Seetimaarr
RATING
Introduction
Onto the last release of the weekend with the leftovers to be covered over the weekdays, I have just finished watching the mass masala Telugu Entertainer Seetimaarr on Hotstar. Seetimaarr a word popularised by The Allu Arjun song and later reused in the Salman Khan starrer Radhe, the word instantly evokes that level of interest in mass masala entertainers. Having a theatrical release a month ago, Seetimaarr finally makes its debut on an OTT platform, is it worth your time, stay tuned.
Story & Screenplay
Seetimaarr follows the story of a coach trying to rescue the members of his Kabaddi Team after they are kidnapped by a cop turned criminal. The story has all the right ingredients for a lip smacking masala entertainer. And when I review such entertainers, all I wish is to be entertained even if it is illogical. But here the screenplay is patchy. While it is definitely a larger than life setup and extremely far fetched, the bizarre writing in the second half is a bit of a letdown. While the first half is quite interesting and fast paced, the second half goes for a toss completely. The scenes seem randomly included without proper connection which just makes it a patchy watch to say the least. The songs ofcourse don’t help the cause and they break the flow of the drama. The screenplay should have carried on with the momentum of the first half something that was evident in the Tamil film Bigil. But here just trying out too many things is what leads to its downfall. In other words, patchy!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are mass heavy that would generally cater to the front benchers. But in the OTT space, it could have been slighy better. The music is average and largely forgettable not to mention it being a deterrent to the flow of the drama. The BGM though is pretty good. The editing is weak here and the VFX is pretty bad. Director Sampath Nandi is probably guilty of trying out too many things – an action entertainer, a sports drama, mindless chase sequences, a larger than life final act and it just becomes a bit of a mess and hence he misses his mark.
Performances
The performances are quite decent. Digangana Suryavanshi as the TV journalist looks pretty and is quite good. Bhumika Chawla is strictly average here as Karthik’s sister. Preethi Asrani as Shailaja is quite good and does manage to hold your attention. Rahman as DCP Aravind has his moments to shine. Tarun Arora as Makhan Singh tries hard to look menacing but instead is a bit of a caricature. Tamannaah as Jwala is pretty good too in a limited space. Gopichand as Karthik does a good job but wish he had a better script to showcase his talent.
Conclusion
Seetimaarr is not as worthy as its name – some patchy writing makes this an average affair. Available on Hotstar.