''Okkadu'' ( ''The One'') is a 2003 Indian
Telugu-language
romantic action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...
written and directed by
Gunasekhar
Gunasekar (born 2 June 1964) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his works in Telugu cinema. He has directed films in action, romance, mythological, and historical drama genres. He has won a National Film Award, multiple Nandi ...
. It stars
Mahesh Babu
Ghattamaneni Mahesh Babu (born 9 August 1975) is an Indian actor, producer, media personality, and philanthropist who works mainly in Telugu cinema. He has appeared in more than 25 films, and won several accolades including, eight Nandi Award ...
,
Bhumika Chawla
Bhumika Chawla (born Rachna Chawla; 21 August 1978) is an Indian actress and former model known for her work predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films. She began her acting career with the Telugu film ''Yuvakudu'' (2000) and th ...
and
Prakash Raj
Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of severa ...
. The film was produced by
M.S. Raju while music was composed by
Mani Sharma
Mani may refer to:
Geography
* Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia
* Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad
* Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece
* Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshi ...
and editing was by
A. Sreekar Prasad. The film follows journey of a
Kabaddi
Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...
player, Ajay who rescues Swapna from Obul Reddy, when the latter tries to forcefully marry her.
Released on 15 January 2003, ''Okkadu'' was successful at the
box office
A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is fre ...
and became as the one of the highest-grossing Telugu films ever. It earned a distributor's share of 25–30
crore
A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is ...
.
It has garnered eight
Nandi Awards
The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named after ...
and four
Filmfare Awards South
Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing f ...
, including
Best Film – Telugu, and led Mahesh Babu to instant stardom.
The film was later remade into
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
as ''
Ghilli
''Ghilli'' () is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language romantic action masala film directed by Dharani and produced by A. M. Rathnam. It is a remake of the Telugu-language film '' Okkadu'' (2003). The film stars Vijay, Trisha and Prakash Raj with A ...
'' (2004),
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
as ''
Ajay'' (2006),
Bengali ''as''
''Jor'' (2008),
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
as ''
Tevar
''Tevar'' () is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language action film directed by debutante Amit Ravindernath Sharma and produced by Boney Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor, Sunil Lulla, Naresh Agarwal and Sunil Manchanda, based on a script by Sharma and Shantanu Shriv ...
'' (2015),
Odia as ''Mate Aanidela Lakhe Phaguna'' (2008), and in
Sinhala as ''
Kabaddi
Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...
'' (2021).
Plot
Ajay Varma is a
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. ...
-based
Kabbadi
Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...
player, the son of Vijay Varma who is the DCP of Hyderabad, visits
Kurnool
Kurnool is a city in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It formerly served as the capital of Andhra State (1953–1956). The city is often referred to as "The Gateway of Rayalaseema".Kurnool is also known as The City of Gem Stones. It also se ...
to take part in a state-level tournament. There, he saves Swapna Reddy from Obul Reddy, a dangerous faction leader, who is in love with Swapna and wants to marry her against her wishes. Ajay learns that Swapna is trying to leave for the
US to live with her uncle and pursue her studies after Obul killed her brothers over their disapproval of his interest in their sister on account of the age gap. In the process of saving Swapna, Ajay humiliates Obul by pushing him into a mud pond. Obul refuses to cleanse the mud until Swapna is found and brought back. Ajay helps Swapna escape and takes her to his house in the
Old City, hiding her in his room with the help of his sister, Asha.
Soon, his parents find out she is hiding in their house. Swapna and Ajay run away again and eventually she falls in love with him. The next day, the police, led by Ajay's father Vijay, surround the
Charminar
The Charminar () is a mosque and monument located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Constructed in 1591, the landmark is a symbol of Hyderabad and officially incorporated in the emblem of Telangana The Charminar's long history includes the exist ...
where Swapna is hidden by Ajay. The duo, along with Ajay's friends, reaches the airport to go to the United States. They bring her parents to see her one last time before she leaves. After Swapna passed airport security, Ajay realises he loves Swapna. She shows up and hugs him while proposing to him.
