Okkadu (2003)

One of my all time favorites.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Obul Reddy (Prakash Raj) is a factions in Kurnool. He falls in love with Swapna (Bhumika). Obul Reddy kills Swapna's brother (Achyut) when he passed a remark about the age difference between Obul Reddy and Swapna. Obul Reddy also kills another brother of Swapna. Horrified by the impending danger, father of Swapna gives her certificates and money and asks Swapna to go to her uncle's place in USA. Obul Reddy catches her when she starts traveling.Ajay (Mahesh Babu) is a Kabaddi player and is the son of an Assistant Commissioner of Police (Mukesh Rishi). At this juncture, Ajay - who is in Kurnool to play Kabaddi games - rescues Swapna from the hands of Obul Reddy and takes her to Hyderabad. Ajay takes Swapna to his house and hides her in his room. Ajay, with the help of friends, arranges passport, visa and flight tickets for Swapna.Mean while, the Home Minister (Rajan P Dev) who happens to be the brother of Obul Reddy asks ACP to search for Swapna and the guy who has taken away. When ACP realizes that it's his own son who did the crime, Ajay and Swapna runs away from his home and hides in Charminar.The rest of the story depends on how Obul Reddy traps the couple again and how Ajay emerges victorious.Artists:Mahesh Babu: Mahesh Babu has shown a different dimension to his acting skills with this film. That is the i.n.t.e.n.s.i.t.y in his eyes. Without making hero uttering a single word, the directors have shown this kind of intensity by writing powerful situations in the past like the Chiranjeevi's introduction scene in Khaidi and Nagarjuna's chain scene in Shiva. Mahesh Babu worked really hard for this film and it showed up in the output. He carried the film on his shoulders.Bhumika Chawla: Bhumika is the perfect fit for the role of Swapna. The dubbed done by Savita Reddy is also apt. Though she looked sensual in songs, there is a danger of masses complaining about the glamor aspect (no exposing) of heroine.Prakash Raj: Prakash Raj changed his mustache in this film, which resembles that of Hindi villain Gulshan Grover. He provided good amount of entertainment with his serious as well as comedy acting. The way he says 'I love you' to Bhumika is hilarious. He is the only actor who can justify that kind of role.Telangana Sakuntala: She acted as 'Ramulamma' - the cigar smoking lady don and mother of Prakash Raj. She provided entertainment with her typical dialogue deliver and peculiar walking style.Mukesh Rishi: Mukesh Rushi played a soft role of a sincere police officer and it's a refreshing change for audience to see Mukesh Rishi doing a character which is other than a dread some villain.Others: Chandra Mohan played the role of helpless father who lost two sons. Rajan P Dev played the role of Home Minister in two consecutive films (Naaga and Okkadu). Geeta acted as mother of Mahesh Babu in this film. She is also pretty good. Niharika - the cute little girl who acted as niece to Venky in 'Preminchukundam Raa' - acted as sister of Mahesh Babu in this film. She is an asset to the film.Technical Departments:Story: The basic storyline of a film is how a man acts as a guard to a woman and saves her from danger. The entire first half is devoted to establish the story and the second half has a single mission of hero sending heroine to USA. It's a pretty interesting plot. The original caption of 'Her Army' would have been retained with Okkadu title.Screenplay - Direction: The director's real worth of screenplay comes out when the storyline of the film is thin. Guna Sekhar excelled in screenplay department with excellent screenplay. Guna Sekhar has a special style of frames of taking. He maintained the class touch of the film throughout and elevated mass elements to exhilarating effect. Guna Sekhar seems to have done this film with positive vengeance.Photography: Photography by Sekhar V Joseph is excellent. Cinematography is one of the outstanding aspects of Okkadu.Sets: Set work by Ashok Kumar is very good. The 2 core worth Charminar set is very good. And the Nevada's kind of set for the last song in this film is also exceptionally good.Editing: Editing by Srikar Prasad is crisp. His sharp editing kept the pace of film in good condition.Lyrics: As said by Sirivennela in audio function, the songs of the film are interlaced in the narration of story. All songs narrated the storyline and the mood of the film.Stunts: Stunts for this film are extraordinary. The stunts have rich technique associated with it, but at the same time the mass fights (naatu knotted) are rightly composed to enthrall the masses. First fight and last fight of the film are extraordinary.Music: Mani Sharma has given excellent songs and background music. He can be proud of his 50th film. Here is the sequence of songs in the film1. Hare Rama: This song is pictured on Mahesh Babu and 10's of dancers with Charminar backdrop. This song is like an M TV video. Very neat and glorifying with good steps by Mahesh Babu and ultra modern choreography 2. Nuvvemaya Chesavokaani: a typical heroine introduction song taken in beautiful and luster scenic locations. 3. Sahasam Swasaga: This song comes as a situational song where Mahesh Babu escorts Bhumika to Hyderabad with interludes like Bhumika telling about her flashback to Mahesh Babu.

One of the films that took the tollywood industry by surprise... Everything in the film were almost perfect and one can also go on to say that it was FLAWLESS..! The music was good and the background score was simply great..Everybody got what they wanted..! The main thing that became an asset to the film was the way in which the director lead the film..the screenplay was awesome because it always kept the viewers guessing on what is going to happen next..! So overall a superb film and a good career boost for MAHESH..! Some of the music tracks that I found were foot tapping were Hare rama Hare Krishna and the melodies Nuvve Maya chesavo kani and Nuvve Maya chesavo kani ila ee kshanam agiponi took the viewers into a trance..! The climax scene were the Hero finally delivers a killer blow is one of the best scenes ever shot until then..!

I have read the earlier comment on this movie and felt unconvinced. This is the landmark movie ever made in Telugu film industry. Each scene in this movie is a trend setting one....after okkadu, around 10-15 movies were made by taking okkadu as inspiration or as imitation....I can explain each scene in this movie can create a story ...a new story....Even gunashekhar and mahesh combo couldn't repeat a movie like okkadu...I hope it takes around 15-20 years to get a masterpiece like okkadu, even the biggest hit pokiri could not compete with the quality and grace of okkadu. Frankly I have not seen a Telugu film....which has a chase of around 25 min. with an ultimate tempo and I like the links between scenes and liveliness of the characters. Leave music,mahesh and bhoomika aside, the ideas of gunashekhar.....hats off to his ideas...as I said it is a masterpiece and I dare to compare it with ever greens like pathala bhairavi, mayabazar and sholay.

I never liked films by Gunashekhar. Because I am very much biased with his stupid direction in his earlier films. This film flavored with stunts and little bit of romantce. Of course music by Manisharma is good. But still this music director tries to mimic the tunes of some good ones like our new coming music directors. There was a rumour that the producer M.S.Raju feared about the film release. But surprisingly it was a huge hit for Mahesh babu and every one in the tinsel world recognized that gunashekhar is also a talented director. The huge set-up of charminar and the last fight scene are a bit of non-sense in the film. In his earlier film "Choodalani vundi" also there was a huge set-up to get a feel of Kolkata colony. I donno why these fellows spend money for these merry things. Prakash raj did very good role in this film. But how one can think he was a good opposite character for Mahesh babu too. The last half-an-hour of the film is a headache.