Movie : Oh! My Friend
Rating: 3/5
Cast : Siddharth, Shruthi Haasan, Hansika, Navadeep, Tanikella Bharani, Ali, Sana etc
Directed by : Venu Shreeram
Produced by : Dil Raju
Banner : Sree Venkateshwara Creations
Music : Rahul Raj
Release Date : 2011-11-11
Story:
Chandu (Siddarth), Siri (Shruti Haasan) are very close friends. Siri loves Uday (Navadeep) and Chandu falls in love with Ritu (Hansika). All will not be well between the friends once their lovers come into their lives. Their deep bond of friendship causes differences in their love and they break up with their lovers. The conclusion for this problem is to be seen on screen.
Performances: Siddarth is good like always. His emotional outburst in the penultimate scene is pretty good. Shruti Haasan came up with a natural performance. She is lovable as Siri. Hansika is on the weightier side. She did an okay job. Navadeep gave another confident performance. Tanikella Bharani is standard. Ali is just Okay.
Highlights
- Music and songs
- Cinematography
- Siddarth- Shruti performance
Drawbacks
- One dimensional story
- Lack of comedy
- Weak commercial elements
- Emotional dose is strong
Analysis:It’s a very simple story which we had seen in films like Iddaru Mitrulu and Nuvve Kavali. So the plot is not entirely new to our audiences. However, unlike Iddaru Mitrulu, here the film has youthful appeal and also gives a different conclusion to Nuvve Kavali type friends.
Director Venu Sriram tried to explore the gender differences in friendship and the consequences. He did a neat job up to some extent. He gave a very strong conclusion to the story which would convince anybody. But he missed few essential factors that make a complete film.
Entertainment is barely there. No comedy is included in the narrative. The focus is mainly on four principle characters and there are no sub plots at all. Had he come up with a better narrative which entertains and passes the strong message, this would have been a modern classic.
Sadly his script lacked the universal appeal and purely one dimensional leaving the fate of the film to the young audience. If youth lap this film up it will have a decent run and if they reject it would suffer big time.
Finally:
Oh My Friend is targeted at the youth and they should relate to the main plot of the movie. Saying so, it may not appeal to each and every youngster as the issue is not a universal problem. If you have a best buddy from the opposite gender, it would surely appeal to you. So everything depends upon how anyone could relate to this subject. If not for anything go for the superb music and stunning visuals.