Samantha Akkineni-starrer Oh! Baby, directed by Nandini Reddy, has opened to rave reviews and has reportedly grossed Rs 17 crores worldwide. In the US alone the film has earned an estimated half-a-million dollars during the opening weekend, and is likely to enter the million dollar club soon.
The film, a remake of the South Korean film Miss Granny, set high expectations when it was announced in November 2018. The trailer which released last month garnered two million views in a day. Positive reviews have been pouring in from the audience, and Telugu and Tamil stars.
The story is about a 70-year-old who finds herself in the body of a woman in her 20s, played by Samantha, and has an adventurous journey reliving her youth. Rao Ramesh, Naga Shaurya, Snigdha and Adivi Sesh have important roles. Music is by Mickey J Meyer, cinematography is by Richard Prasad and editing by Junaid Siddiqui.
This is also the first Telugu movie to have a strong women crew. In addition to Nandini Reddy and Samantha, the film has Lakshmi Bhupala as the dialogue writer, Sunita Tati as producer under the banner of People’s Media Productions, Divya as the executive producer, production design by Jayashree, marketing by Niharika.
The Tamil version of the film also released simultaneously, with Samantha’s voice dubbed by singer Chinmayi in what was her first Tamil dubbing project after the ban by the Dubbing Union was lifted.
Meanwhile, Samantha, Chinmayi and many others have called out Kabir Singh director Sandeep Reddy Vanga for his interview to Film Companion in which he justified violence and abuse in relationships and in his films like Kabir Singh and Arjun Reddy as “love”.
On her Instagram story, Samantha said the interview was deeply disturbing and also took on trolls attacking her of double standards.
Liking the film .. and disagreeing with a comment are two different things . I loved the story of one ‘Arjun Reddy’ .. not the generalisation that love means having the liberty of slapping people around . https://t.co/rLWG7L4Gbt
— Baby Akkineni (@Samanthaprabhu2) July 7, 2019
This thread is for women.
Please watch this video. pic.twitter.com/eVY8KYMnL5— Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) July 7, 2019
My dear @Samanthaprabhu2 this is what happens when u start doing ur over actions in off screen too. U just stop ur over acting shit in movies itself. And sombuthoki @Chinmayi unnakum serthuthan. #Samantha #samanthaakkineni#SamanthaRuthPrabhu pic.twitter.com/sLyN04h5I4
— mechanist (@SamJone12263786) July 7, 2019
This is *love* according to Samantha Garu ? pic.twitter.com/9nMLjHna6F
— Bαℓαנι (@BJTweets201) July 7, 2019
In the interview, Sandeep Reddy said “When you are deeply in love and connected to a woman, and vice versa, if you don’t have the liberty of slapping each other, then I don’t see anything there.” He said critics who wrote that the movie was misogynistic were a curse to the film industry and directed personal attacks at them.
Two days after the interview released, #WeSupportSandeepVangaReddy was among the top trends on Twitter. Many Sandeep Reddy supporters saw nothing wrong with the movie and trolled those who called out the interview.
