General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Anukokunda Oka Roju (అనుకోకుండా ఒక రోజు)

Anukokunda Oka Roju (అనుకోకుండా ఒక రోజు; English: "One Day, Unexpectedly...") is a 2005 Telugu-language mystery thriller film written and directed by Chandra Sekhar Yeleti and produced by Gangaraju Gunnam and Venkat Dega under the Just Yellow Media banner¹^•². It was Yeleti's second feature after his debut Aithe (2003), and it follows Sahasra, a struggling chorus singer who loses the memory of one day after being drugged at a party and then finds herself hunted by men who want to kill her¹^•³.

Key fact	Detail
Release	30 June 2005 in India (Filmibeat lists 29 June 2005)¹^•⁴
Director and producers	Story, screenplay and direction by Chandra Sekhar Yeleti; produced by Gangaraju Gunnam and Venkat Dega, Just Yellow Media¹
Lead cast	Charmy Kaur as Sahasra, Jagapati Babu as Inspector Suresh Reddy, Shashank as Rajesh³
Music	M.M. Keeravani; all songs sung by female playback singers¹^•⁵
Runtime and rating	145 minutes; certified U in India²^•³
Audience score	7.9/10 on IMDb from about 2,000 users⁶
Awards	Filmfare Award South 2006: Best Female Playback Singer (Smitha, for "Evaraina"); nominated for Best Actress (Charmme Kaur) and Best Supporting Actor (Jagapathi Babu)⁷

Spoilers

Plot

Sahasra (Charmy Kaur) is a chorus singer trying to build a career in playback singing. One night, at the insistence of her friend Swetha (Pooja Bharti), she attends a party where a drug is slipped into her drink. She wakes up at home with no recollection of what happened, and days later unidentified men begin trying to murder her¹^•⁸. The story follows her attempt to reconstruct the missing period, with the help of Suresh Reddy (Jagapati Babu), a police officer under suspension who gathers clues and pieces the puzzle together¹^•⁸.

The supporting characters all connect to the central mystery: Rajesh (Shashank), a righteous cab driver pursuing an MBA part time; a tuition teacher (Harsha Vardhan) whose comic English dialogues became a noted feature; a government employee played by Narsing Yadav; and Surya Swamy (Pavan Malhotra), a tantrik figure tied to the climax¹^•⁹. Reviewers noted that the plot moves from a drugging incident toward a climax involving a swami and tantric gang, a resolution that divided critics¹^•¹⁰.

Production

The film's original story came from producer Gangaraju Gunnam, who later described it as a concept he "loved and produced" between his other projects¹¹. At a press meet on 19 April 2005, Gunnam said shooting had begun on 20 November and that the film was nearly complete except for a seven-day schedule; he described it as an entertaining suspense thriller with a "refreshingly original" story¹². Charmy said at the same event that she signed the film after hearing the story without asking about the rest of the cast and crew, and that she played Sahasra without makeup in simple costumes¹².

The audio was released on 31 May 2005 at a magic show held at Music World in Banjara Hills, with the child actor Baby Kavya releasing the cassette; Just Yellow held the audio rights and Aditya Music handled distribution¹³. Komparify lists the film's budget as ₹30 million (₹3 crores)¹⁴.

Music

M.M. Keeravani composed the score and songs. In an interview after release, he explained that every song in the album is sung by female playback singers only, with a couple of male words in "RightO LeftO" as the situation demanded; he and Gangaraju Gunnam wrote most lyrics, with Sirivennela contributing "Evaraina Choosuntara"⁵. Shreya Ghoshal and Sunidhi Chauhan sang two songs each and the pop singer Smita sang another¹². At the 2006 Filmfare Awards South, Smita won Best Female Playback Singer for "Evaraina"⁷.

Reception

The idlebrain reviewer Jeevi rated the film 3.5 out of 5, listing the original story idea, sensible direction, realistic approach, music, action sequences and measured dialogues as strengths, and slow narration and the handling of the climax as weaknesses¹. The stunts by Ramana were singled out for using everyday objects as weapons without wires or graphics¹. A Telugu Filmibeat review was more critical, arguing that the script read like an investigation report, that the reason a rowdy group pursues Sahasra is never explained, and that the story's move from drugs to mantras and tantric practices weakened it¹⁰.

Yeleti later said the film won him considerable appreciation from within the film industry but few calls from the public, and that the team deliberately limited humor so it would not dilute the seriousness of the subject¹⁵. Over time the film's reputation grew: it holds 7.9/10 on IMDb⁶, and a Rotten Tomatoes-listed critic review praised its "exciting structure" and its mix of mystery thriller and light-hearted comedy with a focus on Hyderabad¹⁶. The film is currently available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video³.

Yeleti's approach

The film opens with the camera moving against the direction of oncoming traffic, a shot contemporary commentary read as a signal that the storytelling would not be linear¹⁷. Reviewers compared its reconstruction of a lost interval of time, at a superficial level, to the structure of Memento¹⁷. Yeleti himself framed the film as a thriller with wider reach than Aithe, which he said had appealed mainly to elite A-center audiences¹².

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026