Okkadu

Okkadu (transl. One person) is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language romantic sports action drama film co-written and directed by Gunasekhar and produced by M. S. Raju. The film stars Mahesh Babu, Bhumika Chawla and Prakash Raj. The music was composed by Mani Sharma, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Sekhar V. Joseph and A. Sreekar Prasad. In the film, Ajay, a fiery Kabaddi player from Hyderabad, visits Kurnool for a tournament and rescues Swapna from a faction leader, Obul Reddy, who wants to marry her by force. As Ajay hides her and helps plan her escape abroad, a violent feud erupts, leading to love, loss, and a final showdown. Okkadu was released on 15 January 2003 to critical acclaim. The film received praise for its acting, action sequences, and direction and went on to become a commercial success at the box office with a distributors' share of ₹25-30 crore. It became Mahesh Babu's first commercial breakout in his career. It has garnered eight Nandi Awards and four Filmfare Awards South, including Best Film– Telugu. Over the years, the film was remade in eight other languages: as Ghilli (2004) in Tamil, as Ajay (2006) in Kannada, twice in Bangladesh as Dapot (2006) and Bolona Kobul (2009), as Mate Aanidela Lakhe Phaguna (2008) in Odia, and as Tevar (2015) in Hindi, and as Kabaddi (2021) in Sinhala.