Oopiri

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Vamshi Paidipally directs. P. S. Vinod behind the camera. Gopi Sundar scores. Praveen K. L. cuts. Produced in India. Dialogue in Telugu.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Clocks in at 158 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
• 2Released 10 years ago.
• 3Directed by Vamshi Paidipally, shot by P. S. Vinod. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Gopi Sundar. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Praveen K. L. shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Nagarjuna Akkineni and Karthi and Tamannaah Bhatia carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "Celebration of Life".
• 8IMDB entry: tt5039054 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Only 56 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

P. S. Vinod

Original score

Gopi Sundar

Editing

Praveen K. L.

Costume design

Ravikumar Pilla

Stunt coordinator

K Ravi Varma

Runtime

158 min · 2h 38m

Status

Released

Original language

TE

IMDB

Oopiri (2016) ↗

Also by

Vamshi Paidipally

• 
  Maharshi

  2019 · ★ 6.6
• 
  Brindavanam

  2010 · ★ 6.4
• 
  Yevadu

  2014 · ★ 6.0
• 
  Varisu

  2023 · ★ 5.0
• 
  Munna

  2007 · ★ 4.9

Community reviews

What people are saying

• timesofindia2016-04-05
  ★ 6/10

  A remake of The Intouchables, a 2011 French film that was a box office phenomenon in its home country, Thozha is heart-warming and crowd-pleasing, two qualities that ensure that we don't dwell much on its formulaic plot that involves characters from varied socio-economic backgrounds learning life lessons from each other. Director Vamshi sticks to the structure of the original and this largely helps his film because more than story and plot, this is a film that is about its lead characters. Here, the two characters are Seenu (Karthi), a small-time criminal out on parole, and Vikramadithya (Nagarjuna), a man with an embarrassing amount of wealth. And Vamshi gets the crucial element of casting right. In Karthi, he has an actor who can be loud, blunt, and wide-eyed, and still remain charming. The character is even slightly lecherous towards Keerthi (Tamannaah, whose brief for this role must have had only two words: dress fashionably), Vikram's secretary, but it is because of Karthi that we look past this aspect. The actor also nicely captures the astonishment and anguish of the character. Seenu might come across as someone enjoying the perks that come in the way of his job, but we are also able to sense that deep down he would rather swap the riches for his family's love. His railway clerk 'mother' (Jayasudha), who is the breadwinner of the family, detests him for having become a criminal, while his sister and brother give a damn about him. The incidents involving this family's problems is something that we have seen often, and yet, as a drama, it works. But the character of Vikram is one-note. He is written as an implausibly saintly figure even though his disability itself automatically makes the audience empathise with his character. Every other character in the film, even his ex (Anushka, in a cameo), speaks of him in a worshipful manner that there is hardly any edge to Vikram. He doesn't even seem to be angry at his situation, even at his lowest point. Nagarjuna projects the stature of a multi-millionaire effortlessly, but he is somewhat unconvincing when it comes to conveying the helplessness and trauma of a disabled person. Still, the strong sense of camaraderie between Karthi and Nagarjuna is instrumental in making us root for their characters. And even though it deals with disability, things rarely get treacly in Thozha. It even finds a way to have a Seenathana-like item number. And when things get emotional, there is always a humourous remark a couple of dialogues away. Take for example the scene where Vikram's friend Prasad (Prakash Raj in a tailor-made role) talks to Seenu on Vikram's past. Like Seenu, we turn misty-eyed when we learn what happened, but soon start laughing when Seenu lightens the mood by revealing the truth about a painting that Prasad had bought. In fact, more than the emotions, it is the laughs like this one that make the film tick.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  PVP Cinema

  IN

Key crew

• AdaptationHari
• AdaptationAhishor Solomon
• AdaptationVamshi Paidipally
• ProducerPrasad Vara Potluri
• DialogueRaju Murugan
• ProducerGuneet Monga Kapoor
• Costume DesignRavikumar Pilla
• Art DirectionT. Sunil Babu
• EditorPraveen K. L.
• DialogueAbburi Ravi
• Original StoryOlivier Nakache
• ChoreographerRaju Sundaram
• Playback SingerAnirudh Ravichander
• ADR & DubbingM. M. Manasi
• ProducerKavin Anne
• Stunt CoordinatorK Ravi Varma

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• friendship
• paraplegic
• male friendship
• remake
• based on movie
• unlikely friendship
• paralyzed

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2016-03-25

Also known as

International titles

• ThozhaIN
• தோழாIN