Okka Kshanam movie review: Allu Sirish movie is a false promise, disappointing

Okka Kshanam
Director: Vi Anand
Cast: Allu Sirish, Surbhi, Srinivas Avasarala, Seerat Kapoor
Rating: 2/5

Can similar events happen in the lives of two different individuals? For instance, do you know why people keep comparing Abraham Lincoln to John F Kennedy? This question is the crux of the film Okka Kshanam starring Allu Sirish, Surbhi, Seerat Kapoor and Srinivas Avasarala.

Jo (Surbhi) and Jeeva (Allu Sirish) meet by chance in Orbit Mall’s parking lot. Right before this, there is a buildup, leading us to believe that not all this is as it seems. From here on, the film drags for about 30 minutes. As the film’s two leads, Jo and Jeeva, get to know each other, we are left wondering if this film is indeed a crime thriller.

Then things appear to be falling place. We meet Srinivas (Srinivas Avasarala) and Swathi (Seerat Kapoor), Jo’s neighbours, whom she watches from the balcony, for watching people is her hobby. After observing suspicious goings-on, Jo and Jeeva decide to investigate who their neighbors really are and this is where the plot gets interesting.

For a few minutes there, you might even think that this is probably a comedy and not a crime thriller. The way director Vi Anand has chosen to draw out the similarities between his four characters leaves one in splits. He decides to throw the punch right before the interval. These 15 minutes happens to be the best stretch in the film.

While we expect to watch a tauter second half, that is not what we get. Instead, we see an over-the-top song that dramatises the situation, complete with Jeeva turning to alcohol for help.

There have been questions about how Okka Kshanam is a remake of a Korean film, Parallel Life. The director has used the bit where a professor explains the theory of parallel life and gives the same example -- of Lincoln and Kennedy.

The filmmaker introduces his audience to the concept by giving the example of how Lincoln and Kennedy both became presidents of USA exactly 100 years apart, how both were murdered in the presence of their wives and other coincidences that make it so similar that it is actually eerie, but the plot is different.

How would you feel when you realise that your life has a set pattern, same as someone else and you have no say over how you lead your life? “Someone’s past could be your present,” says the professor played by Jaya Prakash. This one dialogue has so much potential but has been left under-utilised.

Okka Kshanam has not been sincere to the genre by adding antagonists who have no screen presence or humour that is a force-fit in places. The female lead comes off as an unintelligent, scared and a timid girl. The suspense, one of the most important elements of a thriller, is absent as you can easily guess the outcome of the film.

The only thing left to find out is whether the film will be true to its concept or sell out for a happy ending.

And, in this post-truth world, can our films stop normalising stalking? How is it okay to take pictures of a woman whom you don’t even know? And right after this, we see the hero of the film trying to impress the same woman by slapping a man who harassed another girl. Hypocritical much?

Author tweets @Priyanka_S_MCC
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