After getting delayed for many months, Oxygen is finally in theaters now. Directed by Jyothi Krishna the film is an action thriller with a social message. It is a pretty ordinary attempt from the director that even Gopichand’s screen presence couldn’t save it.
Story :
Krishna Prasad (Gopichand) is an NRI who comes to India to marry the daughter (Rashi Khanna) of a village landlord (Jagapathi Babu). Krishna Prasad saves their family from their enemies, but there is something that he is hiding from them. He comes there with a plan to avenge his parents and girlfriend’s (Anu) death.
Performances:
Gopichand’s screen presence and his performance is the biggest plus for this otherwise tiresome film. He excelled in action scenes and did his best to keep the film alive despite boring narration. Surprisingly a dubbing artist was used for a few portions. Rashi Khanna has nothing much to do. Anu has an important role to play in the main plot and she is alright. Jagapathi Babu is getting typecast in such roles lately. Ali’s comedy didn’t click. There is not a single noteworthy performance from the remaining star cast consisting seasoned actors.
Technicalities:
Jyothi Krishna’s script is seriously flawed with too many holes in it. Entire first half is plain bore to sit through. Second half focuses on the action part and Jyothi Krishna fails to narrate the film in an interesting manner. Elementary level direction made mockery of the things to an extent that it looks like a stage play at times.
Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music is mediocre. He didn’t even leave his mark with the background score. Even the Cinematography is ordinary compared to the films of this class. There’s nothing much for an editor to do with such poor content on hand. Production values are surprisingly average in spite of AM Ratnam’s brand.
Thumbs Up:
Thumbs Down:
- Pointless narration
- Aimless direction
- Meaningless execution
Analysis:
Oxygen is primarily a revenge drama but with a twist. First half is a futile exercise just for the sake of bluffing the audience so that they could be surprised with the twist before the interval. Although it takes us by surprise, it doesn’t raise curiosity over the second half as it can be easily guessed at the intermission point only.
Second half focuses on the flashback portions of the protagonist that are not even mildly engaging. He loses his brother and later his parents and girlfriend all because of some greedy businessmen. Now he is after them to put an end to their illegal business. It would be a huge spoiler if we get too much into the details of this flashback part.
Once the flashback is done, protagonist goes after remaining bad men to complete his mission. Despite nonstop action, nothing seems to be exciting due to poor characters and awful writing. Not even a single scene makes an impression. It is lazy and amateurish in its approach to characterization and narrative.
Pre climax and climax scenes are unintentionally funny. Even the predictable climax twist doesn’t help the film to redeem a bit. On a whole, Oxygen suffocates its viewers with terrible writing and equally worse execution. Even the masses cannot tolerate this amateur stuff. You can look for better options if you are planning for an entertaining weekend at the cinemas.
Verdict: On a ventilator!
