Now, you might have read few reviews of this movie already on the internet and let me tell you - they are all right! Oy dissapoints and it does it big time. Firstly, this is not the kind of movie you'd expect from Siddarth. No, this film is devoid of family sentiments but where there should have been a feel-good romantic love story, you get a half-baked plot with inconsistent characters and non-subtle presentation. There is nothing actally that stands out except may be the music. But still a couple of songs were unnecessary and halted the flow in the already hochpoch narration. Okay, let me get into the details...
STORY: Okay the story goes like this. Uday's a rich guy who is not emotionally attached with his family. See, he doesn't weep when his father dies. On his birthday, which also happens to be the New Year's Day, he meets Sandhya, the simple and pious one. He finds her interesting, falls in love with her, follows her to her house, stays there as a paying guest...yawn! But then, just before the interval, there's a shocking news for Uday and for us too. Think of the movie Geetanjali and you know what the news is. There ends the first half and the end of the good part because the less said about the second half, the better.
See, Uday and Sandhya are pretty interestingly written characters. They are the exact opposites of each other (no prizes for guessing that their names are opposites too!). Sandhya believes in long term relations and Uday believes in short and sweet moments. And also Sandhya hasn't seen much in her life. Her world is small and dull. On the contrary, you know what! Well, after Uday comes to know about the news, he resorts to fulfill all the wild wishes of his lover before she dies. And thus ensues the journey to Varanasi (they travel in ship, train and jeep!) which is full of cliches and will test your patience till the breaking point. Just then, as the movie is getting over, you have this very good dialogue from the heroine which touched my heart. The movie ends there...and yeah there's some novelty in the beginning and ending sequences. Few people may not feel the trajedy(like my sister), but I did!!
There's actually a lot of depth in the script. Like the twelve gifts episode where both the hero and heroine gift each other twelve gifts. Eleven gifts according to their taste and the last one according to the other's taste. The last gift is themselves. You'll understand it better when you watch the movie.
PERFORMANCES: Siddarth does his usual stuff in this movie. But I admit that his performance in the climax was realistic and he brings out the emotion excellently. Shamili has a girl- next-door appearance and does a commendable job in her role. I won't say she stole the show, but she does leave a strong impact on the screen. Leaving them, the second half has an array of characters from Master Bharath to Pradeep Rawat, everyone lined up to bore you! But they all played their part well.
TECNICAL DEPARTMENTS: The movie looks grand, thanks to the standards of Universal. Cinematography gets a thumbs up for the cool colours.Editing was just about okay. There were a few hiccups here and there. Camerawork in the scenes shot on the ship was nice. Art Department deserves a special mention for the beautiful house set erected by the beach. My biggest compalaint is with the script. The heroine's characterization takes a u-turn in the second half for no apparent reasons. It was hard for me to digest her character post-interval. And also, the comedy element is missing what with the director's failed attempts with the numerous extras in the second half. Sunil's comedy in the first half is mediocre but may bring a few laughs.
SONGS: As I've said, music by Yuvan Shankar Raja is the biggest asset of the movie. It was the main reason the movie has got this much of hype. The songs Seheri, Oy oy and Waiting for You were shot brilliantly. But the song Povodhe Prema deserved better picturisation. The director completely destroyed the feel of the song; I had a totally different image of the song in my mind. I gotta tell, I've seen people going for this movie only for the songs.
CLOSING THOUGHTS: I'm giving Oy! two stars out of five. Thats one for Shamili, two for the music, one for the first half and minus two for the second half. Oy! belongs to the catogory of if-only movies. If only the second half had been better, if only the ending was much more pronounced, the list goes on...But do watch this movie once, just for the sheer freshness; you don't have to buy the tickets in black like I did and regret later though.
