Movie Review - Okanokkappudu

Okanokkapudu is shot in just 11 days and is touted as the telugu film industry’s first ever high-definition digital format film. The film opens with four young men whiling away time, also angry and frustrated that they could not get through the interview of the Public Service examination and in stupor wow to bump off a corrupt IAS officer who wronged them.  They are shocked to see the IAS officer step into their flat by mistake and waste no time in trying him up and make him go through an intellectual torture by flinging all kinds of academic questions at him.

Intermittently through small episodes the director throws light on the background of these four men, how their families are made to mortgage lives and property to see their only ambition fulfilled. The film begins on a boring note but very soon the director pulls the audience into an engaging screenplay. He has very clearly relied and focused on the story. The dialogues are incisive and the little known actors chip in convincing performance.

The director takes a dig at bureaucracy, about how government posts and examination seats are auctioned, how everything comes only for a price. Eventually a twist in the story is revealed  when the IAS officer is made to look like a mere foible when the moral shortcomings of the young men are exposed and that they are more corrupt than one can be possibly could have imagined. The film provides no solution but just succeeds in presenting the system as it is; It also ends abruptly hinting at helplessness of the victims.

The film is shot in one or two locations, cinematography is dull, it probably has something to do with uplinking. The background score however suits the mood of the film. Banerjee, Shakuntala and Subbaraya Sharma play minor and not so vital roles and Bliss Holloway from Hollywood handles the camera. Music is by IIya. The film has it’s shortcomings and one of them is poor publicity…