Okariki Okaru
Poster
Directed byRasool Ellore
Written by
Produced byP. Kiran
Starring
CinematographySunil K. Reddy
Raja
Edited byShankar
Music byM. M. Keeravani
Production
company
Release date
  • 9 October 2003 (2003-10-09)
CountryIndia
LanguageTelugu

Okariki Okaru (transl.Each for the other) is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language romantic drama film directed by cinematographer Rasool Ellore in his directorial debut. It stars Sriram and Aarthi Chhabria. The film was a box office success.

Plot

Swapna is a NRI who has come to India for a visit along with her grandfather. Kameshwar "Kamesh" Rao is on a pilgrimage to Kasi on the request of his grandmother as he had completed graduation successfully. Kamesh sees Swapna at a railway station and falls in love with her at first sight. when introducing themselves they lie their names to be as Rahul and Subba Lakshmi.

Swapna, along with her grandfather, leaves for their relatives' place in a hurry without giving Swapna a chance to inform Rahul, but somehow Swapna places a note in Rahul's wallet before leaving. When Swapna goes to her relatives' house she learns that it was her engagement which is being arranged and is upset. Her father comes in between for the engagement and stops it as the relatives had actually cheated them on business due to which Swapna's uncle (father's brother) succumbs to cardiac arrest.

After a year Kamesh is on the hunt for his love, so he decides to go to the USA. For this purpose he gets into a software company as an engineer so that he can somehow get to the US on a work permit. The story unfolds in such a way that he goes to the US and is working under Deepak, who is Swapna's cousin. Deepak wants to marry Swapna and she almost compromises in marrying Deepak. The climax sees Kamesh meeting his love and winning it, and so the film ends with a happy note.

Cast

Production

Development

Cinematographer Rasool Ellore wanted to make his directorial debut and met with producer ARS Prasad to get his idea into fruition.[1] Sunil Reddy, who would go on to direct Om 3D (2013), made his debut as a cinematographer with this film.[2]

Casting

Tamil actor Srikanth used the name Sriram as his stage name for the film to avoid confusion with established Telugu actor Srikanth.[3][4] He was first credited as Sriram for Roja Poolu, the Telugu dub of Roja Koottam.[5] Rasool Ellore narrated the script to Sriram on the sets of April Maadhathil (2002).[6] Sriram sported a clean-shaven look for the first time in his career.[7] Aarti Chabria made her Telugu debut with this film.[8] After starting her second innings with a grandmother character in Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu (2002), Radha Kumari played a similar character in this film.[9]

Filming

The scene where Sriram proposes his love to Chabria was shot in a dense forest in Kerala. To the film crew's surprise, the place was filled with snakes and leeches. The local villagers told the film team to leave and some of the film crew members left, but Ellore was still able to get the shot with the help of the locals.[10] The climax scene of the film was shot in the rain, and since the scene was serious, Ellore was okay when the rain washed up Chabria's makeup.[11]

Soundtrack

The music and background score was composed by M. M. Keeravani.[12] Ellore described the visuals of the songs before Keeravani composed them.[1] In an audio review of the soundtrack, a critic from The Hindu wrote that "Keeravani has that artistic touch in composing music, really! Good attempt".[12]

S. S. Rajamouli, NTR Jr. and Allu Arjun attended the audio release event as chief guests on 1 September 2003 at the Taj Banjara.[7] The song "Nadiradinna" was reused by Keeravani in Paheli (2005) as "Dheere Jalna".[13]

Track list[14]
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Vellipothe Elaa"Sirivennela Seetharama SastryM. M. Keeravani, Shreya Ghoshal05:08
2."Nadiradinna"ChandraboseKarthik, Ganga05:15
3."Yekkadunnavamma"ChandraboseS. P. Balasubrahmanyam05:27
4."Nuvve Na Shwasa"ChandraboseShreya Ghoshal05:04
5."Ghatu Ghatu Prema"ChandraboseTippu, Nitya Santoshini04:19
6."Allo Nerello"ChandraboseM. M. Keeravani, Ganga05:19
Total length:30:34
Tamil Track list[15]
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Enge Aval"M. M. Keeravani, Shreya Ghoshal05:08
2."Nadiradinna"Karthik, Anuradha Sriram05:15
3."Engu Sendrayamma"Karthik05:27
4."Neeye En Swaasam"Mahati05:04
5."Kadhal Kadhal"Tippu, Anuradha Sriram04:19
6."Azhago Azhagallo"M. M. Keeravani, Srilekha Parthasarathy05:19
Total length:30:34

Reception

Jeevi of Idlebrain.com praised several aspects of the film including music, screenplay, dialogues, direction and cinematography.[16] Preetam Akkineni of Full Hyderabad called the film "clean good fun" and praised Keeravani's music for having meaningful lyrics "while still being poetic".[17]

The film was subsequently dubbed in Tamil as Unnai Paartha Naal Mudhal with the comedy track by Ramesh Khanna added. A critic from Chennai Online wrote that "While the first part of the movie moves interestingly, the encounters between the lovers having a touch of humour, the second part is an overdose of melodrama, with scenes we’ve already seen".[18]

Box office

Although the film was a box office success, Sriram didn't sign any Telugu films for five years because he was interested in doing an action film.[6][19]

Awards

Nandi Awards[20]
CineMAA Awards[21]
  • Best Debutant Director
Santosham Film Awards[22]

References

  1. 1 2 Jeevi (10 October 2005). "Interview with Rasool Ellore". Idlebrain.com.
  2. "Sunil Reddy talks about Om". The Times of India. 15 January 2017.
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20031002160250/http://sify.com/movies/telugu/fullstory.php?id=13255540
  4. "5 Telugu-origin heroes who made it big in Tamil cinema". The Times of India. 13 November 2018. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  5. Manju Latha Kalanidhi. "Roja Poolu Review". Full Hyderabad. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  6. 1 2 K., Sangeetha Devi (11 October 2003). "Sriram hits Tollywood jackpot". The Times of India.
  7. 1 2 "Telugu Cinema Functions – Audio release of Okariki Okaru – MM Keeravani – Rasool – Kiran – Sreeram, Arti Chabria". idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  8. "Remember the gorgeous diva from 'Okariki Okaru'? Check out her latest snaps". The Times of India.
  9. Narasimham, M. L. (12 November 2011). "My First Break – Radhakumari". The Hindu.
  10. "Anything for a good scene". The Times of India. 25 January 2004.
  11. "Aarti: My heart sings when it rains". The Times of India. 14 January 2017.
  12. 1 2 "Chords & Notes". The Hindu. 29 September 2003. Archived from the original on 5 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  13. Rajiv Vijayakar. "Behind great tunes". Deccan Herald.
  14. "Okariki Okaru". Spotify. 7 June 2003. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  15. "Unnai Paartha Naal Mudhal (2003)". Spotify.
  16. "Telugu cinema review – Okariki Okaru – Sreeram, Arti Chabria – Rasool – Keeravani". idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  17. "Okariki Okaru review: Okariki Okaru (Telugu) Movie Review – fullhyd.com". Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  18. "Unnai Paartha Naal Muthal". chennaionline.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2005. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  19. "Police Police completes shoot". The New Indian Express. 26 November 2008.
  20. "నంది అవార్డు విజేతల పరంపర (1964–2008)" [A series of Nandi Award Winners (1964–2008)] (PDF). Information & Public Relations of Andhra Pradesh. Retrieved 21 August 2020.(in Telugu)
  21. "Telugu CineMaa Awards 2003". Idlebrain.com. 5 November 2004.
  22. "Santosham Film Awards (Complete List)". Ragalahari.
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