In today’s Telugu cinema, when technical creativity is lifted from Hollywood flicks, prose and candy-floss are copied from Bollywood films and characterizations are imitated from those in Tamil and Malayalam cinema, unexpectedly, one fine day (Anukokunda Oka Roju) I came across this film, full of refreshing originality.
Anukokunda Oka Roju:
There was a girl who got intoxicated by drugs and had no clue what happened to her during the trance. After an amateurish investigation, I found that she roamed around the dark corners of the city and a few dark experiences came into her life. She knew none of them!!
Fortunately, Sahasra narrowly escapes those dark experiences. After being sedated on Friday, she wakes up in the morning to find herself being followed by mysterious men. She realizes it very late that, she has woken up on Sunday morning. She could not recollect what she underwent during the one-n-half days. With the help of a young taxi driver and a suspended police officer, she traces the dangerous life she experienced during her sedated state.
Chandrasekhar Yeleti:
The creator of this original film is the same man who made a sensation, couple of years ago, with ‘Aithe’. Chandrasekhar Yeleti has done a deft job in wonderfully connecting the different aspects of the story and keeping the same as authentic as possible. The way he relates the plight of drug-addicts to that of ‘sadhus’, is simple and real. He has taken care of Telugu audience sensitivities. Like other films on drug-addiction, which show the protagonist going through all the bad experiences, this film does not make the audience suffer a bad taste when they come out of the theatre. The audience always wants the protagonist to remain good and fine. In this film, the focus was heavily laid on the ill-effects of drugs and the hazardous world it involves, but the director was careful to keep the protagonist safe, thereby keeping the audience safe from disappointment. That was a very good tactic to make an off-beat venture get successful commercially. Hats-off to the director for his creative ability!
Cast and Crew:
Sahasra is played to perfection by Charmi. Everyone would wonder why this talented girl does all those silly vamp characters opposite the so-called super-stars, when she has so much of composure in her body-language, so much grace on her face and so much of glow in her eyes. She is, no doubt, one of the best talents witnessed of-late in Telugu cinema and hope she delivers more of these performances in days to come.
Sansank as the young taxi-driver and Jagapathi Babu as the suspended police officer are apt for their roles. The other actors have delivered realistic performances.
The music by Keervani is a perfect blend. Photography and editing are international standards. The production values (Just Yellow productions) are rich.
Finally, The Beginning: The foremost reason behind all the chaos that happens in the film is shown in the beginning of the film (before the titles). A reckless police-officer red-handedly gets hold of a trafficker, but leaves him for a mere twenty thousand bucks. He realizes his mistake later, as he witnesses the troubles faced by Sahasra due to that.