Saguni

Saguni looks completely outdated in terms of its style and emphasis. It was like watching an ordinary masala film made some 30 years back. The script is completely loose and literally falls off at many places with the focus of the film not clear at all. Is the film promoting Karthi as a super star? Or is it promoting his love angle with his heroine or is it about how he is irresistible and how all the girls who fall for him? Or is it about the relationship between Karthi and Santhanam? Or is it about a hero who is born to defeat the evil Chief Minister? Or is it about Karti as action hero or intelligent hero? Or is it about Karthi, our hero in reference to the willful Shakuni of Mahabharata epic (who is considered the villain in Mahabharat)?

In all the above mentioned scores, Saguni looks weak, mushy and undecided. Both, the heroine (Pranitha) as Sreedevi and her mother (Roja) are simply wasted,. The dialogues too are more informative and mundane rather than evocative and weigh the film down heavily. The entire comedy track between Santhanam and Karthi, simply didn’t work as it is not weaved in well enough into the story. The entire Rajini, Kamal references as the main characters’ names comparing to theTamil film stars, is downright pathetic and is the biggest failure of the film.

The plot is something this. A corrupt politician, Boopathi (Prakash Raj), dislodges the senior and honest Chief Minister of his party by trapping him in a false case. The aggrieved man ends up committing suicide along with his family members. This clears the path for Boopathi and he becomes the Chief Minister of the State. Kamal alias Kamalakannan (Karthi) lives in Karaikudi in his ancestral house. The Railways are planning to demolish this house to build a subway under his house so Kamal comes to Chennai to meet the Railway Minister and request him to stop the subway construction. He finds a partner in this search, Rajini alias Appadurai (Santhanam), who is an auto driver in Chennai. Kamal is forced to deal with a corrupt political system, running from pillar to post, which finally takes him to Boopathi, who has a major stake in building the subway. The latter insults him and an aggrieved Kamal decides to fight the corrupt Chief Minister…

Director N Shankar Dayal’s ability to work with the actors is appalling and he seems to have left the responsibility of acting entirely with the actors. Both Prakash Raj and Kota Srinivasa Rao, who are good actors, have gone completely overboard in this film, become rudderless and lost all finesse. Karthi, who had a great debut with Paruthiveeran and I had especially liked his acting in Naan Mahaan Alla, does put up a brave effort, but the story and screenplay lets him down. Santhanam looks overworked, having done similar roles in many films now. He still manages to cheer up the audience somewhat, but ultimately cannot salvage the film. The only person who has managed to retain the dignity, in spite of the fact that the script ditches her too, is Radhika. She manages some expert moments, especially when she takes oath as Mayor and thanks Karthi for his help.

The music by GV Prakash Kumar desperately tries to uplift the film in re-recording, but that too fails. The song choreography, though, is interesting and it is a delight to watch Karthi dance. But coming out of the theatre, I once again felt that Tamil commercial cinema’s qualitative downslide continues…

Tamil, Comedy, Drama