Okkadu

Okkadu
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gunasekhar
Written by	Story & Screenplay: Gunasekhar Dialogues: Paruchuri Brothers
Produced by	M. S. Raju
Starring	Mahesh Babu Bhumika Chawla Prakash Raj
Cinematography	Sekhar V. Joseph
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad
Music by	Mani Sharma
Production company	Sumanth Art Productions
Release date	15 January 2003 (2003-01-15)
Running time	171 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	₹9 crore

Okkadu (transl. The one) is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language romantic sports action film co-written and directed by Gunasekhar and produced by M. S. Raju. The film stars Mahesh Babu, Bhumika Chawla and Prakash Raj. The music was composed by Mani Sharma, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Sekhar V. Joseph and A. Sreekar Prasad.

Okkadu was released on 15 January 2003 to positive reviews from critics. The film received praise for its acting, action sequences, and direction and became one of the highest-grossing Telugu films of the year.^[1] It has garnered eight Nandi Awards and four Filmfare Awards South, including Best Film – Telugu. It also led Mahesh Babu to achieve a major breakthrough in his career.^[2]

Okkadu was later remade into Tamil as Ghilli (2004), Kannada as Ajay (2006), Bengali as Jor (2008), twice in Bangladesh as Dapot (2006) and Bolona Kobul (2009), Odia as Mate Aanidela Lakhe Phaguna (2008), Hindi as Tevar (2015), and Sinhala as Kabaddi (2021).

Ajay Varma, a Hyderabad-based Kabbadi player and the son of DGP Vijay Varma, visits Kurnool to take part in a state-level tournament. In Kurnool, Ajay 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 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 takes Swapna to his house in the Old City and hides her in his room with the help of his sister Asha. However, Ajay's parents learn about Swapna hiding in their house. Swapna escapes with Ajay and eventually falls in love with him. The next day, Vijay and his team surround the Charminar, where Swapna is hidden by Ajay. Swapna, Ajay and his Ajay's friends reaches the airport and they bring her parents to see her one last time.

After Swapna passed airport security, Ajay realises that he loves Swapna, who later shows up and hugs Ajay, while proposing to him. At the airport, Vijay arrests Ajay, while Obul's men takes Swapna away. Later, Swapna taunts Obul by telling that Ajay will definitely come for her. Obul goes to the prison and asks Ajay to come with him. Vijay expresses that he is not worried about Ajay, but is worried about Obul. Obul and his henchmen are kidnapped by Ajay. Later, Ajay and his friends attend the finals of the national-level Kabbadi tournament and win the tournament.

Obul's brother Home Minister Siva Reddy is waiting at the venue of Obul's marriage with Swapna. After learning about his whereabouts, Siva reaches the stadium, along with Swapna and his mother. Ajay and Obul are fighting with each other, where Ajay defeats Obul. Swapna's father later stabs and kills Obul, while his mother dies in a bomb blast. Siva Reddy decides not to react as it would harm his position. Ajay and his friends celebrate their victory with Swapna and her family.

During his days as an assistant director in Madras (now Chennai), Gunasekhar dreamt of directing a film with the backdrop of Charminar, a monument and mosque located in Hyderabad. After watching West Side Story (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.^[3] Years later, Aswini Dutt met Gunasekhar during the re-recording sessions of Choodalani Vundi (1998) where the latter saw the portfolio images of Mahesh Babu whose debut film Rajakumarudu (1999) was officially launched that day. Finding Mahesh Babu apt for the protagonist he envisioned, Gunasekhar narrated the script to him and gained his consent.^[3]

After the release of Mrugaraju (2001), Gunasekhar resumed work on the film's script. After reading an interview of Pullela Gopichand who pursued a career in badminton against his father's wishes and faced many hardships, Gunasekhar made the protagonist a person who aspires to be a kabaddi player against his father's wishes.^[3] He met Ramoji Rao who expressed his wish to produce the film and permitted Gunasekhar to erect a Charminar set at Ramoji Film City.^[3]

Ramoji Rao walked out due to unknown reasons and Mahesh 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 by jumping from the top. Raju agreed to do so after listening to the script narration and the project was subsequently announced.^[4]

Gunasekhar wanted to name the film as Athade Ame Sainyam (transl. He is her army), but the title was already registered for another film which made Gunasekhar name the film as Okkadu after considering Kabaddi.^[4] The film was produced under the banner Sumanth Art Productions with a budget of ₹8–9 crore.^[4]

Impressed with her screen presence in Yuvakudu (2000), Gunasekhar chose Bhumika Chawla as the film's female lead to be paired with Mahesh Babu.^[4] Mukesh Rishi 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".^[5] Prakash Raj was signed as the antagonist and was seen as a factionist who falls for Bhumika's character in the film.^[6] Telangana Shakuntala played the role of Prakash Raj's mother in the film for which she had to smoke a cigar. Chandra Mohan and Niharika were seen in supporting roles as Bhumika's father and Mahesh Babu's sister respectively.^[7]

Paruchuri Brothers were signed to write the film's dialogues. Mani Sharma composed the score and Sekhar V. Joseph was its cinematographer.^[4] A. Sreekar Prasad edited the film,^[8] and Ashok Kumar was its art director.^[9] 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.^[8] After the first copy was ready, Paruchuri Brothers suggested to Gunasekhar that a linear narrative be opted for over the non linear narrative. The latter, along with Sreekar Prasad, changed the non-linear narration to linear, within ten minutes.^[4]

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 176 feet (54 m) and the height of each minaret is 78 feet (24 m) feet. The film's unit decided to construct the set with a length of 120 feet (37 m) 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.^[4]

The makers decided to create the roads near the set using computer graphics in order to reduce the budget. Principal photography 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.^[4] 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.^[4]

The music for the film was composed by Mani Sharma and the lyrics were written by Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry.^[10]

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 ₹23.1 crore.^[1]

Home media

Okkadu was available to stream on SUN Nxt^[11]

Sify wrote, "Finally Mahesh Babu has managed to get the right mix and make Okkadu, a live-wire action thriller. Paruchuri brothers and director Guna Sekhar have made it racy and Mani Sharma has dished out some memorable tunes".^[12] Idlebrain wrote, "First half of the film is very good. Second half is good. The narration has become slow in the second half. But keeping in mind that there is only one thread (Mahesh sending Bhumika to USA) to be narrated, we can't expect a better second half. All the scenes that happen in Mahesh Babu's house provide lot of entertainment with subtle comedy. Mahesh Babu deserves an outstanding blockbuster and Okkadu has all the ingredients to become one".^[13]

Okkadu was remade in Tamil as Ghilli (2004) and in Kannada as Ajay (2006), both featuring Prakash Raj reprising his role. The film was also remade in Bengali as Jor (2008), in Odia as Mote Anidela Lakhe Phaguna (2008), in Bangladesh Bengali as Bolona Kobul (2009), in Hindi as Tevar (2015) and in Sinhala as Kabaddi (2021).^[14][15][16]

The scene in which Ajay briefly uses Swapna as a hostage when surrounded by Obul Reddy and his men to manipulate them into surrendering their weapons was parodied by Shah Rukh Khan in the Hindi film Chennai Express (2013).^[17]

• Chinnarayana, Pulagam (16 August 2015). సినిమా వెనుక స్టోరీ: అతడే ఆమె సైన్యం [Behind the scenes: He is her army] (in Telugu). Sakshi Funday. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.

• Okkadu at IMDb