Nandhini Reddy's 'Oh Baby', is a musical comedy that has Samantha playing the role of Granny in a girl's body. The film has a superb premise where Baby (played by Lakshmi) is a Septuagenarian who has an opinion on everything. She can find faults in her daughter- in-law's cooking just with the smell. One day she walks into a mysterious photo studio in a fair and becomes a woman in her 20's.
She regularly forgets this and the film used this to make a comedy of errors. Baby changes her name to Swathi (played by Samantha) and that's where the joy ride starts. She lectures woman about breastfeeding inside a supermarket without realizing that she is now in her 20's, and ends up on the receiving end of stares.
The film is filled with a lot of such delightful gags and this is delight is reflected on Samantha's performance as well. She is pocket dynamite in 'Oh Baby', and her performance is a tightrope walk between earnest and goofy. Even the supporting characters' performances are fantastic, to say the least, with Rajendra Prasad and Rao Ramesh's performances standing out.
The film has a lot of heart and is high on emotions. It's not just about an old woman's life, but also a lady's second chance at life, living it the way she wanted to. Her way of living life ends up in evoking a lot of humour. For instance, Swathi goes out on a long drive with Vikram (Naga Shaurya) and spends the night with him all alone. She goes to his bedroom and asks him to join her. We expect them to have sexual intercourse, but then she (wait for it)... puts him to sleep by singing a lullaby!
The film isn't devoid of flaws. For most of its duration, it banks on its premise to earn the audience's applause. The film takes its own time to move beyond the premise and start exploring it. Few humourous sequences, though funny, looks out of place. There is a certain reality show sequence that falls into the cliched tropes that we've seen in a lot of films. One of the bandmates is late for the finals, and on the way... You know what happens.
Thankfully, the film doesn't depend on that single sequence to win our hearts. Remember the emotion that you get while looking at a baby smile at you? You forget all your problems and start blushing at the very sight of it. The film leaves you with the same feeling after a wholesome climax.