Anukokunda Oka Roju is one of the most suspenseful Indian films I've seen. Of course the basic premise -- girl is drugged at a party and wakes up not remembering anything that's happened -- lends itself pretty well to suspense, but apparently the Hindi remake, Sunday, got rid of a lot of the suspense in favor of comedy. (I haven't seen Sunday, so I'm just basing this opinion on the reviews I've read. It is clear from these reviews, though, that there are some significant differences between the two, not just in tone but also in plot.)
Sahasra (Charme) is an aspiring singer and college student who lives with her father, evil stepmother, and half-brother and sister in a typical busy neighborhood. When her family goes out of town, her friend drags her along to a wild party, where some guys slip Rophynol into her drink. After joining in the party for a few minutes, she wanders off into the darkness -- and wakes up in her own bed with no memory of anything that happened at the party or afterwards.
She looks at the clock, sees that she's going to be late for class, and runs off to school, only to discover that it's actually Sunday and there are no classes. Apparently she never keeps track of the date well, because she just shrugs this off and goes back to normal life without any concern about the mix-up. But then, strange things start happening.
A taxi driver starts following her around insisting that she owns him money. A doctor notices fingernail marks on her neck, and she can't remember how they got there. Someone tries to kill her, and the policeman who comes to her rescue seems much more interested in her than in her attacker.
Gradually, the story of what happened to her while she was drugged unfolds. And by the end, everything actually makes sense. (Well, almost everything. I still don't understand how she could be so oblivious to the fact that she has no memory of a day of her life, especially after she's been given reason to wonder whether anything happened the night of the party.) Even the comic relief guy ends up being relevant to the plot in the end.
If you want to see a rare heroine-centric Telugu film, if you're a fan of Charme, or if you like well-scripted, suspenseful Indian action films, you might want to give Anukokunda Oka Roju a watch.
11 comments:
This sounds pretty interesting - will have to try and find it. I just finished watching an old Gregory Peck film that also has him losing memory (back then science wasnt advanced enough for him to be drugged - so it was plain amnesia!) and this sounds similar in its premise, at least. I vaguely remember hearing about Sunday where a date rape is apparently played for laughs (?!!!) - so never watched that.
The plot sounds really unusual & interesting. Will definitely check it out. Heroine centric films need all the support they can get.
Bollyviewer -- I hadn't thought about this as being basically a modern version of old films about limited amnesia, but that makes sense. Drugs are a little bit more sophisticated than a knock on the head, while achieving the same film-making result of a hero or heroine who doesn't remember something important that happened to him or her.
Anonymous -- Yeah, heroine-centric films are all too rare, and generally tend not to do as well as I think they should. I hope you enjoy the film!
Hello Cindy! I'm so glad to read your review of this one- I've been wondering about it for some time and really wanted to see something starring Charmme (or however her name is spelled!).
It's too bad though that there's kind of a "plot hole" regarding her nonchalance at losing some of her memory. Did you find it was distracting you from really "getting into" the believing the film, or was there enough to keep your interest?
Great review! :)
Hi MinaiMinai! Thanks for stopping by, and I'm glad you enjoyed the review. About her obliviousness as to the lost day, I was mostly confused because it took me a little while to figure out that she was just oblivious and not incredibly laid back about missing parts of her memory. Once I figured that out, though, it was fine. I definitely bought into the movie, even if that part did require some suspension of disbelieve. I would recommend it -- I thought it was quite a good film.
(And by the way, I'm Sharifa on Bollywhat. Thanks for always passing on information about film showings.)
Oh!! Hi Sharifa from BW! Didn't know that was you, what a pleasant surprise. :) Thanks for sharing your movie showings, too! I really need to check for new movie posters at my favorite indian stores and restaurants...
This movie keeps you engaged ie you are eager to know what really happened to the heroine. Plus the movie is also simple about the life of a middle class girl with no extra frills glamour. The hindi version "Sunday" did not have this kind of interesting arc. No wonder the hindi version flopped. There is a lovely song in the hindi one picturised on Ajay and Ayesha in and around historical places in Delhi - the song is melodious and cinematography is also good
Anonymous -- One of the things I liked about this movie was the sense you got that these were normal, everyday people. If the Hindi version changed that, I can see that it would lose something from the original. I'll have to look for the song you recommended on youtube, though.
Cindy/Sharifa - where do you get these movies? On the web?
I am glad that Telugu films are getting some ink thanks to the web. Times was when all south Indian movies, well for that matter all South Indians were clubbed under "Madrasi".
I rent them from Netflix, and I've also bought a lot online (mostly from bhavanidvd.com).
Without the internet, I never would have started watching Indian movies. It is really great having information online to get movie recommendations and so forth.
YOU may have seen more, lot more, recent Telugu movies that I did.
If you happen to come across one that is relly good, not simply OTT, or silly funny, let me know.
No violent ones please.
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