Among the numerous Xmas releases that had hit the screens, one movie that was particularly eager to check out was Vijay Sethupathi's "Seethakaathi". He has always been a wonderful performer & this seemed to be equally good atleast from the looks of the trailer. Was it just me, but the prosthetics on him kinda reminded me of Kamalhasan from "Indian". So will it be yet another classic performance from Sethupathi???
The first forty minutes takes us through the latter half of the 20th century when theatre was still a popular source of entertainment for the masses. In the Tamil theatre world, the most prominent actor in those days was 'Ayya' Aadhimoolam (Vijay Sethupathi). Despite offers from the film industry, Ayya preferred to ply his trade on the stage in front of packed audiences as that gave me a high. However, with the advent of television, internet & mobile phones, the footfalls to the theatres dwindled which worried Ayya & his fellow troupe members. To make matters worse, his grandson was diagnosed with a condition that required immediate surgery. How will Ayya tide over this difficult situation???
Balaji Tharaneetharan burst into the scene in 2015 with the comedy flick "Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom" which had the critics raving about it. However, since I havent watched that, I didnt have much of a reference regarding his style of direction. The first thing that struck me about his script was his humour sense which was in the expressions of the artists rather than their dialogues. He takes his own sweet time to set the stage which to be frank does test our patience. However, if you are able to tide over that initial hour, then we are in for a fun ride as it is concoction of humour and fantasy. Personally, I felt the climax was rather lame as it seemed like Balaji didnt have an idea as to how to conclude it. On the technical side, Saraskanth T K's visuals & lighting was excellent while Govind Vasantha could have made the initial half crisper.
Surprisingly, Sethupathi is there only for the initial forty minutes but his impact is felt until the very end courtesy of Balaji's creative script. He has done a fantastic job as the elderly star performer in all aspects be it with the body language, dialogue delivery & expressions. Actually Mouli is the one who takes the story forward & he gives a solid performance. As for the rest of the cast, both Sunil Reddy (as Dhanapal) & Rajkumar (Saravanan) brings the house down with their antics.
Verdict: There is no doubt that the Sethupathi factor will attract eyeballs but the slow pace & melodrama is definitely a dampener. It has an art movie feel to it which many will find it hard to swallow. In short, it has an interesting theme with its share of shortcomings denying it the status of an entertainer!!!
Rating: 2.75/5
Regards...Ben
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