Director Kishore Tirumala’s previous film Nenu Sailaja with Ram was a runaway super hit. One would expect similar kind of feel good film when the actor and director come together again. Vunnadi Okate Zindagi seemed promising from the outset but ended up as a disappointment.
Story :
Abhi (Ram) and Vasu (Sri Vishnu) are childhood friends. Abhi falls in love with Maha (Anupama), a house surgeon. When Abhi was about to express his love for Maha he comes to know that Vasu also is in love with her. Both of them express their feelings for Maha and she chooses Vasu over Abhi. Later friends get separated and four years later they meet in a friend’s marriage. How do they rebuild their friendship forms rest of the story.
Performances:
Ram is seen in two different getups in the film. His rockstar getup is good. He is particularly impressive in emotional scenes. Anupama got a very nice role and she did justice to it. Lavanya is alright as a struggling wedding planner. Sri Vishnu as Ram’s friend played a key role and he is apt. He is impressive in the emotional sequences. Priyadarsi’s comedy is good in parts. Kireeti, Anand and Anisha played other important roles.
Technicalities:
Kishore Tirumala did well in getting the emotions right. A couple of key emotional scenes came out well. Story is an old one that lacks any freshness. Screenplay is not up to the mark as it moves aimless at times. Screenplay in the second half is particularly unimpressive.
Devi Sri Prasad came up with a couple of catchy tunes. His music is the mainstay of the film. He did well with the background score too. Dialogues are good in emotional scenes. Cinematography is neat. Editor could have kept the run time short. Second half drags on and on. Production values are good.
Thumbs Up:
- Ram
- Emotions
- Climax
Thumbs Down:
- Screenplay
- Second half
Analysis:
Vunnadi Okate Zindagi’s plot is a time tested one. Director Kishore Tirumala tried to make it look like a fresh plot, but apart from a couple of well conceived scenes, VOZ is a routine friendship-love saga that lacks freshness whatsoever. Right from the childhood episodes to the drinking scenes between grownup friends, nothing about this film is fresh and appealing.
First half of the film is neatly paced though. Scenes between Anupama and Ram are decent enough to keep us engaged. However, one could easily see the plot twist that is in the waiting. Pre interval scenes are done well and set a nice platform for an emotional second half. Surprisingly, second half opens on an entirely different note with a marriage setup.
The film totally goes off track at the beginning of the second half and only makes sense during the last scene. Neither comedy nor emotions work in the second half that is leisurely paced with some lazy writing. Climax is good with an interesting twist, but one will have to sit through a boring second half to experience that touching scene.
Kishore Tirumala’s previous film Nenu Sailaja also had a routine plot, but he made it into an effective romantic drama with perfect screenplay. In VOZ, he couldn’t recreate that magic and simply relied upon performances and dialogues to make an impact. VOZ had its moments but they are very few and far between. It may appeal to youngsters who value friendship a lot, but on a whole VOZ is a below average fare with so little to take home.
Verdict: What Amma… What is this Amma?
