Motta Siva Ketta Siva movie review: This film is a blow to your sensibilities

Motta Siva Ketta Siva
Director: Sairamani
Cast: Raghava Lawrencce, Nikki Galrani, Sathyaraj and Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 1/5

In Motta Siva Ketta Siva, a remake of Telugu film Pataas, Lawrencce is introduced as Makkal (People’s) Superstar and you know that’s not a good sign. It doesn’t take much time to realise that the title is a mockery of super-stardom and the film is a blow to your sensibilities. If you’re an aspiring filmmaker and want to learn how not to make a mess of a film, here’s the recipe you shouldn’t follow.

When Lawrencce made the Kanchana series – Muni, Kanchana and Kanchana 2 - and managed to make it click at the box-office, people and the trade believed he had cracked a successful formula. Nobody thought that he was, perhaps, just lucky. Cashing in on the highly successful franchise, he returns with Motta Siva Ketta Siva in a full-length commercial avatar, defying logic and gravity. He shows his desperation to be accepted as a star (which backfires in his face) and he goes all out to prove he has it in him. If the thought was silly, his attempt to prove is sillier.

Lawrencce plays a hot-headed and corrupt cop, who abhors his father, his superior in the department. The reason for his extreme hatred towards his father is used as a lame excuse to make Lawrencce’s character transform and he becomes even more menacing which only results in more dialoguebaazi, flying goons in all directions and a heroine who promises more oomph than acting chops.

These following lines about Nikki are being written out of sympathy. She plays a reporter and when we meet her for the first time we see her in a half-sari. When asked why she prefers a half-sari over modern wear, she utters the word ‘tradition’. Sadly, throughout the film the half-sari is merely used to titillate audiences with Nikki’s navel show. And then there’s groping – on several occasions – making her character look cheaper than it already is. And if this wasn’t enough, there’s a special item number with Raai Laxmi to make the whole experience even more irksome.

Even by regular commercial cinema standard, Motta Siva Ketta Siva fails to make an impact. Sathyaraj is sidelined in a role that has no purpose while Ashutosh Rana, who keeps saying ‘I hate police’ for reasons never fully explained, makes you wonder what a bad film can do to an actor of his calibre. Kovai Sarla, who made a terrific comeback with the Kanchana series, is annoyingly unbearable with her loud voice.