The 2003 Telugu action drama Okkadu opened with a nifty sequence inspired by West Side Story that quickly established its theme: its hero rules his neighbourhood but can be vulnerable outside it. Okkadu is all about territory, which is why its hero plays kabbadi and not cricket or hockey. He fights to prevent a young woman from forcibly becoming another man’s property while in enemy terrain, but wins the battle by forcing his adversary into his backyard.
Another kind of territorial conquest is at work in Okkadu’s official remake Tevar, a showcase for leading man Arjun Kapoor that has been produced by his family banner. Okkadu is one of several films that sealed lead actor Mahesh Babu’s screen image as a man with a software engineer’s face and a boxer’s body. Kapoor is built like a truck, and his biceps seem to start all the way from the back of his throat, which might explain his half-grimace and half-smile and his often-confused expressions. But he displays the necessary energy and intent needed for a character who performs remarkable feats of bravery with only a few nicks and bruises to show for it.
“If you put Rambo, Terminator and Salman Khan in a mixie, I am the resulting milkshake.” Any lingering doubts about the supermensch stature of Kapoor’s Pintoo even after having witnessed his parkour moves on the rooftops of Agra’s low-rises and his solo demolition of a gang of toughs will be dispelled by his grand mission statement. One man dares stir this milkshake. Manoj Bajpayee’s Gajendra is a gangster politician who is forcibly attempting to marry Sonakshi Sinha’s Radhika. Pintoo accidentally rescues Radhika while she is attempting to escape Gajendra, setting into motion a contest with a private army of sword-wielding and gun-waving thugs who are protected by the fact that Gajendra’s brother, Rajendra (Rajesh Sharma), is the state’s home minister.
Advertising filmmaker Amit Sharma’s 157-minute debut feature is on a larger and glossier scale than its source. Tevar has warm colours (red and orange dominate), elaborately choreographed sequences shot mostly on location, coarse macho patter and a heroine with a slightly more upright spine and a less runny nose than in the original. Radhika is still the distressed damsel, but she is not as simpering as Okkadu’s constantly snivelling Bhumika. Sonakshi Sinha has been content to play a variation of the dumb and distressed blonde in a series of movies. In Tevar, at least, some of the attitude on display rubs off on her.
At two hours and 36 minutes, Tevar seems nearly even longer than the 170-minute Okkadu. The whackiness of the original is sorely missing. Okkadu’s villain, played with intense hamminess by Prakash Raj, had a family as far gone as him, including a delightfully kooky mother who always took along her own chair while travelling with her posse. Prakash Raj’s character resolves to not bathe until he marries the object of his desire; Gajendra takes a oath to wander around in his Jockeys until he can get into Radhika’s innerwear.
Bajpayee is as slim as a ramp model, and unlike Kapoor, his menace is concentrated not in his pecs but on his face. Bajpayee is among a fine set of characters who give Tevar a degree of emotional heft. Raj Babbar plays Pintoo’s long-suffering police officer father, while Subrat Dutta is perfectly cast as Gajendra’s loyal enforcer. Tevar might be Arjun Kapoor’s bid for his own Dabangg moment (there’s even a song describing him as a Salman Khan fan), but he is some way from claiming the spotlight all for himself.
