Vijay Kumar Konda’s Oka Laila Kosam (2014) Movie Review

Star Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Pooja Hegde, Vennela Kishore, Shayaji Shinde, Suman, Josh Ravi and Rohini
Director: Vijay Kumar Konda
Music Director: Anoop Rubens
Censor Certificate: UA
Runtime: 150 Minutes

Oka Laila Kosam begins in the usual Tollywood manner – depicting a self-indulgent hero. In this case, it’s Karthik (Naga Chaitanya), the son of business man Chandrakanth (Suman). Now, Nandana (Pooja Hegde) is the daughter of construction company owner Ramprasad (Shayaji Shinde). Karthik happens to see Nandana and falls in love at first sight. But a few misunderstandings crop up. In the meantime, Ramprasad fixes up the marriage of his daughter with a guy and Nandana decides to break her relationship with him. Who is that guy? Will misunderstandings get clear between Karthik – Nandu? Whether they get together or not, forms the rest of the storyline.

Talking about performances, Pooja Hegde shows improvement from her debut film ”Mask” and you will like her as the adamant girl. Chinmayi has done a fine job in dubbing for her. Naga Chaitanya is as usual a good performer, but doesn’t yet show the mettle to carry an entire movie on his sole shoulders. Shyammala, Madhu are okay. Shayaji Shinde, Suman Talwar, ROhini and Sudha are just lovely, Elegant Telugu parents. Ali made his presence felt as Pandu. Posani Krishna Murali, Josh Ravi even Vennala Kishore were moderate in their cameos. Others have done justice to their roles.

The story (Vijay Kumar) admittedly has some elements and situations that are totally typical. However, the culprit is the sapless and tawdry screenplay with some inanely bromidic dialogues. The problem is that when the story is expanded to a screenplay, the story is a given a routine treatment that is quite typically Telugu filmy, which end up cutting the whole film and the point it is actually trying to make. Though dealing with essentially just 3 central characters, the script is unable to shape them out convincingly and their interplay is not consistent either. Movie even inspired few scenes from Dil, Aatadistha, Lovely, Mass, Nuvu Vasthanante Nenundantanna etc. The romantic track in particular is insipid.

It is in the treatment that the film goes wrong. The director, Vijay Kumar Konda can’t get a steady pace for his narrative, rushing through the first half, Karthik and Nandana’s meeting, their tom n jerry fights, the development of their romance, only to lag in the second half. For a rom-com, Vijay also lets the film get a bit too melodramatic in the second half. There’s no doubt that the film could have been better edited (Editing by Praveen Pudi).

With the landscapes of Switzerland and Hyderabad in the backdrop, the film’s cinematography by I. Andrew offers quite a few memorable visuals. The music from Anoop Rubens has their trademark touch, and manages to hit the mark. However, one wishes tracks like Oka Laila Kosam and O Meri Janejana could have been used better. While the background score shows desperation to try and bring the film to life but doesn’t quite succeed. Costumes by Niraja Kona are gaudy. Fights (by Vijay-Ram Lakshman-Venkat) deserve a special applause. Production Values of Annapurna Studious are grand.

OLK actually has some obliging situations and interesting pair but regrettably the screenplay and treatment have no idea what to do with them. First half of the film is flat, whereas the drama in the second half doesn’t hold. The outcome is yet another case of “had potential couldn’t deliver”, a syndrome that Telugu cinema is blight with for quite some time now. To cut the long story short, “Oka Laila Kosam” starts promisingly, bringing on some grins, but those grins vanish faster than it takes to “say cheese”.

Survi Review: 2/5

Theatrical Trailer: