By Aman Basha
Watching the beginning of the Prince and likewise, a rattling good, nay, nice film
Nostalgia is an underrated emotion in our lives. Human reminiscence is commonly selective in the way it chooses to remember the previous. We usually neglect the unhealthy and keep in mind largely the great, wishing for “those days” once more. We search the innocence and misplaced promise of youth. The urge for nostalgia appears stronger lately, driving the unusual success of two sexagenarians donning their previous costumes in mediocrely written potboilers discovering big patronage this festive season.
This too, when Telugu Cinema appears to have discovered its golden age, the second of worldwide glory and a spotlight, value celebrating with a ‘Naatu Naatu’? More than the 2 Sakranti releases, what has been peculiar is the ‘rerelease’ pattern that has gripped the Telugu viewers like a mania when this yr had a heaping of excellent cinema content material.
Then why is that the best frenzy appeared to be occurring within the theatres screening Pokiri and Jalsa? These are latest movies, definitely with nice popular culture worth and massively well-liked milestones for his or her respective lead stars, however out there on YouTube. The 4K restoration is a technical achievement that may be finished by any bored batch of engineers (loads of whom are Telugu). Then what’s driving the massive viewers for these noughties re-releases.
Perhaps it’s the disappointment that has settled on the followers of Telugu Cinema’s present huge star duo, Pawan Kalyan and Mahesh Babu. At a time when Telugu cinema is pushing boundaries, each have been delivering movies which might be varied ranges of disappointing. The despairing followers took to those re-releases as a way to have a good time as the brand new movies weren’t value a lot.
It was not out of any nostalgic attachment that I attended Okkadu, it was my sheer dependancy to the loopy celebrations that I appeared to have missed out on the Pokiri or Jalsa rerelease. The hooting, whistling, dancing within the aisles can distract once you’re watching a film for the primary time, however when it’s a movie you’ve seen numerous occasions, these gimmicks develop into the purpose.
(Yes! Yes! Yes! Kamariyaaaa)
Yet I nonetheless had some trepidation. Mahesh Babu hasn’t made a movie that may be watched twice in almost 4 years, and the blows of Sarkar Vaari Paata and Maharshi made me fear if my nostalgia was set for main disappointment as I felt in spite of everything Mahesh movies just lately. Little did I do know the surprises in retailer.
The first shock was listening to the “Babulake Babu” slogan, that I beforehand thought was for Pawan used for Mahesh. The second, nice and nice shock was how nicely the movie stood and that it was even higher than in my reminiscence.
The preliminary parts of Okkadu left me with a extra content material look than Ajay after his cigarette drag. The West Side Story impressed gang rivalry in previous Hyderabad is shot virtually within the rhythm of a comic book musical, with some very good stunt work, particularly involving ladders and different props. The Hare Rama tune gave individuals round me a chance to chop unfastened within the aisles, however I used to be left admiring Mahesh’s dancing (which he’s not a Chiranjeevi at) and the way in which Gunasekhar shot the variety of Hyderabad.
Okkadu was additionally on the level the place its lead was not the Super Star and even the ‘Prince’, however simply Mahesh, star son attempting to show his value. As a consequence, Ajay will be allowed to be unheroic, even dropping a degree in a kabbadi match (sacrilege!). Much of the joys of Okkadu is in watching the making and crowning of Mahesh Babu the hero from Mahesh Babu the extraordinarily good-looking (as even this film mentions) actor.
The hero might need misplaced a lot of his cost in the present day, dogged by the failure of going completely different, trapped in a message giving picture of his making, such that the outstanding contemporary air his persona was, is forgotten. It can be not be an overstatement to say that Mahesh Babu redefined heroism for the Telugu viewers, by being understated.
Okkadu is likely one of the few masala movies the place it’s simpler to recollect the villain’s traces or the hero’s father’s traces, however there appears to be not one mass dialogue for the hero. Unlike a Balakrishna who’d ship lengthy monologues for public applause, Mahesh at finest smiles.
His stoicism was helped or was maybe meant to assist draw the viewers’s consideration to his seems to be, itself an anomaly in comparison with the earlier technology of heroes like Balakrishna and Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna was good-looking too, however a good-looking man whereas Mahesh nonetheless seems to be one thing like a boy.
A hero is claimed to be solely nearly as good as his villain. And relating to Mahesh Babu the hero, that villain is at all times Prakash Raj. Take any well-liked Mahesh Babu film from Okkadu to Arjun to Pokiri to Khaleja, and Prakash Raj is the unhealthy man. Of all of the villains that Prakash Raj has performed, and never simply to Mahesh Babu, Obul Reddy simply ranks as considered one of his finest, letting unfastened the trademark Prakash Raj hammy villain that’s equal components menacing and hilarious. Meme tradition depicting Obul Reddy as some kind of Arjun Reddy appears to have remodeled his darkly comedian love traces into punch dialogue, the viewers repeating them en masse.
(I really like you! My Love-uu! Na Gundenala Pattukupothe ela!)
When he’s not taking part in the unhealthy man, Prakash Raj might be taking part in Mahesh’s father as he splendidly did in Seetamma Vakitlo. Here, the daddy duties are discharged by Mukesh Rishi of Bulla fame, in considered one of his few constructive roles and finest efficiency after Sarfarosh. After being a part of the best joint household in Murari, Mahesh is right here in a really actual nuclear household, the connection that Ajay shares along with his father may be very nicely written, each attempting to at least one up the opposite in entrance of the mom. The father is suspicious and largely bickers along with his son, however by no means loses confidence or stops supporting him.
