Young hero Allu Sirish combination with director VI Anand of super hit Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada fame raked curiosity on Okka Kshanam with its promotional videos for intriguing Parallel Lives concept. With Surabhi, Seerat Kapoor and Avasarala Srinivas as other leads, let us see what the film is all about?
Jeeva (Allu Sirish) and Jyo (Surabhi) are true example for love at first sight with consent from both the families. Their smooth sailing love story gets a minor jerk when they observe a newlywed couple and neighbors Swathi (Seerat Kapoor) and Srinivas (Avasarala Srinivas) frequently getting into quarrels.
Jyo is worried about Swathi’s life in the hands of psycho Srinivas. However Jeeva promises to sort out the things and gets in touch with Srinivas only to find a shocker that Srinivas, Swathi’s lives resemble that of Jeeva and Jyo which is called as Parallel Lives. Big jolt is here when Srinivas is arrested by Police on the charges of murdering his wife Swathi.
If Jeeva is same as that of Srinivas then the death of Jyo is imminent as that of Swathi. How Jeeva unravels the truth behind Swathi’s inevitable future and why was Jyo killed? All these form the rest.
VI Anand who came up with a thrilling narrative for Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada is here with a brand new concept of Parallel Lives connecting four people and where their love stories are destined to. Basic idea is though riveting, VI Anand took sweet enough time to get into actual plot made screenplay lethargic. Such thrilling plots need racy narrative to keep audience on edge of the seat. VI Anand of course showed his peculiar touch in pre interval, post interval episodes yet his diversion from a fascinating main plot into crime (Hospital, Infants Death) based commercial action filled climax isn’t expected. Sam K Naidu’s camera work injected a decent mood to the narrative which keeps us hooked to screen. Editing by Chota K Prasad fell short of crispness and there’s much more left from chopping in both the halves. Mani Sharma is the best in scoring BGM for film’s of this genre and proved again. Production standards from Chakri Chigurupati are very much in sync with concept and casting they had on hand.
On to performances, Allu Sirish definitely improved a lot from what we saw him in last couple of films. As lover boy, he looked handsome and stylish. Good to see Sirish accepting the challenge of emoting in crucial scenes and macho action in climax which definitely proves a point. Surabhi’s makeup, costumes gave her a new appearance and she is a right fit into the role. Avasarala Srinivas as usual absorbs our attention in a pivotal character. His chemistry with Seerat Kapoor worked very well. For a change Seerat got a meaty performance centric role and she is just acceptable. Dasari Arun is a big surprise as baddie. Prabhas Sreenu as Dasari Raghavendra Rao, Praveen introduced as Puppy and Sathya, Sudarshan, Viva Harsha tried to evoke some fun. Jayaprakash’s explanation of Parallel Lives is one of the exciting parts. Rohini, Kasi Vishwanath and others did their job.
Parallel Lives Concept
Pre Interval Bang
Second Half
Mani Sharma BGM
Slow Takeoff
First Half
Serious Narrative
Songs
Climax
Feeble Emotions
Okka Kshanam is one more fresh experiment from talented VI Anand. After playing around a ghost changing its body to win its love in EPC, this time VI Anand makes his hero fight against an unavoidable future to win his love on the footing of parallel lives. Both films have interesting premises and Anand seems to have made a brand of his own. However, the differentiating question is how far a scientific element like Parallel Lives possesses a chance to penetrate into audience like that of Ghost Love.
Okka Kshanam first half takes off with romantic thread of Sirish, Surabhi. Entire portion of love track is just average with poor fun factor. Story gets interesting only with entry of disgruntled couple Avasarala Srinivas, Seerat Kapoor. Situations forcing Sirish to learn about Parallel Lives concept and JP elucidating with right examples accelerate the proceedings. By the time, Sirish and Surabhi try their part to keep curiosity alive…Avasarala Srinivas accepting the charges of murdering Seerat Kapoor is a bang interval. Like EPC gains its momentum just pre interval, same is the case with OK too.
Into second half, Sirish visiting Avasarala Srinivas in jail to learn about his flashback arrests our attention. Entire flashback is narrated very effectively locking Sirish in a critical position. How to save Surabhi? Here comes the key subplot of roping in Dasari Arjun Kumar and situations driving to the killing of Seerat Kapoor are also meaningful. Towards pre climax and climax, plot loses its sheen and becomes run of the mill with superficial action.
All in all, Okka Kshanam has something new to praise about. Touching Parallel Lives point is by itself an adventure. VI Anand showed his mark with bang interval and a racy second half. Definitely worth a watch once and has chances of clicking with metro audience who welcome new concept based thrillers. Commercial verdict has to be wait and seen as CJ rates the film with 2.75 stars.