At the airport, Vijay arrests Ajay while Obul's men take Swapna away. After Swapna taunts him by saying that Ajay will definitely come for her, Obul goes to the jail and asks Ajay to come with him. Here, Vijay expresses that he's not worried about Ajay; rather, he's worried for Obul. Obul and his henchmen are kidnapped by Ajay, who, along with his friends, attend the finals of the national-level Kabaddi tournament.
Meanwhile, Obul's brother Siva Reddy, who happens to be the
Home minister
The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minis ...
of the state, is waiting at the venue of Obul's marriage with Swapna. After coming to know about his whereabouts, Siva reaches the stadium along with Swapna and his mother where Ajay and Obul are fighting with each other. Swapna's father stabs Obul while his mother dies in a bomb blast. Siva Reddy decides not to react as it would harm his position as a minister and Ajay, whose team won the match, celebrates the victory with Swapna and his family. Ajay and Swapna are married together.
Cast
*
Mahesh Babu
Ghattamaneni Mahesh Babu (born 9 August 1975) is an Indian actor, producer, media personality, and philanthropist who works mainly in Telugu cinema. He has appeared in more than 25 films, and won several accolades including, eight Nandi Award ...
as Ajay Varma, Swapna's love interest
*
Bhumika Chawla
Bhumika Chawla (born Rachna Chawla; 21 August 1978) is an Indian actress and former model known for her work predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films. She began her acting career with the Telugu film ''Yuvakudu'' (2000) and th ...
as Swapna, Ajay's love interest
*
Prakash Raj
Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of severa ...
as Obul Reddy, Swapna's obsessive lover and killer of Swapna's brothers
*
Mukesh Rishi
Mukesh Rishi (born 19 April 1956) is an Indian actor and film producer who works primarily in Hindi and Telugu films. He has also appeared in Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Marathi and Tamil films. He got his first break in Hindi in 1988 and ha ...
as
DCP Vijay Varma, Ajay's father
*
Chandra Mohan as Dhasaratharami Reddy, Swapna's father
*
Rajan P. Dev as Siva Reddy, Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Obul Reddy's brother
*
Geetha as Vasundhara, Ajay's mother
*
Telangana Shakuntala
Telangana Shakuntala (27 March 1951 – 14 June 2014) was an Indian actress who worked in the Telugu cinema. She was known chiefly for playing comedy and villainous characters in Tollywood. Her performances in movies like '' Osey Ramulamma'', ...
as Obul Reddy's mother
*
Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao as Doondi
* Niharika as Asha, Ajay's sister
*
Ajay as Kumar, Ajay's friend
*
Dharmavarapu Subramanyam
Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam (20 September 1954 – 7 December 2013) was a popular Indian actor, comedian and film director who worked in Telugu cinema. He was established as one of the highly paid and top most leading comedians in Telugu film in ...
as Subramanyam, a passport officer
*
Achyuth as Siva, Swapna's brother
*
M. S. Narayana as a priest
*
Gundu Hanumantha Rao
Gundu Hanumantha Rao (10 October 1956–19 February 2018) was an Indian actor and comedian who worked in Telugu films, theatre, and television. He first appeared in Jandhyala's film '' Aha Naa Pellanta'' in 1987 and gained popularity in comedi ...
as assistant priest
Production
Development
During his days as an assistant director in Madras (now
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of t ...
),
Gunasekhar
Gunasekar (born 2 June 1964) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his works in Telugu cinema. He has directed films in action, romance, mythological, and historical drama genres. He has won a National Film Award, multiple Nandi ...
dreamt of directing a film with the backdrop of
Charminar
The Charminar () is a mosque and monument located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Constructed in 1591, the landmark is a symbol of Hyderabad and officially incorporated in the emblem of Telangana The Charminar's long history includes the exist ...
, a monument and mosque located in
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. ...
