Struck to no end!

While penning the script of ‘Oka Ammayi Thappa’, director Rajasimha Tadinada might have been tempted to remake Joel Schumacher’s psychological thriller ‘Phone Booth’. However, he might have had his own apprehensions on whether the Telugu audience would lap up to the thriller or not and so, peppered his spinoff with romance.

He had to include mind games between hero and villain, as they are a fad these days. Somewhere down the line, he still might have felt that the basic premise lacks nativity, causing him to introduce a terror angle. So the resultant story line is a hodgepodge of many elements that audience will find hard to decipher.

All of six years, Krishna Vachan falls in love with Mango and proposes to her by giving a national flag (subliminal message). However, they drift apart for very obvious reasons, only to bump into each other in a traffic jam on a flyover. However, unbeknownst to them they become a part of a sinister plot. Will Krishna Vachan (now Sundeep Kishan) profess his love? And if yes, will Mango (Nithya Menen) accept it? Will they escape from the looming danger is what the rest of the film all about.

The crux of the story is a straight lift from ‘Phone Booth’, or should we say Rajasimha was inspired by the 2002 Colin Farrell-starrer. For any thriller to work the story has to gallop; however over here the plot takes its own sweet time to unravel, much to the chagrin of audience. It is not until a few minutes before the intermission, the story starts to unfold. Moreover, the movie lacks a tough villain.

Keifer Sutherland was menacing as The Caller in ‘Phone Booth’ but Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan, here, gets a poorly etched role which he fails to take it to the optimum given his experience. Surprisingly Nithya Menen too falters. Blame it on her characterisation! The character was supposed to be feminist but the writer-director’s lack of understanding of feminism ruins it. There are host of performers like Ajay, Brahmaji, Jayaprakash and Jhansi but they are left to bit part roles.

Rajasimha’s skills are on display only when comedy portions pop up. Nonetheless, the comedy track in the movie is cringe-worthy. Apart from instances, where the director takes potshots at actor Manchu Lakshmi’s English and filmmaker MS Raju’s food habits, nothing else will tickle your funny bone. Needless extension of the climax just to insert a heavy dose of patriotism adds to the misery. In his defense, the director had a rather promising premise but he fails at the execution level, making the movie a yawn-inducing affair.

Film NAme : Oka Ammayi Tappa

Cast : Sundeep Kishan, Nithya Menen, Ravi Kishan, Jayaprakash and Ajay
Direction : Rajasimha Tadinada
Genre : Romance-thriller
Likes : The idea
Dislikes : Everything

By Aditya Parankusam