Oram Po

Plot

Chandru (Arya) and Bigilu (Lal) are close friends. Chandru is an expert auto driver & racer while Bigilu is a mechanic expert at customizing autos to run at the dream speed of 130 km/h. Son of Gun (John Vijay) is the chief of a rival group who wants to outsmart the duo. Chandru, the race champ tries to settle the dues for his auto through a race, which is almost a cakewalk for him. He and Bigilu challenge Son of Gun to a race, and a date is fixed.

Bigilu, meanwhile, introduces Chandru to his sister who runs a Biriyani shop. Chandru is attracted to her daughter Rani (Pooja), and woos her. The affair grows stronger and the two end up having sex. The carefree auto driver, however, is not interested in long-term commitment and tells Rani so. Shocked, Rani curses him and moves away. On the D-day, Chandru is distracted by the memories of his love affair and loses the race. He loses his auto, and later, Bigilu comes to know about the affair. The sub-plot of a smuggler's search for missing pearls adds flavour to the proceedings. The unpredictable and fun filled climax puts everything in order.

Cast

Production

The film was earlier titled as "Auto". When directors Pushkar and Gayathri were travelling in an auto rickshaw they met an auto driver and received information about them, director said that this film will throw light on auto race. For the role of autodriver Arya observed many auto-drivers. Pooja was selected to play a Biriyaniseller pairing with Arya for second time after Ullam Ketkumae. Malayalam actor lal was selected to play supporting role while debutant John Vijay was selected to play negative character called "Son of Gun". For the first time ever, a song sequence with a duration of four minutes, has been filmed in a single shot. Arya done the most risky shots without a dupe ad for a scene that involves him driving the auto in mount road he did that in the peak hour traffic in high speed with a camera mounted on the windscreen of the auto.

The release of 'Oram Po' starring Arya and Pooja was given an interim stay order by the Madras High Court, They somehow tried to release the film this month but there was a hurdle in the form of a financier Mohankumar Jain from whom they had borrowed ₹15 lakh. He got a stay order from the court that the film cannot be released till 12 October, since they had not returned the money to him.

Reviews

Hindu wrote:"The strongest points of the movie are some excellent dialogues by Kumar Rajan—they’re genuinely funny and spontaneous, even when the characters are talking dirty— and the high-energy background score"and also praised the performances of lead actors "Arya is terrific as the cocky yet lovable Chandru (the combination of floppy hair, liquid brown eyes and good physique should cement his ‘heartthrob’ status). Pooja looks lovely bastard in minimal make-up and puts in a refreshingly natural performance. John Vijay is just an absolute riot as Son of Gun". indiaglitz wrote:"The movie looks into the world of a section of Chennai auto rickshaw drivers as realistic as possible. The approach by debutant directors Pushkar and Gayatri is refreshingly new, as they do not look at them from outside. They make a sincere attempt to look at their lives from within". Rediff wrote:" film may have failed in authentically portraying the difficult street life in Chennai, but succeeds, at least most of the time, as an entertainer". Sify wrote:"Debutant director duo Pushkar and Gayathri, the husband and wife team starts their Oram Po on a promising note, but somewhere along the way it runs out of gas". Behindwoods wrote:"Oram Po is part satire, part spoof and full entertainment set in the milieu of auto drivers’ lives. It is a two-hour auto rickshaw ride with all its bumps and swerves and unexpected curves. The movie has only a wafer thin story line but what lies between the wafers makes for all the entertainment".

Box office

The film was successful at the box office.