to understand his son's mental issue and address it. As a result, Santosh alone had to fight his stigma of a small penis for the past twenty years and not killing himself as a saving grace.
Finally, Santosh goes to Amrutha's place, takes a loudspeaker, and expresses his love for her, his fear of having a small penis, but he doesn't care about society anymore. Santosh and Amrutha reconcile, their marriage is saved and have a son. One day the son asks Santosh how are kids born. Realizing his own experience as a child when he asked a similar question to his father, Santosh decides not to have such a situation with his son. So he starts explaining to his son in a way kids understand and in a less controversial manner.
Cast
- Santosh Shoban as Santosh
- Kavya Thapar as Amrutha
- Shraddha Das as Junior Guruji
- Brahmaji as Ram Mohan, father of Santosh
- Sudarshan as Darshan, Santosh's friend
- Saptagiri as Yadagiri / Lorry Giri, Santosh's cousin
- Posani Krishna Murali as Dr. Surya Prakash (cameo appearance)
- Harsha Vardhan as Psychiatrist G. Satya Kishore
- Duvvasi Mohan as Priest
- C. V. L. Narasimha Rao
- Jeevan Kumar
Production
The film is produced by UV Concepts, a subsidiary of UV Creations. Filming was done in early 2021. Merlapaka Gandhi is the writer of the film.[5] Some portions of the film were shot at Durgam Cheruvu Bridge and Hyderabad metro. It was initially planned to release in cinemas.[6] Due to the COVID-19 lockdown in India, the film's release was indefinitely postponed.[7] Later, it was confirmed that the Prime Video has bought the streaming rights of the film for ₹9 crore (equivalent to ₹10 crore or US$1.3 million in 2023).[8][9]
Soundtrack
Ek Mini Katha | ||||
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Soundtrack album by Praveen Lakkaraju | ||||
Recorded | 2021 | |||
Studio | Shade Studios, Hyderabad Tashi Recording Inn United States | |||
Genre | Romance | |||
Label | Mango Music | |||
Producer | Praveen Lakkaraju | |||
Praveen Lakkaraju chronology | ||||
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The music of the film is released under the Mango Music label.[10] The lyrical video of the first single "Ee Maya Lo" is released on 18 March 2021.[11] The second single "Saamiranga" is released on 21 April 2021.[12] Yash has choreographed the song. Sreejo had written lyrics for two songs of the film.
All music is composed by Praveen Lakkaraju
No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer (s) | Length |
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1. | "Ee Maya Lo" | Sreejo | Lipsika, Sweekar Agasthi | 3:40 |
2. | "Saamiranga" | Sreejo | Prudhvi Chandra | 2:30 |
3. | "I Hate My Life'u" | Bhaskarabhatla | Hema Chandra | 3:37 |
Release
The film was earlier scheduled for theatrical release on 30 April 2021.[13] Later, due to COVID-19 pandemic, the film was released on Amazon Prime Video on 27 May 2021.
Reception
Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu gave a mixed response for the film with exception of lead actor's acting.[14] The Indian Express critic Manoj Kumar R called it a half-baked comedy on matters of size.[15] Koimoi's Shubham Kulkarni wrote that "It is a fresh subject that no one has yet touched. An earnest actor making sure he doesn’t let down people who have hope in him. But what fails him is the dip in the screenplay and the preachiness of it all."[16]
Ramya Palisetty of India Today wrote that Ek Mini Katha begins by offering us something new but fails to deliver in the end.[17] Baradwaj Rangan felt that the film needs much sharper writing and wrote "apart from the climax, the film is neither limp nor hard-hitting."[18]
Notes
- "Ek" being Hindi for one/a and "Katha" being Telugu for story
References
- "షాకిచ్చే లా 'ఏక్ మినీ కథ' ఓటీటి రేటు".
- "Santosh Shoban, Kavya Thapar's 'Ek Mini Katha' to stream on OTT. Deets inside - Times of India". The Times of India.
- Telugu, TV9 (17 April 2021). "ఆసక్తికర కథాంశంతో తెరకెక్కుతున్న ఏక్ మినీ కథ.. త్వరలో ప్రేక్షకుల ముందుకు రానున్న సినిమా... - Ek Mini Katha Movie To Release On April 30 Th". TV9 Telugu (in Telugu). Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- "Ek Mini Katha: అమెజాన్లో 'మినీ కథ' - ek mini katha release in amazon". www.eenadu.net (in Telugu). Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- Ek Mini Katha | Ek Mini Katha Cast and Crew, Release Date and more, retrieved 19 May 2021
- Vyas (14 May 2021). "'Ek Mini Katha' to get a direct digital release?". www.thehansindia.com. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- "Ek Mini Katha release postponed indefinitely due to rise in COVID-19 cases - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- "Ek Mini Katha: ఓటీటీలోకి.. చిన్న సినిమాకి అన్ని కోట్ల లాభమా!". Sakshi (in Telugu). 13 May 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- Focus, Filmy (13 May 2021). "OTT Buzz: Ek Mini Katha strikes gold - Filmy Focus". filmyfocus.com. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- Arikatla, Venkat (18 March 2021). "'Ek Mini Katha' Song: Sensuous Enough". greatandhra.com. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- "Ee Maya Lo Song From Santosh Shoban's Ek Mini Katha Released". Sakshi Post. 19 March 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- Telugu, TV9 (17 April 2021). "ఆసక్తికర కథాంశంతో తెరకెక్కుతున్న ఏక్ మినీ కథ.. త్వరలో ప్రేక్షకుల ముందుకు రానున్న సినిమా... - Ek Mini Katha Movie To Release On April 30 Th". TV9 Telugu (in Telugu). Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- "Santosh Shoban and Kavya Thapar's Ek Mini Katha release date revealed - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- Dundoo, Sangeetha Devi (27 May 2021). "'Ek Mini Katha' movie review: An interesting idea, but a boring katha". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
- "Ek Mini Katha review: A half-baked comedy on matters of size". The Indian Express. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
- "Ek Mini Katha Review: An Earnest Santosh Shoban & A Fresh Concept About Insecurities With P*nis Size Falls Prey To Dragging & Preachiness Of It All". Koimoi. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
- "Ek Mini Katha Review: New Amazon Prime movie starring Santosh Shobhan misses the mark".
- Rangan, Baradwaj (27 May 2021). "Review Of Ek Mini Katha, Out On Amazon Prime Video: A Barely Funny Comedy That Needed Sharper Writing". Film Companion. Retrieved 28 May 2021.