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Oke
Okkadu - A review
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A
M Ratnam
presents
Sri Surya Movies
Oke Okkadu
(A Man of Destiny)
Jeevi Rating: 4/5
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| Genre |
| Social
and Political |
| Jeevi
Rating |
| 4/5
(Four on a scale of five) |
| Cast |
| Arjun,
Manisha Koirala, Raghuvaran, Manivannan, Vadivelu, Laila and
Sushmita Sen (Guest Appearance) |
| Credits |
Cinematography:
Anand
Special Effects: Venki
Art: Thota Tharani
Music: A R Rehman
Story - Screenplay - Direction: Shankar
Producer: Surya Movies |
| Theatrical
Release Date |
| 9th
November 1999 |
| Story
Line |
| How
an able educated person became CM by accident and changed the
destiny and political history of the state. |
| Review |
|
Purushottam
(Arjun) is a handsome, both mentally and physically, cameraman
at Qtv. Chowdary (Raghuvaran) is the CM of the state. He believes
that his CM chair has four legs (namely money lenders, caste,
gross root workers of the party and students). In order to
pacify all these groups, he has to make lots of compromises
in his administration. There by his indecisiveness leads to
riots and discontent among the people.
Purushottam spots the village belle Chandramukhi (Manisha
Koirala) and duly falls in love with her. But father of the
Chandramukhi wants his daughter to marry a govt. employee
than a TV cameraman.
As he is a cameraman, Purushottam cans all these riots and
rescues the people. As Purushottam report on the riots become
popular, he is given promotion as a senior reporter. And his
first assignment turns out to be an interview with the CM
of the state, Chowdary.
In that spirited interview Purushottam questions the CM's
non-transparent functionality. When CM refutes back that Purushottam
is misusing media to malign him, Purushottam shows all the
evidence. A piqued CM he is, Chowdary challenges Purushottam
to act as CM for a day. Only then one can understand the immense
pressure of being CM. After much deliberation Purushottam
accepts the offer. Chowdary passes an ordinance to make Purushottam
CM for a day by giving his resignation letter and the letter
of support by his MLA's.
Purushottam starts his day as CM with having a meeting with
civil servants (IAS and IPS). He instructs all the officers
to dig out all the files on corrupt officials and he duly
suspends all of them on the spot. He gives surprise inspections
to various places (slums, ration shops etc.) and solves the
problems instantly. He organizes a live tele conference with
the people of state and solve their problems on the spot.
By the end of the he makes the 12 ministers of Chowdary get
arrested. The icing on the cake turn out to be the arrest
of Chowdary itself at the dusk of the day. As the media covers
all the movements of Purushottam and broadcasts live on all
the channels, Purushottam becomes the icon of god governance
and a ray of hope to the people. Incidentally Chowdary's decision
to play the ball into Purushottam's hand turns out to be a
blunder and the closure of Chowdary's political career.
After Chowdary resumes power as CM, he gets dumped as a no-confidence
motion is passed. Fresh elections are announced. Muddu Krishna
(Manivannan) is a secretary to CM. He plays a vital role in
bringing Purushottam, who otherwise is reluctant, into the
active politics by making him realize the importance of being
a constructive politician. Purushottam's party wins all the
seats in the state.
After getting elected Purushottam implements innovative ideas.
Chowdary and other leaders start cooking up ideas to assassinate
Purushottam. If you wanna know how Purushottam wins over evil
minded Chowdary and marries his village belle Chandramukhi,
you must watch this fill in tinsel screen with good sound
equipment.
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| Performance |
Actors:
Arjun: He lives up to his title 'Action King' in this film.
His role needs to show lot of brain than brawn. He stole the
show with his right expressions. Even at this age he maintains
a body that is near to six pack.
Manisha: Manisha is looking contrastingly different
from her earlier films. She epitomizes the innocence of a village
belle. Some people may not like her facial expressions in the
first half as they are very raw, yet sensual. But Manisha is
a treat to watch in songs.
Manivannan: Manivannan seems to be penetrating into
the hearts of telugu viewers off late. His character, dubbed
by Kota, looks very powerful and has a bit of comedy attached
to it.
Laila: She is given an insignificant role for which
she did full justice.
Sushmita Sen: She acted in a special song. She looks
very sensual in this song unlike her other songs.
Screenplay: Slickness and Deftness are the two words that
best describes it.
Direction: Shankar emerged as a film maker of social
responsibility time and again. He tried his best to evoke the
mass consciousness among the viewers about their social life.
He deftly woven the love story between Chandramukhi and Purushottam
and shown it as a backdrop to the political making of Purushottam
and undoing of Chowdary. One particular shot makes us realize
the power of Shankar. When Purushottam is reluctant to enter
the politics after his stint as a one day CM, Muddu Krishna
takes him out of his house and shows him the thousands of people
harboring out side his house to see Purushottam accept the political
entry. (The same technique is used in 'Iddaru' by Maniratnam,
when Prakash raj shows Mohanlal the power of public adulation
by showing the public who are going crazy over him)
Photography: Anand, a relatively new name in the circles
of photography, attained a new peak in popularity with this
film. Cinematography in this film is a treat to your eyes.
Music: A R Rehman needs to introduction. He did full
justice to his job. Music for songs and backdrop score is excellent.
Production: Richness and quality are the catch words
for this film's production.
|
| Songs |
Song One: Shakalaka Baby: This song is about Arjun doing
a video shoot for a song. Sushmita Sen looks ravishing in this
song and there is absolutely no vulgarity in the naughty thing
Sush do in this song. It is shot in the genre of MTv and Channel
V.
Song Two: Andala Rakshasive: This song is so natural.
Highlight of this song is making the best use of group dancers
by making them appear like pots, corns, sun flowers, Kondapalli
bommalu, Disti Bommalu.
Song Three: 'Nelloru Nerajana': Its a melodious song
with slow steps. This song starts with a dance at a waterfall
during dawn and ends with dancing at a burning hills during
the dusk.
Song Four: 'Maga Dheera': This song is total graphical
song. This song is a theme song that reflects the moods of the
second half of the film. Dr K R Narayanan, President of India,
seems to have stopped and had a comprehensive look at the shooting
of this song in New Delhi and seems to have immensely enjoyed
it. Superb song it is.
Song Five: 'Utti Meeda Koodu': This song is the latest
folk sensation on the block. Sensible steps and sexy music makes
this song an instant hit and perfect song to lead for the climax.
You get a tinge of 'Mudinepalli' song of Gentleman. |
| Analysis |
| Director
needs to be given a special applause for taking such a burning
and relevant topic of social life and adapting it to the theme
of cinema and directing it with such a skill without losing
the commercial touch and glamour of the film. Though there are
lot of other people who gets the credit for this fabulous work,
the hands down winner is going to be one and only Shankar. His
character of CM closely resembles the working style of Chandrababu
Naidu. May be the vision of Shankar's ideal CM suits with the
functionality of Chandra Babu Naidu. It is a welcoming change
to get such film which educate people and create awareness among
them about good transparent governance. People who make films
like 'Pichivadi Chetilo Raayi' must take a leaf out of Shankar's
page to emulate him. Everybody who comes out of theaters gets
a feeling that they watched a film that is worth making impact
on their thinking process. |
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>End
of Oke Okkadu Review
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