Oopiri (2016)

Among all the present Tollywood actors, “Akkineni Nagarjuna” is the one who always loves to experiment irrespective of his stardom. This year, he came up with “Oopiri” which had reputed Tamil actor “Karthi” in another prominent role and Tamannah as a female lead. “Vamsi Paidipally” who impressed both class and mass audiences with his previous “Brindaavanam” and “Yevadu” directed this film. Being an adaptation of French film “The Intouchables”, this film was produced by “PVP Cinema” production house.

I haven’t watched the original French film. So, this is the review on Vamsi’s “Oopiri”.

Plot :

Sreenu (Karthi) who is in parole, happens to prove his goodness to the court. As a part of it, he joins as a caretaker for a physically challenged millionaire Vikram Aditya (Nagarjuna). Oopiri is a story of their friendship.

Narration :

To handle these kinds of subjects, a director needs to be sensible enough but he needs to be brave enough to handle it with reputed stars. Vamsi is a clever guy besides being sensible and brave. In fact, I didn’t like his “Yevadu” yet its ending scene couldn’t let me respect the “film” but increased respect towards Vamsi for keeping such a sensible scene in such a mass film. He used such sensibility in this film too. So, let’s start our article by appreciating Vamsi. If you feel it lengthier, pause and resume reading it after taking a small breathe (Oopiri).

Good Things…

1. Introducing the main cast simply without any filmy introductions or fights was very appreciable.
2. Though the aspect “Sreenu’s Parole” had a lot of importance in the story, director skipped presenting the reason behind it, on screen. He didn’t even let his audience feel its necessity. It’s an example of the director’s wit.
3. The shot where the director showed Vikram to a helpless pigeon in parallel, while taking interviews, portrayed the character’s struggle well.
4. The scene where Vikram answers Advocate Prasad’s (Prakash Raj) question regarding appointing Sreenu as his caretaker. It was well supported by the dialogue writer “Abburi Ravi”.
5. Sreenu provided ample entertainment with Keerthi (Tamannah), Maid (Kalpana) and Prasad in the first half. Notable aspect is the “painting”. The scene where Sreenu says that he has to start painting to meet his sister’s marriage expenditure was very funny to which the entire auditorium laughed.
6. Present day commercial film-makers opt for an item song as a show-off but in this film, opting for an item song not just helped Vikram to be happy but also to the narration. This is a pure writer’s victory, including the shot where Vikram looks at everyone’s feet at the end of the song and feels sad. So, writers Vamsi, Abburi Ravi and Hari Solomon should be appreciated here.
7. The second half’s narration where Vikram fails to catch the complete glance of Eiffel Tower in one scene and gets it in the latter scene came closer to the heart. Cinematographer Vinod and Nagarjuna’s performance made this aspect so eminent.
8. Relieving Vikram’s fear who said “love lies in fear” to Sreenu, by letting him meet his past love Nandini (Anushka) became very touching due to song “Nuvvemichavo” penned by “Sirivennela” and the shot which showed a flying freely pigeon. Nagarjuna’s performance here again helped the narration.
9. The ending scene where Sreenu lets Vikram realize to have a good companion in life was very sensible like the ending scene of “Yevadu” which fulfilled the character’s responsibility and delivered a good feel towards the end.

Disappointing Things…

1. This film’s narration shouldn’t have started with a flashback. If started straightly then the intermission scene would’ve been a little breathtaking for audience. Due to this kind of start, its effect was lost as the audience had an impression already in mind.
2. The decision of Vikram to let Sreenu’s sister’s marriage happen may be the right one for the people who humiliate others in the name of status but the behaviour of Das (Tanikella Bharani) in the latter scenes made that decision indigestible. It also gave a feeling that it was imposed forcibly in the narration.
3. The chasing sequence shot in Paris gives Vikram and audience a fresh breathe but the following sequence with dancer was not appealing though it had the touching dialogue of film “Criminal”, “Every breath you take, every move you make, I’ll be there with you”.
4. The love thread of Sreenu and Keerthi failed to make its impression and the song “Ayyo Ayyo” between them appeared forced.
5. As the narration started in a flashback, audience thinks that there might be a stronger sequence before that opening scene but there was nothing that can make the audience feel so.

Conclusion…

Apart from the above things, Oopiri is a beautiful and lovely breathe which lets us know what we are actually missing amidst our busy and ambitious lives, pretending we have everything. I recommend this film to all the readers of this post.

Performances :

Nagarjuna’s performance was the heart of this film. He loved the role and put himself completely into it. The scenes I mentioned above were examples. Karthi lived his role. Dubbing his own voice helped a lot and this Tamilish accent entertained well at places. He did well in the scene where he gets united with his family. Tamannah appeared to have a notable role in this film through the trailers but she had nothing to do in this film. Her own voice suited for her character well. Prakash Raj was good as advocate and some of his expressions were entertaining. Jayasudha’s character didn’t have much screen presence but she did well within her character’s boundaries. Ali and Kalpana entertained well.

Anushka did well in the guest role. Adivi Sesh and Shriya also did limited guest roles.

More Eminences :

1. Vinod’s Cinematography. All the scenes had rich visuals with appealing colours and lighting.
2. Gopi Sundar’s Music. “Oka Life”, “Eppudu” and “Podam” were good since the date of audio release but “Nuvvemichavo” was felt good once seen on screen.
3. Abburi Ravi’s Dialogues. All the dialogues were very sensible and supported the narration well.
4. Production Values. PVP Cinema was already proven for employing awesome production values even for a smaller film. It proved its mettle and passion towards film making once again, with “Oopiri”.

Lowland :

1. If narration gets low then it becomes the biggest lowland for a film. The second half’s narration went lower and also became the reason for this film run upto 158 minutes.

– Yashwanth Aluru

Click here for Telugu version of this Review…