Okato Numberu Kurraadu Review

From Tom Sawyer to George Bush's campaign managers, there's been no shortage of people who've made some pretty sorry stuff look good. Into the same class fall K Raghavendra Rao and A Kodanda Rami Reddy. For, Okato Number Kurraadu is a product smacking of experience in Tollywood: an experience that tells you that sticking to time-tested formulae and packaging your stuff well works pretty fine with your specific audiences, irrespective of the cast.

As a movie, Okato Number Kurraadu sucks. That's because it has nothing new by way of a script, remorselessly follows an earlier movie by the same filmmakers, has no stuff that you'll remember 5 minutes after the film ends, and casts in the lead a patently unremarkable guy. But what it is finally is a slick presentation with professional production values, and colorful and classy visuals. If working at the box-office is what matters, then it's game, set and match to the duo.

Okato Number Kurradu looks very much like Student No. 1 (check out even the name), the movie that the same pair made for the other scion of Tollywood's first family. Set in Vizag, the film has Balu (Taraka Rathnaa), a student, falling head over heels in love with Swapna (Rekha), his classmate. And to woo her, he first shows his macho side by single-handedly beating up half a dozen well-built goons (incidentally, Taraka Rathnaa weighs about 65kg at 6 feet), and then his socially responsible side by galvanizing the entire student body of Vizag to save the honor of a co-student.

Swapna is bowled, but has promised her parents that she will marry only someone of their choice, and so won't budge. So Balu's friends, without his knowledge, intercept a photograph being sent to her of her would-be husband, and replace it with that of Balu. Swapna's thrilled, and it's fun for the couple. But the game is soon discovered, and Swapna's dad (Tanikella Bharani) comes marching to the college with a dozen goons. And as expected, Balu bashes 'em all up single-handedly, and claims his prize from a repentant dad.

Taraka Rathnaa simply does not have the build, the charm or the screen presence that the role demands. The film is full of various characters in the cast praising his looks, which only makes it apparent that all of the crew is conscious of his looks, and is using the Chinese lie route out of it. If stardom is coming to you on a platter, the least that you can do is look the bit. Hasn't this guy ever heard of a gym? It's nobody's case that a hero should be good-looking or well-built, but he should look the part he's playing. When you're going to be shown single-handedly bashing people up by the dozen, the least you can do is look like you can bash one guy up. This guy looks emaciated.

As for his emoting, he does okay at all the dialogues that require powerful rendition, which any aspiring actor knows is the easiest part of acting - and that's about it. While he's okay in the dances, his stunts are amply supported by powerful sound effects and your imagination.

Rekha is good in what she has to do, which isn't too much. She looks pretty good, like all heroines in Raghavendra Rao movies do. The comic cast, with Sunil, Giribabu, M S Narayana etc. in it, is totally wasted. The creativity that normally characterizes the Tollywood funtrack is completely missing. The music by Keeravani is average.

Like we said, this is strictly an open-shut movie that does no one any credit - it's been made to make money and launch a star son, and it'll do both. What make it tolerable are the vibrancy and youthfulness that the color and the visuals bring to it, as in Student No. 1. What don't are the idolizing references to Balakrishna and NTR. A guy who's got a short-cut to facing the camera should at least have the self-respect to win his fans on his own steam, not by allegiance.

Finally, there's this particular scene where Balu heckles and shoves around a priest who's just giving advice, which is in exceptionally poor taste. It is the hero of the movie - the role model - doing it. Strange that it should be done by a guy who has only God to thank for everything he's got.