It is a shame when a ball of talent like that in Manorama is wasted on a purely poor script. That is the case with Manorama Six Feet Under. The movie has all the perfect content casting wise just not script wise.

A thriller and suspense drama, Manorama Six Feet Under is the journey of a small time author SV (Abhay Deol) as he turns his written character of a detective into a real person.

On a normal afternoon, in his average household with his wife (Gul Panag) and son, SV gets a visit from an unfamiliar lady who claims to be the wife of a leading politician. She has read SV's first book "Manorama" and wants him to turn his book's main protagonist into a real life person by asking SV to do a bit of snooping around to uncover a possible affair her husband might be having. SV in the need of money accepts the job and uncovers something that is much more than he thought. His findings are so dire that it costs the mysterious lady her life. There is, however, one thing the lady says to SV before she dies and that is the truth of her identity. She was not actually the politician's wife but someone who had uncovered an ugly truth about the politician and was being punished for it. Oh and also what a coincidence, her name too is Manorama like the title of SV's novel.

The rest of Manorama Six Feet Under is SV's journey of uncovering the killers of Manorama and discovering the deep dark truth that he had uncovered under the influence which was a mere extra marital affair.

Manorama Six Feet Under has the makings of a good movie however the screenplay is one that can put someone to sleep within the first 5 minutes. It is a shame since the storyline is quite impressive and is capable to be shaped in a much more exciting way to keep the audiences' attention. Detective dramas are becoming rare these days so if Manorama had shaped up perfectly, without a doubt it would have been a fantastic movie.

The movie seems to have been dragged like a long piece of chewing gum, until the point where it snaps. And the snapping part is exactly when audiences make up their mind and announce, "Nope, I don't like this movie at all."

Abhay Deol can certainly be type casted as the most unpredictable and "weird" Deol of the lot. Unlike his cousins who lived of the "typical" Bollywood movies, he has yet to do one. The closest clichéd script he has done would be his debut movie, Socha Na Tha, which too was quite a different styled movie. Manorama just adds to his list of "hatke" movies. However, the actor needs to be wiser about the choice and simply not run at the chance of a movie that seems "out there". His performance in Manorama is by far one of the most mature performances till date. The actor is certainly a fine piece of work but one can't help wanting better luck in his choice of movies. Hopefully in the coming years we'll see better movies along with his fantastic performances.

Gul Panag isn't given much scope as an actress which is a shame since after the blockbuster Dor it has been established that she is an actress capable of fantastic performances. In Manorama she's sidelined to a typical bickering wife and mother, which is not justice to an actress of such high calibre.

Raima Sen continues her trend of roles that aren't lengthy, but they certainly offer her a very important and influential role in the script. Even though her time on screen isn't of a lengthy duration, she still makes her present felt and her role is of much importance. Hopefully in the near future audiences will witness Raima in a far meatier role that will allow her to fully showcase her talent.

On the whole, Manorama is a lost cause. It had the potential of being a good movie with its initial storyline and intentions of the makers, but due to the unexciting screenplay it fails strongly. Unless you are strong fans of the leading stars, BS recommends giving this movie a miss.

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