OkeOkkaduis a telugupolitical thriller film directed by Shankar, starring Arjun, ManishaKoirala and Raghuvaran in the leading roles.

It is a 1999 film co-writen by Shankar and the music is composed by A.R Rahman, cinematography by K.V Anand and dialogs by Sujatha. Shankar is well known for his films on contemporary social issues with a flair of inducing commercial elements. OkeOkkaduis also a film on similar lines with much emphasis on politics and corruption. The central theme of the film is how a well abled and educated person gets a chance to make his mark on the politics and how does he impact the reforms in the system. Released on November 7, 1999 , the film went on to become a huge success commercially and was also remade in Hindi as Nayak. PLOT Purushottam (Arjun) is a young dynamic man with simple aspirations in life, working as a cameraman at QTV. One day, a small quarrel between two public transport drivers intensifies and becomes a communal riot. This leads to a heavy traffic problem where police have no option but to resort to immediate action but they are held back by Chief Minister Mr.Chowdary (Raghuvaran). Chowdary tells the police officer that money lenders, caste, party workers and students are the four legs of his CM chair and taking action against any of them would result in his expulsion as CM. The police remain helpless and does not take any measures to mitigate the situation. Purushottam, who was also in the traffic, records the conversation between the CM and the police officer in his camera and in the process he also saves the life of a citizen for which he receives applause and promoted to journalist to cover the live interview of Mr.Chowdary. In the live interview, Purushottam puts Mr.Chowdary in defense by raising questions against his duties and non-transparent functionality and shows the recorded conversation as an evidence to his questions. Mr.Chowdary challenges Purushottam to be the CM for one day and show how he would tackle all the complexities involved with the CM post. Though Purushottam was initially hesitant towards the challenge, he accepts it to experience what it meant to be a CM. Chowdary passes an ordinance to make Purushottam CM for one day by giving his resignation letter and also letter of support from his MLAs. Purushottam starts his day as CM by swearing in as CM and calls for an important meet with all the IAS and IPS officers. He instructs them to collect the information of all the officials involved in corruption and gives them the power to dismiss those officials. Then he makes surprise visits to the government PDS shops and inspects the quality of the products. He suspends the ration shop dealers on the spot. Then he visits slums and discovers that the houses allotted to them were occupied by others. He makes the people from slums to take over the houses allotted to them and also plans a livelihood for them from the sales tax collected on that day. Eventually he discovers huge number of corrupt officials and dismisses all of them including 12 ministers and also Mr.Chowdary being arrested.

After Chowdary resumes power, a no-confidence notion is passed and he is expelled as CM and fresh elections are called. Muddu Krishna (Manivanan) ,who was a secretary to Mr.Chowdary , plays a key role in motivating Purushottam to contest in the elections and Purushottam party goes on to win with a record majority. Purushottam enters the CM office with a motivational instinct and implements his ideas for proper reconstruction of the system. Meanwhile, Chowdary plans to assassinate Purushottam but eventually Purushottam gets rid offChowdary and goes ahead with his innovative ideas for the society. Directors Purpose Shankar seems to have focused a lot on entry of people with good ethical values into the politics and it is evident from the character Purushottam who repents even for a small trick he played to get rid of Chowdary. The director also portrayed a great skill in dealing with the most burning topic of time and yet he did not compromise on the commercial aspects and the glamour which made the film more appealing to the audience. The style of Purushottam (CM) is very dignified with elegancy in language and well-thought in his ideas. This might be the Shankar vision for an ideal CM. On the whole the director made a brilliant work, which educates people towards active involvement in politics and also motivate young people to be a part of public policy. Actors Performance Arjun in the role of Purushottam performed brilliantly with elegant look and showed the energy required for the role. Manivannan played an important character in the film as a secretary of the CM. He is very good with his expressions and dialogs. His dialogs were powerful and at the same time with humour. Raghuvaran aptly suits the role of an old corrupted politician. His body language and dialogs were apt to the situations. Music The heart of the film is the master piece music work by A.R Rahman. All the songs provided the necessary glamour and commercial values to the film and the back drop music in the film is like soul to the film. It is not an exaggeration that the back-drop music is responsible for maintaining the tempo in the film and also created a sense of inspirational keenness. Photography Though relatively new to the industry, K.V Anand performed brilliantly. It is treat to the eyes.

Audience Response The film was very positively received by the audience. The film went on to run for over one hundred days in cinemas with an event being held at KamarajHAll on February 25, 2000 to mark one hundred days since release. The event, similar to the launch, attracted several people from the film industry with Kamal Haasan, once again, being the chief guest of the event[1] . Upon release, the film was critically acclaimed by film critics, with the review from The Hindu citing that "Shankar scores again". In regard to the lead performances, Arjun is described as having "acquitted himself with aplomb", whilst Manisha's performance was criticized with claims that she "lacks the freshness that one always associates her with".[2] The critic also referred to Shankar's direction and Sujatha's dialogs as a "positive", whilst drawing praise to the videos of the songs describing that "every song and dance sequence seems a magnum opus by itself". The New Indian Express described the film as "absorbing" and praised certain scenes, although it criticized the videos of the songs as a "fiasco".[3] My views and thoughts on the film According to me, this film can have profound impact on the people and educate them on the importance of collective responsibility in a society. This can be inferred from the life of Purushottam in the film. During the early part of the film, he is very much contented to lead a very simplistic personal life and also shows his disinterest towards taking up the responsibility of serving the society. But in the later part of the film he realizes that a well constructed and secure society is indeed the basis for personal freedom. This is evident from the scene where his house is destroyed and all the basic supplies to his house are prevented by the politicians who seem to be not accountable to anyone. This leads to the debut of Purushottam into the politics, in the quest for a people welfare government. This act can be related to John Lockes statements viz Man gives up some rights to pursue welfare moreefficiently and If the government subverts the ends for which it was created, then it might be disposed; indeed, it is an obligation . Another major plus point to the film is its background score. A.R Rahman s excellent background scores can inspire almost anyone to empathize the role of Purushottam. A.R Rahman has the unique quality of enjoying his work and in turn proved to have a profound impact on the minds of people in the society. This can be aptly related to the Adam Smiths popular statement By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of society more effectively than when he really intends to promotes it. The dialog by Chowdary (Raghuvaran) , money donators, caste, party workers and students are the four legs of my CM chair portrays the situation of the government which is not free to act on its own. Such a government can be a big impediment to the society as well as business. But unfortunately this is true to large extent in our society even today.