Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu

Seethamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu

In an age where a star's film is mostly named from collection of synonyms for vagabonds and loud activities, Srikanth Addala's second film is not exactly a path breaker, but, a major relief nonetheless; an ode to the old school Telugu dramas, but, with enough masala machismo for its multi-starring leads.

Relangaayana (Prakash Raj) is known for his immense goodness and a smile that drives away troubles. His sons (Peddodu and Chinnodu - Venkatesh and Mahesh Babu) have been struggling in the job market for a while and the prolonged joblessness puts their love life in turmoil.

Bejawadaayana (Rao Ramesh) is the father of Geetha (Samantha) and the uncle of Seetha (Anjali). Seetha had lived in Relangi ever since she lost her parents as a child and she's grown into the idea of marrying Peddodu someday. Bejawadaayana's indifference with the attitude of Relangi family known for their calm and stubborn is what drives the plot.

The film carries a sense of repetition our everyday lives or more precisely what our black and white films had. You leave hometown, you come back, you leave again...This greatly helped in humanizing the stars, wish the film's lighting and make-up aesthetic were such.

Neat performances all around, the super cynical Rao Ramesh gracefully deputising for his father and Rohini Hattangadi for making it seem effortless as always were my stand outs. To Venkatesh this is just another Sankranti film, but, is new territory for Mahesh and he pulls it off without losing out on the head swaying Maheshness.

The ordinary soundtrack and the one scene resolution were the major shortcomings, which was easily predictable with the film nearing its end and stuck in conflicts all around.

Still the film scores on many levels and engages us more than any of the recent ones involving stars.

P.S.just wish it didn't have the director's voice over at the beginning and at the end. The film's idea of basic human goodness and other philosophical views were made pretty clear from the not so polished dialogue. And two voiceovers on top of that telling the same thing, Why?