Okariki Okaru (transl. Each for the other) is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language romantic drama film that was directed by cinematographer Rasool Ellore in his directorial debut. The film stars Sriram and Aarthi Chhabria, and was a box office success.
| Okariki Okaru | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | Rasool Ellore |
| Written by |
|
| Produced by | P. Kiran |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Sunil K. Reddy Raja |
| Edited by | Shankar |
| Music by | M. M. Keeravani |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu |
Plot
editSwapna is a non-resident Indian (NRI) who, along with her grandfather, has arrived in India for a visit. Kameshwar "Kamesh" Rao is on a post-graduation pilgrimage to Kasi at the request of his grandmother. Kamesh sees Swapna at a railway station and falls in love with her. When introducing themselves they lie about their names, stating they are Rahul and Subba Lakshmi.
Swapna and her grandfather quickly leave for their relatives' place before Swapna can inform Rahul but she places a note in Rahul's wallet before leaving. When Swapna goes to her relatives' house, she learns her engagement is being arranged and is upset. Her father arrives for the engagement and stops it because the relatives have cheated Swapna's family on business, which caused Swapna's uncle (father's brother) to succumb to cardiac arrest.
After a year, Kamesh is looking for love and decides to go to the United States. For this purpose, he gets a job as an engineer at a software company so he visit the US on a work permit. Kamesh goes to the US and is working under Deepak, who is Swapna's cousin. Deepak wants to marry Swapna and she almost compromises by marrying Deepak. Kamesh meets Swapna.
Cast
edit- Sriram in a dual role as
- Kameswara "Kamesh" Rao / Rahul
- Kameswara Rao's grandfather (in portrait)
- Aarti Chabria as Swapna Rao / Subba Lakshmi
- Manav Vij as Deepak
- Vijay as Puchu alias Samaparanjaneyulu
- Tanikella Bharani as Kameswara Rao's father
- Hema as Kameswara Rao's mother
- Radha Kumari as Malleswari
- M. Balayya as Rao
- Devan as Swapna Rao's father
- Dharmavarapu Subramanyam as visa officer
- Ravi Prakash as Shahrukh
- Ahuti Prasad as Raghu
- Vennira Aadai Nirmala as Deepak's mother
- Jahnavi as herself
- Laxmi Ratten as Williams
- Gautam Raju as train passenger
- Duvvasi Mohan as train passenger
- Jr. Relangi as train passenger
Production
editDevelopment
editCinematographer Rasool Ellore wanted to make his directorial debut; he met with producer ARS Prasad to this end.[1] Sunil Reddy, who later directed Om 3D (2013), made his debut as a cinematographer with this film.[2]
Casting
editTamil actor Srikanth used the name Sriram as his stage name for Okariki Okaru to avoid confusion with established Telugu actor Srikanth.[3][4] Rasool Ellore narrated the script to Sriram on the sets of April Maadhathil (2002).[5] Sriram wore a clean-shaven look for the first time in his career.[6] Aarti Chabria made her Telugu debut with Okariki Okaru.[7] After appearing a grandmother character in Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu (2002), Radha Kumari played a similar character in Okariki Okaru.[8]
Filming
editThe scene in which Sriram declares his love to Chabria was filmed in a dense forest in Kerala. To the film crew's surprise, the location was filled with snakes and leeches. Local villagers told the film crew to leave and some of them did so but Ellore was still able to film the scene with the help of locals.[9] The climax scene of the film was shot in rain, and because the scene is serious, Ellore was not perturbed when the rain washed off Chabria's makeup.[10]
Soundtrack
editM. M. Keeravani composed the music and background score for Okariki Okaru.[11] Ellore described the visuals of the songs before Keeravani composed for them.[1] In a review of the soundtrack, a critic from The Hindu wrote: "Keeravani has that artistic touch in composing music, really! Good attempt."[11]
S. S. Rajamouli, NTR Jr. and Allu Arjun were chief guests at the audio release event, which was held on 1 September 2003 at the Taj Banjara.[6] Keeravani reused the song "Nadiradinna" in Paheli (2005) as "Dheere Jalna".[12]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Vellipothe Elaa" | Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry | M. M. Keeravani, Shreya Ghoshal | 05:08 |
