Being a refugee in your home is always a torturous experience. We cannot put in right words how it feels to be alone and lonely when you’re in desperate need of help. When it feels like you have to run away to survive or die trying, in your homeland, then you are just a reminder of an atrocity than a human being. Okkadu Migiladu tried to bring this emotion to the fore front in its runtime.
Plot : Student leader Surya (Manchu Manoj) finds out that a professor used three young and naive girls as a bait to get a promotion. The girls commit suicide in order to escape from their clutches and as the people involved are bigwigs. Surya tries to bring out the truth for them. His inspiration is his maternal uncle Peter (Manchu Manoj) who is a Sri Lankan Tamilian. He fights for Tigers and dies trying to help Victor (Ajay Nutakki) in saving his sister and few others. But they lose their way on harsh sea and how Victor reaches to shore with young Peter aka Surya is the story of the movie.
Performances : Manchu Manoj doesn’t have a good character to back on in this movie. The director tries to sell his disastrous Ravana Desam movie in Telugu by using Manchu Manoj’s popularity. But for this movie, Manoj having to reduce weight and grow ounces, makes one feel for the actor.
Ajay Nutakki doesn’t have basic knowledge in acting and we can’t use words to describe his performance. Anisha Ambrose and all others are used to fill up the screen.
Technicalities : Karthika Srinivas edited the movie as a cut and paste job. Rather than trying to give a character and tone to the scenes, efter just excels in joining them incoherently. They make no sense whatsoever.
VK Ramaraju doesn’t really come up with the right goods required for this movie. One might argue about the low budget but that just seems to be a lame excuse in this digital world.
Shiva Nandigam tries to give a good back ground score but loud mixing doesn’t really sit in with the tone of the film. Songs are forgettable.
Ajay Nutakki had a good story but failed to come up with a better screenplay and directorial skills like Madras Cafe, Ghazi which are made on controlled budget. He tries to run with camera in the name of trying to create a ‘realistic’ feel for the characters and viewers. They are many well made documentaries that talk about the atrocities of Sri Lankan army on Tamilians that forced them to run to different countries as refugees. This tale about a letter written by a refugee who died trying to find Indian shore due to harsh seasickness doesn’t contain the same emotional punch.
Analysis : The movie needed a good experienced director to bring the emotion right on screen. Life of Pie is the best example of how to make a convincing film on the plight of sea survivors. This may not be so delusional like Life of Pie but definitely did not require to be so clumsy that rather than make us feel the crude reality it makes us cringe for being in the theater.
Rating : 1.5/5
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