Review – Seema Raja

Film: Seema Raja
Director: Ponram
Cast: Sivakarthikeyan, Soori, Samantha, Keerthy Suresh, Napoleon, Simran, Lal and others
Music: D Imman
Cinematography: Balasubramanyam

Seema Raja, like most other Sivakarthikeyan films, is a proper entertainer with all possible commercial elements in it.

To get on with the story, Seemaraja (Sivakarthikeyan) is the prince of Singampatti, a reasonably large province. His dad Napoleon, who is the Rajah of Singampatti, is a generous man. Seemaraja has an accountant, who is more of a friend, called Kanakku (Soori). Life is by and large peaceful in Singampatti with Seemaraja and his manager-cum-accountant Kanakku going around having fun.

The occasional problems that arise are due to the skirmishes that the people of the region have with those from a neighbouring village called Puliampatti. This is because Puliampatti is led by Karikadai Kannan(Lal) a greedy and ruthless man, whose only grouse is that he has not been able to acquire the title of Rajah.

Kannan has a criminal background. He would have been a butcher initially and would have risen in wealth and power after getting into the windmill business. After acquiring wealth, he would have changed his name from Karikadai Kannan to Kaathu Kannan. He would have levelled allegations of adultery against his innocent wife in a bid to marry his concubine Kaleeshwari (Simran), a vicious woman. Kannan’s wife, unable to stomach his allegations, would have committed suicide, leaving her child to the care of her brother while Kannan and his newly wed wife Kaleeshwari keep gaining wealth and power. The Rajah would have thrown out Kannan from the market on getting to know of Kannan’s wife’s suicide and his decision to marry his concubine. So, from that day on Kannan and his wife Kaleeshwari would look to settle scores with the Rajah and his family members.

It is at this time that Seemaraja falls in love with Selvi (Samantha), who now works as a physical education teacher in a school. And there comes the twist. Selvi, it is revealed, happens to be the daughter of Kannan, who he had through his first wife and whom he had abandoned after the death of his first wife. As soon as he knows Seemaraja is in love with his daughter, Kannan reclaims her as his own daughter. How Seemaraja wins Selvi’s heart and hand is what the film is all about.

The story is simple and predictable. It is the humour quotient that makes the difference. Thanks to Soori, a major portion of the film does come across as being funny. However, there are portions that are really annoying, primarily because of the manner in which certains sequences are exaggerated.

Sivakarthikeyan has tried to brand himself as a full-fledged hero, by performing action sequences in which he takes on several fighters, more heavily built than he is. In some portions, he turns into his charming self, something that has worked big time for him in all his films.

Samantha is just bubbly and cheerful and has no hassles playing this role to perfection. In fact, such a simple role must have been a cakewalk for an actress of her calibre. One skill of Samantha not witnessed before and showcased in this film is her ability to perform stick fights. She looks every bit the professional silambam fighter.

Napoleon, returning after a long haitus to films, shows he hasn’t lost any of his skill sets. But it is Simran, who takes the limelight with her performance. The actress, who was a top heroine at one point in time, showcases a completely different facet of hers in this film. She plays the role of the wicked, heartless Kaleeshwari to perfection, thereby proving that she can play both the heroine and the anti-heroine characters’ with equal ease.

Director Ponram’s film is long and has certain portions that are exaggerated and annoying in nature. However, to his credit, the director manages to sustain the interest of the audience through funny interactions between the characters and therefore the film is not boring. It is an entertainer you can watch once!