This road trip drama takes the safer, cliched route

It is this optimism and openness that makes Prakash such an endearing character and Sai Chand does complete justice to his role. There is also a great monologue in the flashback about how courage is the true force of existence while fears must be treated as lies or myths.

However, Abhilash’s screenplay lacks the depth required to bring out the emotional core of the story at hand. The emotional punches are not well received because the characters and their interpersonal dynamics are not developed deeply enough.

We are told that Johnny was raised well by his father Srinivas (Sayaji Shinde), which leads to a big win towards the end. However, we don’t have enough evidence to support any sense of leadership that Srinivas could have given his son, even though he was distant – it almost feels like Johnny was raising himself.

The other equations are also all inadequate, be it Johnny’s relationship with his work friend Satya or with his girlfriend. There are so many potential segments that could have been used to highlight the developing relationship between Johnny and Prakash. There are stand-alone moments that try to reach you emotionally, such as the first time Johnny addresses Prakash as his father, but in its entirety Maa Nanna Superhero is inconsistent as a character-based drama.

Johnny is an interesting character with gray tones because he can play between moral extremes. He may be capable of fraud and deceit for his own gain, but he also tends to show great empathy towards a mean man because he also happens to be the father of a little girl.

No matter how morally a man behaves, his position as a good parent should never collapse, Johnny once tells the mean neighbor. Sudheer Babu plays the character with the necessary restraint and never tries to make Johnny too likeable or likable. Sayaji Shinde as Srinivas is unfortunately underused, but apart from a few scenes in the beginning and climax, the actor hardly has anything to do.