Oka Manchi prema katha isn’t confined to looking after old age parents it is also about the corporate culture and the subsequent rat race. Stories of parents going through emotional neglect has been explored many times much like the genre of love itself. But this movie has many interesting points and one of them is about becoming a mother to your own parent. Among the principal actors Samuthirakani makes the strongest impact in a refreshingly different role.
Starcast: Rohini Hattangadi, Rohini Molleti, Samuthirakani, Himanshu Popuri and others
Genre: Drama
Direction and screenplay: Akkineni Kutumba Rao
Story, Dialogues and Songs: Volga
Producer: Himanshu Popuri
Cinematographer: Madhu Ambat
Music: K M Radhakrishnan
Streaming site: ETV Win
Running time: 2 hours+
Stories of parents facing emotional neglect has a certain template. The children are generally presented in a shrill and often unbearable tone. Oka Manchi Prem Katha’s first half also follows this formula. Sujatha (Rohini Molleti) is a very ambitious woman. She wants to reach the top position and has been working heavily to get a promotion which will put her on par with her husband Eshwar (Samuthirakani). Their daughter is studying abroad. Because of the extremely busy work schedules neither Sujatha nor Eshwar have much time to each other and for their daughter. Veteran actress Rohini Hattangadi is Rangamani the mother. Rangamani was also an employee but now stays in her village doing a bit of social service. She interacts with numerous people on a daily basis, solving some of their problems and one of them is her ‘adopted’ son Shankar. However, a health problem makes her miss her daughter dearly, but Sujatha is too busy to visit Rangamani. How they come together is the core of the film.
A strong aspect of Oka Manchi Prem Katha are the portions featuring the two Rohinis in the latter half. From the moment Sujatha becomes a mother to her own parent the film hits numerous high notes. The scenes are filled with lot of warmth, and the film succeeds in presenting a different kind of love, in this case a bond between a mother and a daughter. Both Sujatha and Rohini Molleti become more likeable here.
Through the very ambitious nature of Sujatha, Volga does a fine job in critiquing the current working lifestyle especially the corporate set up where there is one deadline after another leaving little to no space for imbibing humanistic values. The mental health issues that come with it has also been effectively presented. There is a nice bit in the first half when Sujatha visits a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist says that she needs love and more communication with people around her. To this Sujatha asks whether there is any medicine to cure this problem and the Doctor replies that unfortunately no love pill has been discovered so far.
The portions of Samuthirakani missing his wife and the telephonic conversations have been wonderfully written and enacted. Samuthirakani is a delight to watch whether it is reciting poems of John Keats or making up his own one or portraying the absolute bewilderment about the change in Sujatha’s behaviour. It is nice to see the actor playing a nuanced role for a change rather than the routine mainstream villain.
Among the other actors Rohini Molleti’s character was a little too loud and caricaturist in the first half but gets better as the movie progresses. Rohini Hattangadi as usual shines bright especially in the confrontation scenes. A specific mention must be made of the portion between her and Samuthirakani when Eshwar sends a divorce notice. She counters him with one simple question but a powerful one; would he do the same thing if the company had sent Sujatha somewhere for work purpose. There is one more dialogue where she raises an important question about Companies not granting leave to take care of old age parents. The reasoning that she gives is also very thought provoking. When there can be a maternity leave why can’t there be one for old age parental care? The rest of the cast are also fine. Himanshu Popuri as Shankar especially stands out.
Talking about the flaws the movie needed to be crisper in the first half. The core plot should have kicked in earlier instead of leaving it to the second half. The jarring difference between the attitudes of village folk and Sujatha could have been handled with more subtlety.
The music by K M Radhakrishna is soulful adding to the movie’s emotional core. Madhu Ambat’s cinematography is of course as usual very pleasant.