It is so very unfortunate that brilliant movies get lost under the tag ‘Regional movies’. Though Anukokunda oka roju (AOR - Unexpectedly one day …) was a huge success locally, I don’t think it crossed the Andhra borders. I am new to watching Telugu movies. If I was impressed with Aithey (from the same team that made this movie), I was stunned for the brilliance in screenplay and plot of AOR. When I said this is the best thriller of the decade, I did mean it. How often do you get movies that make you both laugh till your intestines ache and make you bite nails for the suspense? AOR is one of such a rare breed. Every character & objects have a part to play, every scene has absolute relevance, and every song is a beauty; AOR is nothing short of a classic.
Sahashra (played by Charmi) is an aspirant singer. She stays with her father and stepmother to go to college. One day when her parents and family are out to Tirupathi, her friend takes her to a party where she is drugged without her knowledge. She loses her conscience and finds herself in bed in her apartment when she regains conscience. Later she finds herself among a series of murder attempts. Who was the one trying to kill her? What happened the other night when she was drunk and drugged? All these are total mystery and are revealed as the movie progresses.
As I said earlier, every scene and frame has relevance to the plot. Jagapathi babu, the cool cop with Tropicana juice in his hands, tries to nab a thief in the first scene of the movie. The titles follow after this scene. You tend to think that it was just an introduction scene, but it has something to do with the sequences and you get to know it right at the end of the movie. The other best thing about the movie is that it has an air of easiness about it amongst all the suspense. Take the very first scene as example. When the cops try to break into the house of the mob, a small girl comes out of her house in the opposite and stares at what is happening. Jagapathi babu winks and smiles at the kid even in this tense situation of nabbing a gangster. The same tempo is maintained throughout the film.
Comedy is fantastic. Shashank (also seen in Aithey) I guess is the find of the year for Telugu cinema. The film becomes doubly funny as soon as he enters as a part-time taxi driver. His expressions and timing are perfect in both comedy sequences and in serious ones. The best comedian though is the one who plays the tuition master. His rhyming one-liners like ‘you dance … I glance’ and his other English dialogues along with some other action comedy make it a laugh riot. The kids of the apartment (in which sahashra stays) contribute equally to the fun element of the movie.
Music by M.M.Keeravani deserves a special applause. Not just the songs but also even the background score is top class and enjoyable. Though every song is a beauty, ‘Right-o-left-o’ is my favorite number. The Actors too live up to the movie’s brilliance. I have seen Charmi in a couple of Tamil movies, but never believed she can do this good. It goes to show how much a good scope can bring out the best out from an actor. The critic in me sees that she is trying to imitate jyothika is lot many scenes. But she succeeds to an extent that it is not too obvious. Jagapathi babu gives the best performance of his lifetime (what I hear from the natives). He suits the cool cop role and credits to him for having maintained it throughout the movie.
Suspense is maintained in each and every scene. I even started admiring the screenplay. Even in scenes that are not directly related to the plot there is suspense. You tend to suspect each and every character. There is a scene where Shashank comes to charmi and asks for money for his taxi. You would not know if he is just flirting or charmi actually travelled in his taxi. The whole experience of watching the movie becomes something like playing a game of bluff using the cards. You never know whether to trust or not to trust a person and what he has played at that moment. There is an air of tension and clueless ness, yet there is whole lot of fun.
When I give a quick glance at what I have written above, I am not so sure if I have done justice to the brilliance of this movie. But I can tell you this – If I was the producer, I would have given 100% money back guarantee on the DVDs for satisfaction. Me being just a review writer here on Mouthshut, I can be more liberal to offer you 300% envyram guarantee. If you are worried that you might not understand the lauguage, I would like to remind you that DVDs would have subtitles. You would not want to miss a fantastic movie just because you don’t know a language, rite?
-Vinayak
(Please do RRC)
More Links - Aithey: https://mouthshut.com/review/Ayite-105423-1.html