Date:15/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/15/stories/2008021558250200.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Engaging revenge drama

Gopichand and Bhavana

Film: Ontari

Cast: Gopichand, Bhavana

Direction: B.V. Ramana

If you’ve had watched Kanmani’s ‘Na Oopiri’ and appreciated its aesthetic sensibility, you’d sure appreciate this one which has been given a commercial touch and an engaging screenplay.

Despite starting out with all the earmarks of a fairly ordinary romantic plot, the film develops into a surprisingly effective look at a man’s quest to come back to terms with reality, his revenge when he discovers that his lady love is no more alive.

Hunt begins

It opens with Sayaji Shinde analysing the nature of murder of the villain by the protagonist and as he begins his hunt to nab him, the synopsis is revealed. The director holds your attention by steering the viewers through a series of flash back episodes on the lead pair to make us understand their current predicament even more. Sometimes it does get confusing and unsettling, but you’d overlook it as you know what’s coming next. The romantic angle is handled well and violence begins just before the break, dominating a slightly low second half. The script has panache, it does not insult the intelligence of the characters or the audience, but gets predictable when Gopichand beheads Rajiv Kanakala.

Gopichand fares better with layered performance, he has his mass audience rooting for him but the box office collections depend on how well the people take to the grim finale. Sunil and Ali’s comedy is just passable but Raghu Babu’s one-liners draw the laughs.

Routine stuff

Bhavana has a very familiar face, looks like Rakshita and she has done commendable work. Ashish Vidyarthi, Sayaji Shinde, Ajay et al do routine stuff. Dialogues are okay- not above the ordinary. Cinematography and sound are vivid and lush. Ramana blends all the formula ingredients to dish out an average entertainer but definitely not a happy one on the Valentine’s Day.

Finally, Ontari is one thing such a movie should never be: neither awful nor great--just decent…

Y. SUNITA CHOWDHARY