Bottom Line:Routine Boring Fest!!
Oka
Laila Kosam begins in the usual Tollywood manner – depicting a
self-indulgent hero. In this case, it’s Karthik (Naga Chaitanya), the
son of business man Chandrakanth (Suman). Now, Nandana (Pooja Hegde) is
the daughter of construction company owner Ramprasad (Shayaji Shinde).
Karthik happens to see Nandana and falls in love at first sight. But a
few misunderstandings crop up. In the meantime, Ramprasad fixes up the
marriage of his daughter with a guy and Nandana decides to break her
relationship with him. Who is that guy? Will misunderstandings get clear
between Karthik – Nandu? Whether they get together or not, forms the
rest of the storyline.
Talking
about performances, Pooja Hegde shows improvement from her debut film
”Mask” and you will like her as the adamant girl. Chinmayi has done a
fine job in dubbing for her. Naga Chaitanya is as usual a good
performer, but doesn’t yet show the mettle to carry an entire movie on
his sole shoulders. Shyammala, Madhu are okay. Shayaji Shinde, Suman
Talwar, ROhini and Sudha are just lovely, as elegant Telugu parents. Ali
made his presence felt as Pandu. Posani Krishna Murali, Josh Ravi even
Vennala Kishore were moderate in their cameos. Others have done justice
to their roles.
The
story (Vijay Kumar) admittedly has some elements and situations that
are totally typical. However, the culprit is the sapless and tawdry
screenplay with some inanely bromidic dialogues. The problem is that
when the story is expanded to a screenplay, the story is a given a
routine treatment that is quite typically Telugu filmy, which end up
cutting the whole film and the point it is actually trying to make.
Though dealing with essentially just 3 central characters, the script is
unable to shape them out convincingly and their interplay is not
consistent either. Movie even inspired few scenes from Dil, Aatadistha,
Lovely, Mass, Nuvu Vasthanante Nenundantanna etc. The romantic track in
particular is insipid.
It
is in the treatment that the film goes wrong. The director, Vijay Kumar
Konda can't get a steady pace for his narrative, rushing through the
first half, Karthik and Nandana’s meeting, their tom n jerry fights, the
development of their romance, only to lag in the second half. For a
rom-com, Vijay also lets the film get a bit too melodramatic in the
second half. There's no doubt that the film could have been better
edited (Editing by Praveen Pudi).
With
the landscapes of Switzerland and Hyderabad in the backdrop, the film’s
cinematography by I. Andrew offers quite a few memorable visuals. The
music from Anoop Rubens has their trademark touch, and manages to hit
the mark. However, one wishes tracks like Oka Laila Kosam and O Meri
Janejana could have been used better. While the background score shows
desperation to try and bring the film to life but doesn’t quite succeed.
Costumes by Niraja Kona are gaudy. Fights (by Vijay-Ram
Lakshman-Venkat) deserve a special applause. Production Values of
Annapurna Studious are grand.
OLK
actually has some obliging situations and interesting pair but
regrettably the screenplay and treatment have no idea what to do with
them. First half of the film is flat, whereas the drama in the second
half doesn’t hold. The outcome is yet another case of “had potential
couldn't deliver”, a syndrome that Telugu cinema is blight with for
quite some time now. To cut the long story short, “Oka Laila Kosam”
starts promisingly, bringing on some grins, but those grins vanish
faster than it takes to “say cheese”.
- Title : REVIEW : OKA LAILA KOSAM
- Star Cast : Naga Chaitanya, Pooja Hegde,
- Producer : Akkineni Nagarjuna
- Director : Vijay Kumar Konda
- Music : Anoop Rubens
- Released on: 17-10-2014
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