. After watching ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid- ...
'' (1961), he took inspiration from the war between two gangs and wrote a script choosing Charminar and
Old city area of Hyderabad as the film's backdrop. Years later,
Ashwini Dutt met Gunasekhar during the re-recording sessions of ''
Choodalani Vundi'' (1998) where the latter saw the portfolio images of
Mahesh Babu
Ghattamaneni Mahesh Babu (born 9 August 1975) is an Indian actor, producer, media personality, and philanthropist who works mainly in Telugu cinema. He has appeared in more than 25 films, and won several accolades including, eight Nandi Award ...
whose debut film ''
Rajakumarudu'' was officially launched that day. Finding Mahesh Babu apt for the protagonist he envisioned, Gunasekhar narrated the script to him and gained his consent.
After the release of ''
Mrugaraju'' (2001), Gunasekhar resumed work on the film's script. After reading an interview of
Pullela Gopichand
Pullela Gopichand (born 16 November 1973) is a former Indian badminton player. Currently, he is the Chief National Coach for the India national badminton team. He won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001, becoming the second In ...
who pursued a career in
badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...
against his father's wishes and faced many hardships, Gunasekhar made the protagonist a person who aspires to be a
kabaddi
Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...
player against his father's wishes. He met
Ramoji Rao
Cherukuri Ramoji Rao (born 16 November 1936) is an Indian businessman, media entrepreneur, and film producer. He is head of the Ramoji Group which owns the world's largest film production facility Ramoji Film City, '' Eenadu'' newspaper, ETV ...
who expressed his wish to produce the film and permitted Gunasekhar to erect a Charminar set at
Ramoji Film City
Ramoji Film City is an integrated film studio facility located in Hyderabad, India. Spread over 1,666 acres (674 ha), it is the largest film studio complex in the world and as such has been certified by the Guinness World Records. It was esta ...
.
Ramoji Rao walked out due to unknown reasons and Majesh Babu, along with Gunasekhar, met
M. S. Raju at
Padmalaya Studios office. Mahesh Babu asked Raju to permit them to erect a Charminar set as they cannot avail police permission to shoot at the original after a person committed
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...
by jumping from the top. Raju agreed to do so after listening to the script narration and the project was subsequently announced.
Gunasekhar wanted to name the film as ''Athade Ame Sainyam'', but the title was already registered for another film which made Gunasekhar name the film as ''Okkadu'' after considering ''Kabaddi''. The film was produced under the banner
Sumanth Art Productions with a budget of 1314 crore.
Cast and crew
Impressed with her screen presence in ''
Yuvakudu
''Yuvakudu'' ( ''Young Man'') is a 2000 India Telugu-language romantic drama film released on May 18, 2000. It was produced by Akkineni Nagarjuna and N.Sudhakar Reddy, and directed by A. Karunakaran. It stars Sumanth and Bhumika Chawla. The ...
'' (2000), Gunasekhar chose
Bhumika Chawla
Bhumika Chawla (born Rachna Chawla; 21 August 1978) is an Indian actress and former model known for her work predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films. She began her acting career with the Telugu film ''Yuvakudu'' (2000) and th ...
as the film's female lead to be paired with Mahesh Babu.
Mukesh Rishi
Mukesh Rishi (born 19 April 1956) is an Indian actor and film producer who works primarily in Hindi and Telugu films. He has also appeared in Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Marathi and Tamil films. He got his first break in Hindi in 1988 and ha ...
and
Geetha were signed to play Mahesh Babu's parents in the film. The former called it a character close to his heart, calling it is a "soft role after a string of ferocious roles that I have played".
Prakash Raj
Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of severa ...
was signed as the antagonist and was seen as a factionist who falls for Bhumika's character in the film.
Telangana Shakuntala
Telangana Shakuntala (27 March 1951 – 14 June 2014) was an Indian actress who worked in the Telugu cinema. She was known chiefly for playing comedy and villainous characters in Tollywood. Her performances in movies like '' Osey Ramulamma'', ...
played the role of Prakash Raj's mother in the film for which she had to smoke cigar.