It has at all times baffled me that Pawan’s greatest hits have been romances like Tholi Prema and Khushi whereas Mahesh Babu has by no means finished one hit love story. In this regard, Okkadu comes closest to being that love story. The main emotion driving the movie is just not household feuds or social points, however the villain’s psychotic obsession for the heroine. The Seeta Rama dynamic is the blueprint for the Ajay Swapna relationship with Obul the Ravana. After all, the Ramayana was India’s best love story.
While Sita is Rama’s spouse, Swapna means nothing to Ajay. He is simply in Kurnool for a Kabbadi match, and sees Obul Reddy mishandling Swapna by likelihood. It is simply after taking her on the way in which to Hyderabad, that he learns her backstory. In a subversion of the Ramayana although, Ajay hides Swapna in his dwelling, whereas Obul Reddy hunts for her, with Ajay’s DCP father on the case too.
The Ajay-Swapna relationship has shades of the Jai-Radha relationship from the best masala film, Sholay the place a girl bereaved from loss slowly finds pleasure and love once more with a laconic tall good-looking stranger. In a movie tradition then dominated by unreal heroines, this romance was as particular because the Charminar is to Hyderabad, a metropolis itself the image of affection.
Okkadu will be stated to have marked the tip of the faction period of Telugu cinema the place movies carrying caste primarily based titles like Samarasimha Reddy and Aadi glorified feudal factionist village lords as heroes of Rayalseema. Here too, was a factionist Reddy however he was a villain and buffoon in addition, crushed up by the town bred hero on the Konda Reddy Buruju heart of Kurnool within the coronary heart of Rayalseema of all locations.
It is claimed that something in India will be convincingly analyzed from the caste prism and it’s by no means more true than in Andhra, when not solely politics, however cinema too is inescapable from the caste system. Even the most well-liked stars, fairly proficient actors, find yourself turning into representatives of their castes and have caste primarily based fan golf equipment. The huge star exception to that is Mahesh Babu. The solely fanaticism he attracts is among the many females.
All this theorizing could make Okkadu appear solely like a terrific disruptive film, a film that’s vital within the modifications it introduced. I had the identical opinion, however Okkadu stands up not simply as a well-aged film, however an instance of a terrific practical nicely written masala film.
The complete film carries a kinetic tempo with the plot unfolding within the area of solely per week. The motion stretches, extra within the Terminator fashion of relentless chase scenes, are very practical and muted, with even background music erupting solely in a couple of stretches. These chases occur by forests, villages and most thrillingly the lanes of the Old City. Though the hero is a kabbadi participant, Obul Reddy has particular powers, making for an exciting climax. The practical fashion wherein the film was made has helped it age very nicely.
The absence of a typical comedy monitor additional helps Okkadu as a gripping watch, however this doesn’t imply that the movie is useless critical. To the opposite, Okkadu has nice dollops of humor integral to the plot, coming from Prakash Raj’s histronics, Mahesh’s impish sarcasm and particularly his fearful silent look in entrance of his father.
One of the good options of masala films and any nice film typically is the “echo”. Events that beforehand occur are repeated as soon as once more another way, the earlier occasion being kind of a setup for a similar occasion to evict a higher response from the viewers. Echoes convey a sure rhyme to the film, and it happens by Okkadu, say take the scenes the place Ajay will get himself out of being surrounded by hostiles. The dying of the villain doesn’t occur within the palms of the hero, nevertheless it echoes with the battle setup of the film. In truth, it doesn’t appear to be Ajay kills anybody in Okkadu.
Okkadu additionally scores in the way it tells a common story in a fashion that’s terribly particular to its locales. One of its most whistle-worthy scenes includes the sizable Muslim inhabitants of Hyderabad.
There are a mess of areas the place Telugu cinema has made nice leaps lately, however a facet the place not solely Telugu cinema but in addition Indian filmmakers are flailing massively is relating to songs in movies. The half-heartedly made, badly positioned songs in films in the present day develop into particularly obvious when in comparison with the songs of Okkadu, my favorites of which is the beautiful Cheppave Chirugali, to which everybody began dancing and Nuvvemmaya Chesavogani, which appears misplaced in the beginning however cleverly units up the lead couple, later turning into a duet for them.
With Okkadu, Mahesh Babu grew to become the star who provided one thing completely different from the remainder. Okkadu was adopted by Arjun, Athadu, Nijam and Pokiri which topped him because the Prince of Tollywood. When he appeared to lastly be on prime on the Telugu star hierarchy, the flops started, Khaleja too, which is everybody’s favourite in the present day. Even after Dookudu introduced him again to the fore, the Superstar nonetheless stored attempting to do completely different, appearing in a movie like Seetamma Vakitlo, the place his character didn’t actually have a title.
But it was not meant to be, the viewers made disasters out of wonderful thrillers like 1: Nenokkadine and Spyder, and made a success out of a cynical movie like Maharshi which appeared designed within the format of earlier successes like Srimanthudu and Bharat Ane Nenu. Since then, the Mahesh Babu who was on the forefront of freshness and innovation appears beholden to method at a time when Telugu cinema’s boundaries are being pushed like by no means earlier than.
Here’s to hoping that this Tella Dora (white savior), as he’s actually known as in Maharshi (props for self-awareness), is gone and Telugu Cinema’s ‘Hollywood hero’ makes a comeback quickly with out making everybody wait 5 years for SS Rajamouli to present the Mahesh we’d like. Or else, I’ll most likely simply purchase tickets for the Athadu re-release. Mahesh Babu, a cool murderer? FDFS Corner tickets please!!