‘O2’ movie review: This medical drama gets the job done despite its flaws

Ashika Ranganath in ‘O2’.
| Photo Credit: PRK Productions/YouTube

O2 is billed as a medical thriller; In an ordinary science-based film, the makers would have packed the plot with information-heavy drama anchored by brainy people with no emotional side to them. But directors Raghav Nayak and Prashanth Raj keep it simple even while dealing with a futuristic idea and keep us engaged with efficient drama.

Ashika Ranganath plays Shraddha, a highly gifted doctor still healing from her traumatic past. As a child, she sees her father die in front of her. Years later, she tries to buy time from death with her ground-breaking medical discovery. She creates O2, an injectable oxygen that repairs the brain cells to generate oxygen-rich blood and save people moments after a cardiac arrest. As expected, the mainstream medical world is reluctant to accept this invention.

Raghav and Prashanth, who have also written the film, opt for a narrative that swings back and forth in time. But they ensure every scene, character, and dialogue is almost always on point. The economical storytelling keeps the movie in a safe territory, reducing the damage done by the issues in the screenplay.

O2 isn’t a full-fledged medical thriller. There is a love story that holds a crucial place in the story and adds a much-needed soul to the film. Shraddha, suffering from depression, grows up without friends. A chance meeting with Osho (director Raghav Nayak), a full-of-life radio jockey, brings back the long-lost smile on her face. The romance, which begins in a wobbly fashion, really grows on us. The film treats it with the right mix of tenderness and intensity.

Within a runtime of under two hours, it’s a challenge to incorporate multiple conflicts and convincingly handle them. O2 falters towards the end because scenes that lead to some major twists aren’t fleshed out properly. The transitions in the last act are jarring. It’s as if the directors wanted to tell us many things, but they left it too late. That brings back the issue of the usage of songs in a concept-based, small-scale movie. In retrospect, the film could have gotten much deeper into the plot if it had used the time spent on songs.

Portraying an exuberant man in love, Raghav Nayak is natural, avoiding an exaggerated performance. Ashika Ranganath is a revelation, unveiling the talented performer in her, which we first witnessed in Yogaraj Bhat’s Mugulu Nage(2017). O2 is a fine example of how lead female actors in the industry can be an antidote to the otherwise unimportant, glamour-loaded roles, only if they get solid, well-written characters. Ashika makes you root for her, performing convincingly as an anxious doctor trying to prove her invention and as a woman grappling with broken relationships.