Film: Odela Railway Station (Streaming on aha).Duration: 90 minutes.Director: Ashok Teja.Cast: Hebba Patel, Vasishta N.Simha, Sai Ronak, Surendar Reddy and Pujita Ponnada.
IANS Rating IANS Rating: ***1/2
“Odela Railway Station’ is the most recent Telugu original film available on the AHA’s OTT platform is a good watch.Involving real-life events this real-life crime-thriller set in the rural world of a milleu keeps the suspense until the end without resorting back to the stale clichés typically used with the genre.
The story is straightforward and easy to follow.
Odela is a town of a small size in Telangana is shattered by a string of murders committed by rape of newlywed brides.The tale begins at the railway station in which a woman drenched in dirt, makes her way to the police station with her hands holding the head cut off of the man who was killed.
The flashback follows the viewer through the events leading to the final scene as experienced by an untrained IPS officer Anudeep (Sai Ronak) who is in town for a three-month field-training period.The identity of the culprit remains a mystery as a variety of suspects are found innocent.
How a police officer goes above and beyond the obligation of duty to track down the perpetrator and also how Radhika (Hebba Patel) discovers the truth, is the basis of the story.
The cast has been carefully selected and all of them are able to deliver their best on screen.
The lead actress Hebba Patel does well in seamlessly into the character of Radhika the young washerwoman who constantly looks down at her husband Tirupati (Vasishta N Simha) for his drinking habits and his apparent inability to sleep in bed.
The story expertly blends elements such as social interactions, crime, sex education and youthful optimismwithout being boring.
Ashok Teja, who has directed the film and does a great job of it.Without resorting to unnecessary gimmicks that are the characteristic of suspense-thriller films of recent times the director lets the story unfold naturally.Editing is also a smooth procedure.
All in all the film ‘Odela Railway Station is a well-packaged film that will keep viewers interested until the end.
The cherry on top Expect “Odela 2” in the near future.
pvn/arm
