Seetharama Kalyana Review: A decent family entertainer with over the top action

Seetharama Kalyana Review: A decent family entertainer with over the top action

Despite a somewhat disappointing second half, this film is worth a one-time watch, especially for the performances
Rating:(3 / 5)

The title of Seetharama Kalyana gives away the plot. This family drama has dollops of sentiments, friendship, romance, punchy dialogues, music, grandeur, and lots of action sequences. And this does not come as a surprise considering that it is helmed by director Harsha. With Nikhil Kumar playing the lead, there are obvious references to farmers’ issues and plenty of political commentary.

Director: A Harsha
Cast: Nikhil Kumar, Rachita Ram, Sarathkumar, Madhoo, Ravi Shankar

The plot, which is about Aarya (Nikhil Kumar) and Geetha (Rachita Ram) meeting at a mutual friend’s wedding and falling for each other, lends itself conveniently to endless dance and song sequences. Aarya introduces himself to Geetha’s father’s Narasimha (Ravi Shankar), as the son of top businessman Shankar (Sarathkumar), living in Bengaluru. Meanwhile, Geetha moves to the city on the insistence of her mother (Madhoo), who wanted her to her to study at a prestigious institution. Geetha, who hails from a village, takes time to adjust to life in the city, and often turns to Aarya for help, but on the condition that he remains just a ‘friend’. While she does have some feelings for Aarya, she hesitates to express them owing to her family background. Aarya, however, eventually opens up about his love. Whether Geetha will reciprocate his feelings forms one part of the story.

Meanwhile, a situation arises where Narasimha and Shankar accidentally bump into each other. And they are enraged when they meet. The reason behind this constitutes the second half of the story.

The director brings a host of characters into his story and tries his best to give adequate screen space to each one of them. There are a few rough patches, especially in the second half with the scenes where the senior actors go back to their younger days. Though this episode is required for dramatic impact, the lengthy sequences cause us to lose interest as the leads are kept out of action all along.

Nikhil's transformation from Jaguar is obvious. As an actor, he has tried his hands in all departments - action, comedy, romance, and sentiments - and he faithfully follows the director’s vision. Stunt choreographer duo Ram-Lakshman has got him to do some major stunts. Rachita Ram does full justice to her role as the village girl, and she shares good on-screen chemistry with Nikhil.

With top comedians such as Chikkanna, Shivaraj KR Pete and Nayana, the humour mostly works. The seniors actors hog the limelight in the second half and make their presence felt. The weak link in the cast is the villain who gets repeatedly beaten up, and is clearly no match for the hero. Also, someone needs to tell us about the role of the chopper in the film.

Verdict: A decent family entertainer with lots of action that's good for a one-time watch

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