Okkadine Review

The only interesting episode in Okkadine is the interval bang, which unveils the trappings of a psychological thriller.  Those of you who watched Katha (which is one of the best films of both Genelia and Just Yellow) are sure to hope, for all the unskilled execution and writing so far, the film could present at least a thriller-like facade in the second half.  Srinivas Raga, however, cheats you by telling a ridiculously done-to-death revenge story, completely seeming the last director of the past.

The way the director confers Nithya Menen prominence in the first half, it starts feeling like the narration is throwing up subtle hints about her lion's share in the story.  It is reinforced by the bystander-like role for Nara Rohit.  If the heroine has a solo song moments after a brief intro for the hero, Rohit himself fails to make an impact, with him neither having much lines to speak nor doing acts that befit a hero's role in the scenes.  As the story unfolds in the later half, you see Rohit emerging a bit stronger than his heroine, but only faintly, because he doesn't show an actor's knack when it comes to emoting in crucial scenes.  He shows the subdued gusto (as he did in Banam) in the action scenes, but woefully falls short in showing pain and shock, behaving as if he is acting in another Solo.

As for the director, he does a shoddy job of dishing out a revenge story that bears resemblance to umpteen similar stories, with the only exception of misleading the audience just before the interval.  It is no distinction, considering the fact that the narration is entirely plain, with even the villain's role etched too badly.

The story begins with Nithya, Sai Kumar's pampered daughter, arriving in Hyderabad.  After sharing some affectionate moments, the Mother Theresa-like father says that he is leaving to US for an important meeting with his future political comrades, and the daughter wants to go on a picnic with her new-found cyber friend (Snigdha).  (Yes, the fun-starved millionaire's daughter is utterly friendless, that she appears to have no option but have a stranger as a companion).

In a forested village a 120 kms away from Vizag, there lives Rohit along with his marvelously affectionate family.  Nithya bumps into Rohit, who takes her home and the family soon showers warmth and friendship on her.  After two unmusical songs (a family song, which sounds like a silent romance song, and an outdoor duet, which would have been touching had expressions on the face outpaced the steps and had the song been shot indoors), the good hero proposes to her.

Minutes after Nithya talks about the family and the hero to her father, it is interval time.

The director should have kept the narration surreal and nuanced in the first half.  In the second half, the macabre scene involving one entire family doesn't instill terror, nor does the hero show angst and trauma in his eyes.  There is a short intense ditty, which comes after a comedy scene, 5 minutes into the second half, revealing Srinivas' lack of experience.

The second half ceases to hold our attention after a point.  (Even the little attention it gets is because it makes us to hope for something that doesn't exist in the story).  The villain fails to evoke fear, with him having nothing to do other than reeling off the number of murders he committed in the past.  Gosh!

After Nandini Reddy and Vikram Kumar, everybody seems to think that Nithya should always be indulged in (which explains the solo song for her) regardless of the genre.  The remix song (Puttintollu tarimesaru..) is wasted.  The music director does a good job, but his songs do not fit well in the film.  There is nothing much to talk about the BG score.

It is outrageous to see Brahmi's assistant (a woman) talk seductively about how her boss is adept at covering rape incidents in graphic detail.  The director has not got in him to deal with ace comedians (or with comedy for that matter) like Brahmi and Ali.

Sai Kumar, who is sans moustache here, has a meaty role, but even he is not used to his fullest potential.  Having relegated the hero to the sidetracks one too often, the director has a Pawanism-like moment for Naga Babu in store.  Phew!

The dialogues (by Chintapalli Ramana) are plain and uninteresting.  Like the story and the screenplay.

Verdict: A predictable revenge story littered with two action scenes and a lousy climax.  Don't know what Raga was thinking while he made the film.