Love versus destiny

Director Vi Anand, with a relatively lesser number of films in his kitty as of present, had a surprise hit ‘EkkadikiPothavuChinnavada’ last year, which was billed as a supernatural romantic thriller.

Sticking to his domain expertise in this recent film ‘ OkkaKshanam’ the director packs in a scientific concept of parallel lives and patches his narrative with crime and mystery to go along with it in its 155-minute running time.

Allu Sirish, the kid brother of Allu Arjun, who has had a bumpy existence in the film industry as far as his status as a hero is concerned, stabilised to an extent with his last outing ‘ SrirastuSubhamastu’.

Here he is seen with the striking beauty Surabhi, who too has not had a great time in the local filmdom despite having been in a clutch of films. Music director Mani Sharma too makes a comeback of sorts, having been seen lesser and lesser in recent releases.

The film warms up at its own sweet will as the characters are introduced and established. A casual interaction at a parking lot between the lead pair naturally develops into an intimate relationship. The movie however takes off only when the people watching heroine snoops on the lives of a warring couple ( Seerat Kapoor- Avasarala Srinivas) opposite her apartment and eggs on the hero to do something to save the woman from danger.

However flimsy the reasoning, the proceedings attain a zip only when this aspect gets deeper.

Vi Kumar gets into his favourite zone and adds the scientific element where he justifies his theme by quoting popular global examples of world leaders like Abraham Lincoln and J F Kennedy.

The treatment gets interesting when the heroine’s life slowly turns a mirror image of the woman whom she has been watching. The intriguing aspect is how will the hero stop himself from killing her as that is how the other lady, Seerat Kapoor meets her gory end.

Steering clear of ghosts, godmen and pseudo-religious rants, the movie keeps itself in a rational zone, its saving grace. It also robs the masala lovers of dream sequences and item numbers, in its wake. However, the crime block, which is reserved for the last reels adds a zing, though very predictable.DasariArun in a cameo role is menacing enough.

The ding dong battle that goes on between him and Allu Sirish till the final moments is good to watch, especially when it is a war between love and destiny. Of course, in true Telugu film style, the superheroish antics of the protagonist take him to the winning end.Avasarala Srinivas and Seerat Kapoor have adequate screen time to make a mark.

The different flavour added to mainstream commercial cinema makes this film a decent watch.