Rating: 2.5/5
Banners: Sithara Entertainments, Fortune Four Cinemas, Srikara Studios
Cast: Dhanush, Samyukta Menon, Samuthirakani, Sai Kumar, Tanikella Bharani, Sumanth, Hyper Aadi, Rajendran, Aadukalam Naren, Madhu, Pammi Sai, Ilavarasu and others
Music: G V Prakash Kumar
Cinematographer: J Yuvaraj
Editor: Navin Nooli
Director: Venky Atluri
Producers: Suryadevara Naga Vamsi, Sai Soujanya
Release date: 17th Feb 2023
After the entry of Tamil star Vijay with a Telugu director, it is now the turn of yet another bigger star Dhanush. He has teamed up with a Telugu director and whether he is able to make his mark or not, let us see.
Story
Balu (Dhanush) is a teacher whose passion is to impart education to everyone and in the right way. Tripathi (Samuthirakani) is an entrepreneur who believes that education is business and his objective is making money. As part of his devious understanding with the government, he manages to put some of his most least rated teachers in government school. One among them is Balu and he is posted at Siripuram government school. He goes to that place with the zeal to teach but faces challenges with the students. However, he succeeds in making them realize the value of education and in the process he meets Meenakshi (Samyukta). While he manages to succeed in that front, he then discovers the ulterior motive of Tripathi. Both of them have a showdown and what happens from there forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Dhanush carried out his role with the required involvement. While there was not much to come up with an intense performance, he did what was suitable. Samyukta was alright. Samuthirakani was neat. Sai Kumar was moderate. Tanikella Bharani was underused. Hyper Aadi brought few smiles. Rajendran was adequate. Sumanth was okay. The boy who did the role of Murthy was impressive. The others who did the role of the students were also effective.
Crew
The story was quite message oriented and the script was written to justify it. The screenplay was okay but it lacked the depth or the grit to squeeze emotions. The background score was good and one song was nice. Cinematography was as per the requirement. Editing was crisp. Costumes suited the period backdrop while the art department showed good effort. Production values were non-compromising. Fights and stunts were adequate. The other departments did their bit as required.
Hits
Concept
Dhanush’s performance
Misses
Zero entertainment
Weak narrative
More melodrama less emotion
Strong Tamil nativity
Deeper Look
The director has touched a very sensitive and important subject. His idea of portraying the education system is very much relevant to even today though the backdrop of the story is in late 90s. However, it is a subject like this which distinguishes the Telugu audience from the Tamil audience. With Dhanush as the protagonist and the film coming as a bilingual, it appears the focus was more on appeasing the Tamil folks than the Telugu folks. Perhaps a balance of societal message laced with sizeable portion of entertainment could have churned this into a perfect commercial entertainer. But then it looks like the director followed his heart and went ahead with shaping this into a complete drama. The film takes off well and it sets the plot right so the first half goes breezily. The interval bang was quite predictable and the second half was more about how the dots would get connected. If Dhanush chose this script to make an impact with the Telugu audience then it is an error. At the box office, the Kollywood revenue would be quite good while the Tollywood revenue may not be so. This subject would appeal to a rather emotional set of audience and not for a regular cine viewer who comes to unwind at the theatres. From a content perspective, the director and the hero deserve a pat on the back for choosing a much needed subject that the society is facing but from a commercial perspective, it might work in Tamil and not in Telugu.
Vox Verdict
Serious subject, Sentimental Teacher
