Manasa Samyuktha Played by: Keerthy Suresh
The latest Telugu movie on Netflix (also dubbed in Tamil and Malayalam) is called Miss India featuring Keerthy Suresh. It features the life of a young woman who wants to start her own tea business in the US and how she goes about achieving it
Miss India tea owner
Manasa Samyuktha :- A girl from a middle-class family dreams of becoming an entrepreneur. Her dreams are too high for her modest background as she wants to take her tea brand Miss India across the world. This story of an underdog and a woman at that might strike a chord with many young women who are struggling to find their footing in a patriarchal society.
Is Miss India a real story?
Miss India is directed by debutant Narendra Nath and has already released on Netflix. For those looking to avoid subtitles, Miss India’s dubbed versions in Tamil and Malayalam are also available on Netflix. What’s more, is that Miss India is indeed based on a true story.
Miss India: The cast of the film
Romance is the least of what Miss India has to offer. Aside from a riveting story, the movie is peppered with character actors who are well-known in the Telugu industry. Rajendra Prasad, a veteran actor plays Samyukta's mentor in the film. Jagapathi Babu is the patriarchal business mogul who plays the anti-hero. Actors Naresh and Nadhiya are seen as Samyuktha's father and mother. The film was originally planned to be released on April 17, 2020, but had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was released on Netflix on 4 November 2020 in Telugu with dubbed versions in Tamil and Malayalam.
Meet a real life tea Entrepreneur: Rushita – of Eternal Holistics
Having said that, I would now like to introduce a real-life Miss India style entrepreneur- my good friend Rushita, co-founder of Eternal Holistics tea – a young company that just started in 2019, and a mother of 2 young kids.
Managing a family during a pandemic and running a holistic tea company on the side – Talk about female empowerment… Rushita is the real life version that the movie Miss India portrays!!
While the work of Manasa Samyuktha (the protagonist’s name) a.k.a owner of Miss India tea in the movie involved power walks with fan blowing her hair, with top shots of her drawing designs, slow motions of her pulling chandeliers into place, here’s a view into Rushita’s daily work schedule…
Rushita takes care of her children, produces, packages and ships the products herself. Tracking payments, filling inventory, replying to customer queries are all part of her job in this start-up. Donning so many hats can wear a person down, but you can always see Rushita powering through with a smile….
The music
The music is composed by S. Thaman released on Aditya Music label. And as you already know, Thaman is known for his thumping, refreshing take on music and his tunes are memorable. The songs have hummable value, especially the Kotthaga Kotthaga sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Lacha Gummadi, which was sung by Srivardhini. It’s a Thaman musical so expect music to fill in the gaps and settle into the storytelling beautifully.
The dialogues we need to hear
The whole movie is peppered with inspiring lines and massy punchlines. But at the heart of it is the ambition of a girl. There’s advice her dad gives her that resonates with the spirit of our times. For instance, her father’s advise at age 8, on how good grades in school mean nothing unless she has a goal in life. Or Keerthy’s character replying to her mom who admonishes her with ‘You won’t find a better boy than this’ with ‘He won’t find a better girl than me’. Go for the story but cheer for the dialogues.
Directed by :- Narendra Nath
Produced by :- Mahesh S Koneru
Written by Narendra Nath
Starring
Keerthy Suresh
Jagapathi Babu
Rajendra Prasad
Naresh
Nadhiya
Naveen Chandra
Pujita Ponnada
Music by :- S. Thaman
Cinematography by :- Dani Sanchez-Lopez & Sujith Vaassudev
Edited by :- Tammiraju
Production company :- East Coast Productions
Distributed by:- Netflix
Release date :- 4 November 2020
Running time :- 138 minutes
Country :- India
Language :- Telugu
A day in Rushita’s life, in her own words…
My day starts early with a 1-hour group exercise. Then I have just 1 hour left to squeeze everything in. Wake up the kids, breakfast, getting ourselves ready, and hello ZOOM. The elder one is still OK but with a kindergartener, it has been challenging. I try to sneak into my e-mails, try to reply to my customer queries as well as fulfilling any orders.
I have to be mindful to stay off the distractions and focus on producing excellent quality products and packaging. A quick run to the warehouse in the early morning makes it more hectic for most days.
In between, we have snack breaks and lunch preps going on. Then on the other side, I will have the younger one shouting, “I cannot find my paper” so I have to jump in with him. The elder one manages on his own, but the younger will needs me often in between.
After school, I usually make my run for all the shipments. Some days are super tiring, especially when making a few orders together and finishing the shipping. But at the end of the day, when you get positive feedback from the customers and learn about the inspiring impact on their well-being, it makes all worth it.
Cast
Keerthy Suresh as Manasa Samyuktha
Jagapathi Babu as Kailash Siva Kumar a.k.a KSK
Rajendra Prasad as Dr. Vishwanath, Manasa, Sahana and Arjun's grandfather
Naresh as Sivarama Krishna, Manasa, Sahana and Arjun's father
Nadhiya as Kamala, Manasa, Sahana and Arjun's mother
Naveen Chandra as Vijay Anand, Manasa's former love interest
Bhanu Sri Mehra as Sahana, Manasa's elder sister
Sumanth Shailendra as Vikram, Manasa's business partner
Kamal Kamaraju as Arjun Chaitanya, Manasa's elder brother
Praveen as Vijju, an employee in Miss India
Pujita Ponnada as Padma Nayana, Manasa's classmate and deceiver
Divya Sripada as Preethi, Manasa's friend