Okkadu

<p>Ajay Varma, a hot headed -based player, a aspirant and the son of Vijay Varma, visits 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 the to live with her uncle and pursue her studies after Obul killed her two elder brothers over their disapproval of a marriage alliance 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 and hides her in his room with the help of his sister, Asha, while he and his friends work to get her a Visa and passport. 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 gang of friends surround the , where Swapna is hidden. Swapna, Ajay, and his friends reach . They also brought Swapna’s parents to see her one last time. Meanwhile, all facts were known to Obul Reddy through Ajay’s Kabbadi rivals, the “Soda gang,” then Obul Reddy warns Vijay at his home for not finding his son and Swapna. However, with hard struggle, Ajay successfully makes Swapna pass airport security, and then Ajay realizes that he loves Swapna, who later shows up and hugs him while proposing to him. But then, Vijay arrests Ajay, while Obul’s men take Swapna away. Later, Swapna taunts Obul, who tries to molest her, but she defends herself by telling that Ajay will definitely come for her and challenges him to defeat Ajay to get her. Obul goes to the prison and asks Ajay to come with him by Vijay’s approval as a result of withdrawing his case. Vijay expresses that he is not worried about Ajay but is worried about Obul. The Obul attempts to kill Ajay again but realizes that it is a trap set by Ajay and his gang, and later, Obul and his henchmen are abducted by Ajay. Later, Ajay and his friends attend the finals of the national-level Kabaddi tournament and win the tournament. Meanwhile, Obul has escaped through Soda gang and called forces to kill Ajay. Obul’s elder brother 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, while Obul’s mother gets killed in a bomb blast by her dog (after attempting to kill Ajay at the stadium). Finally, Ajay defeats Obul. Later, Obul regains his consciousness to kill Ajay, but Swapna’s father, Dhasaratharami Reddy, later stabs him to death. Siva Reddy decides not to react as it would harm his position. Ajay and his friends celebrate their victory with Swapna and her family. Later, both Ajay and Swapna get married. During his days as an assistant director in Madras (now ), dreamt of directing a film with the backdrop of , a monument and mosque located in . After watching (1961), he took inspiration from the war between two gangs and wrote a script choosing Charminar and area of Hyderabad as the film’s backdrop. Years later, met Gunasekhar during the re-recording sessions of (1998) where the latter saw the portfolio images of whose debut film (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. After the release of (2001), Gunasekhar resumed work on the film’s script. After reading an interview of who pursued a career in against his father’s wishes and faced many hardships, Gunasekhar made the protagonist a person who aspires to be a player against his father’s wishes. He met who expressed his wish to produce the film and permitted Gunasekhar to erect a Charminar set at . Ramoji Rao walked out for unknown reasons and Mahesh Babu, along with Gunasekhar, met at 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. Gunasekhar wanted to name the film as ( ), but the title was already registered for another film which made Gunasekhar name the film as after considering . The film was produced under the banner with a budget of 8–9 crore. Impressed with her screen presence in (2000), Gunasekhar chose as the film’s female lead to be paired with Mahesh Babu. and 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”. was signed as the antagonist and was seen as a factionist who falls for Bhumika’s character in the film. played the role of Prakash Raj’s mother in the film for which she had to smoke a cigar. and Niharika were seen in supporting roles as Bhumika’s father and Mahesh Babu’s sister respectively. were signed to write the film’s dialogues. composed the score and was its cinematographer. edited the film, and Ashok Kumar was its art director. 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. After the first copy was ready, Paruchuri Brothers suggested to Gunasekhar that a be opted for over the . The latter, along with Sreekar Prasad, changed the non-linear narration to linear, within ten minutes. The film’s unit erected the Charminar set in the ten acres of land owned by 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. The makers decided to create the roads near the set using computer graphics in order to reduce the budget. 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. 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. The music for the film was composed by and the lyrics were written by . 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 crore. was available to stream on . wrote, “Finally Mahesh Babu has managed to get the right mix and make , a live-wire action thriller. Paruchuri brothers and director Guna Sekhar have made it racy and Mani Sharma has dished out some memorable tunes”. 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 has all the ingredients to become one”. was remade in as (2004) and in as (2006), both featuring reprising his role. The film was also remade in Bengali as (2008), as (2008), in as (2009), in as (2015) and in as (2021).</p>