| 2. | "Nadiradinna" | Chandrabose | Karthik, Ganga | 05:15 |
| 3. | "Yekkadunnavamma" | Chandrabose | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam | 05:27 |
| 4. | "Nuvve Na Shwasa" | Chandrabose | Shreya Ghoshal | 05:04 |
| 5. | "Ghatu Ghatu Prema" | Chandrabose | Tippu, Nitya Santoshini | 04:19 |
| 6. | "Allo Nerello" | Chandrabose | M. M. Keeravani, Ganga | 05:19 |
| Total length: | 30:34 | |||
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Enge Aval" | M. M. Keeravani, Shreya Ghoshal | 05:08 |
| 2. | "Nadiradinna" | Karthik, Anuradha Sriram | 05:15 |
| 3. | "Engu Sendrayamma" | Karthik | 05:27 |
| 4. | "Neeye En Swaasam" | Mahati | 05:04 |
| 5. | "Kadhal Kadhal" | Tippu, Anuradha Sriram | 04:19 |
| 6. | "Azhago Azhagallo" | M. M. Keeravani, Srilekha Parthasarathy | 05:19 |
| Total length: | 30:34 | ||
Reception
editJeevi of Idlebrain.com praised several aspects of Okariki Okaru, including the music, screenplay, dialogues, direction and cinematography.[15] Preetam Akkineni of Full Hyderabad called the film "clean good fun" and praised Keeravani's music for having meaningful lyrics "while still being poetic".[16]
Okariki Okaru was subsequently dubbed in Tamil as Unnai Paartha Naal Mudhal with a comedy track by Ramesh Khanna added. A critic from Chennai Online wrote: "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".[17]
Box office
editOkariki Okaru was a box-office success but Sriram did not sign any Telugu films for five years till Police Police (2010) because he was interested in making an action film.[5][18]
Awards
edit- Best Debutant Director
- Best Female Dubbing Artist - Sunitha (for Aarti Chabria)
- Best Male Character Artist - Tanikella Bharani
References
edit- ^ a b Jeevi (10 October 2005). "Interview with Rasool Ellore". Idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- ^ "Sunil Reddy talks about Om". The Times of India. 15 January 2017. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- ^ "Srikanth is Sriram in Telugu!". Sify. 19 September 2003. Archived from the original on 2 October 2003.
- ^ "5 Telugu-origin heroes who made it big in Tamil cinema". The Times of India. 13 November 2018. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
- ^ a b K., Sangeetha Devi (11 October 2003). "Sriram hits Tollywood jackpot". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ "Remember the gorgeous diva from 'Okariki Okaru'? Check out her latest snaps". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
- ^ Narasimham, M. L. (12 November 2011). "My First Break – Radhakumari". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- ^ "Anything for a good scene". The Times of India. 25 January 2004. Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- ^ "Aarti: My heart sings when it rains". The Times of India. 14 January 2017. Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- ^ a b "Chords & Notes". The Hindu. 29 September 2003. Archived from the original on 5 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
- ^ Rajiv Vijayakar. "Behind great tunes". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
- ^ "Okariki Okaru". Spotify. 7 June 2003. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
- ^ "Unnai Paartha Naal Mudhal (2003)". Spotify. Archived from the original on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
- ^ "Telugu cinema review – Okariki Okaru – Sreeram, Arti Chabria – Rasool – Keeravani". idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ "Okariki Okaru review: Okariki Okaru (Telugu) Movie Review – fullhyd.com". Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ "Unnai Paartha Naal Muthal". chennaionline.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2005. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
- ^ "Police Police completes shoot". The New Indian Express. 26 November 2008. Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- ^ "నంది అవార్డు విజేతల పరంపర (1964–2008)" [A series of Nandi Award Winners (1964–2008)] (PDF). Information & Public Relations of Andhra Pradesh. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2020.(in Telugu)
- ^ "Telugu CineMaa Awards 2003". Idlebrain.com. 5 November 2004. Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- ^ "Santosham Film Awards (Complete List)". Ragalahari. Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.