Chandra Mohan and Niharika were seen in supporting roles as Bhumika's father and Mahesh Babu's sister respectively.
Paruchuri Brothers were signed to write the film's dialogues.
Mani Sharma
Mani may refer to:
Geography
* Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia
* Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad
* Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece
* Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshi ...
composed the score and
Sekhar V. Joseph was its cinematographer.
A. Sreekar Prasad edited the film,
and Ashok Kumar was its art director. Sreekar Prasad called it a difficult film as it went through many forms of narration and he found it challenging to keep the pace very fast to make it slick and engaging.
After the first copy was ready, Paruchuri Brothers suggested Gunasekhar to prefer a linear narrative to the non linear narrative being used. The latter, along with Sreekar Prasad, changed the non-linear narration to linear, within ten minutes.
Filming
The film's unit erected the Charminar set in the ten acres of land owned by
D. Ramanaidu at Gopannapalle near Hyderabad. The original height of Charminar is and the height of each minaret is feet. The film's unit decided to construct the set with a length of feet by not altering the minarets and instead reduce the total length of the remaining part. The surroundings of Charminar were recreated in five acres around the set. 300 workers were employed in the construction of the set which lasted for three months and costed 1.75 crore.
The makers decided to create the roads near the set using computer graphics in order to reduce the budget.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as act ...
began in the same set and fifteen generators were used for illuminating the area. Strada Cranes were used for filming key scenes after ordinary cranes proved to be futile. The film's climax was shot in December 2002 for 11 days and 1000 junior artistes participated in the film's shoot amid extreme climatic conditions. Despite receiving training in Kabaddi, Mahesh Babu was injured several times during the film's shoot.
Soundtrack
The music for the film was composed by
Mani Sharma
Mani may refer to:
Geography
* Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia
* Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad
* Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece
* Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshi ...
and the lyrics were written by
Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry
Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry (born Chembolu Seetharama Sastry; 20 May 1955 – 30 November 2021) was an Indian poet and lyricist known for his works in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He acquired the stage name Sirivennela after writing the ...
.
Release
The film was released on 15 January 2003 in 165 screens. The audio was released on 19 December 2002. The film earned a distributor's share of crore.
Reception
A critic from ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the sec ...
'' called the film "An opportunity for director Gunasekhar to make a mass movie with an artistic touch. And for Mahesh Babu to assert his versatility".
Remakes
''Okkadu'' was first remade in
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
as ''
Ghilli
''Ghilli'' () is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language romantic action masala film directed by Dharani and produced by A. M. Rathnam. It is a remake of the Telugu-language film '' Okkadu'' (2003). The film stars Vijay, Trisha and Prakash Raj with A ...
'' (2004) where
Prakash Raj
Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of severa ...
reprised his role. Later it got remade in
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
as ''
Ajay'' (2006), in
Bengali as ''
Jor'' (2008) and in
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
as ''
Tevar
''Tevar'' () is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language action film directed by debutante Amit Ravindernath Sharma and produced by Boney Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor, Sunil Lulla, Naresh Agarwal and Sunil Manchanda, based on a script by Sharma and Shantanu Shriv ...
'' (2015) and in
Odia as ''Mote Anidela Lakhe Phaguna'' (2008). It was also remade in
Sinhala language of Sri Lanka as ''
Kabaddi
Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...
'' (2021).
Awards
References
Sources
*
External links
*
{{Filmfare Best Telugu Film
2003 films
Films directed by Gunasekhar
2000s Telugu-language films
Indian action films
2000s masala films
Telugu films remade in other languages
2003 action films
Films scored by Mani Sharma
Films set in Hyderabad, India
Films shot in Hyderabad, India
Indian sports films
Films shot at Ramoji Film City
Films set in Kurnool
Films set in Andhra Pradesh
Kabaddi in India