Ombatthane Dikku review: Dayal Padmanabhan lives up to his promise of a commercial film high on content

The remake of the 2017 Tamil film Kurangu Bommai, Ombatthane Dikku is currently in theatres.

Aditi Prabhudeva and Yogi in a still from the film

Ombatthane Dikku

Story: Channa (Yogi) lives in Bengaluru, where he runs a modest cab service. Much as he loves his father, Vasu (Ashok), Channa is not a fan of the former’s close association with local thug and smuggler, Varada (Saikumar). When Channa witnesses the theft of a duffel bag and successfully retrieves it, he unwittingly gets drawn into a murky web of deceit.

Review: From the time he announced his film Ombatthane Dikku, filmmaker Dayal Padmanabhan has been going to town about its non-linear narrative, which he said is its major highlight. He also admitted to it being tricky to execute. Turns out, that’s what makes Ombatthane Dikku a winner. The non-linear narrative is, most definitely, the biggest plus point of Ombatthane Dikku, which is testimony to Dayal’s skilled handling of the subject, bringing together various plot points to one coherent ending. You may argue that he had a reference point in the Tamil original, Kurangu Bommai, which he adapted for Kannada audiences, but there’s no denying the effort required to reproduce something to great effect.

Dayal has also been effusive about the gravitas lead actor Yogi lends to the role and the story, which is quite spot on. But just as much as Ombatthane Dikku belongs to the actor with his effortless portrayal of Channa, it is also Sampath’s film. As middleman Loki, trying to broker a deal for Varada, Sampath brings in the right amount of evil that makes him downright scary. There’s a very able set of supporting actors on the cast helping round up the narrative. Writing anymore about the story will be disservice to the film. You’ve got to see it to find out how it all comes together – be it the relevance of the duffel bag or the title itself.

But is all of this put together reason enough to warrant a trip to the theatres? Well, here’s the thing, the filmmaker’s been honest in saying he’s presented a commercial film with content. There’s a very engaging thriller at play, but there’s also comedy, romance, action, with Manikanth Kadri’s foot-tapping music setting just the right mood for the story to unfold. Is it extra-ordinary? No, but it a good entertainer and in these dreary times that we are in, it provides a welcome escape from it all for about two hours and fifteen minutes.

Verdict: It is not often that we are presented films that are high on content and entertainment quotient, so, when you get one, like, for instance, Ombatthane Dikku , which is a gripping thriller, you’ve got to seize the opportunity. This one’s worth a trip to the cinema halls. Just make sure to mask up and follow safety protocol.

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Cast and Crew

Dayal Padmanabhan

Aditi Prabhudeva

Sai Kumar

Prashanth Siddi

Ramesh Bhat

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