Movie: Odeya
Director: M D Sridhar
Cast: Darshan, Sanah Thimmaiah, Devaraj, Sharath Lohitashwa, Ravishankar, Chikkanna, Sadhu Kokila, Yashas Surya & others.
Like how the Censor Board, which regulates the public exhibition of films, it seems like a good ‘idea’ for some filmmakers to make their intentions public for their intended target audience. A better example would be of actor-director Upendra, who claimed that his movie A was only for those audience with greater intelligence. Well, it was an intelligent strategy since no one is stupid enough to call oneself the opposite. In here, Odeya falls into the category of — to be strictly viewed by Darshan fans.
A remake of the Tamil movie Veeram, the Kannada version of it is more or less the glorification of the onscreen image of actor Darshan, who is referred to as Challenging Star by his die-hard fans. All he does as ‘Gajendra’, his character in Odeya, is to find every possible opportunity to showcase his heroism. And, it is a continuous process right till the climax!.
The predictable story is just a tool to highlight the protagonist while the supporting cast appears for the sake of having to fill time and space. It is because the director has chosen to give the lead character some break to rest him before setting up for another scene, so as to repeat the self-aggradising act. It is like witnessing the so called hero’s introduction scenes multiple times in a full length feature film.
Along with the above description, Odeya is packed with the cliched dialogues, punch lines and action sequences where the protagonist stylishly hits the bad guys. A straightforward guy, Gajendra believes in fighting violence with violence but the course of action changes when he encounters a peace-loving girl. What happens when he has to save his love and her peaceful family from the villains, is an outcome of a ‘long’ story.
Darshan was impressive portraying a mythological character, in Munirathna Kurukshetra, which was liked by many who appreciate good and entertaining films including his fans. But, unfortunately Odeya is restricted for a section of the audience — Darshan’s fans, who are simply happy to see him on the screen in his blistering avatar.
