| Cast |
Silambarasan, Sanaa Khan, Sneha, Kishore, Karunas and others. |
Direction: |
Saravanan |
| Music: |
Yuvan Shankar Raja |
At the outset, get one thing very clear: 'Silambattam' has hardly anything new to offer; it's just the case of 'old wine in a new bottle'. It appears that debutant director Saravanan and our Simbu didn't want the critics to dug deep into their brains to dissect the film: for this purpose, they have kept the story simple and toed the oft-tread path you have seen in many a movie.
The punch dialogues as well as lines written to 'please and praise' Simbu, gravity-defying fight sequences and the yearning by girls for Simbu (in the film, of course!) end up irritating the viewers. One can't help feeling that Simbu, basically a talented actor, would be better off in involving himself in some serious acting and film-making rather than indulging in such antics.
The story kicks off on the lines of Rajni's 'Baasha' and Sarath Kumar's 'Arasu' where the hero (Vichu) is the do-gooder with a supposedly shady background. Don't question the logic behind the hero, who is even denied the customary salt in his food in his younger days, mustering up the courage and strength to bash up the baddies whenever the need arises. Vichu (Simbu) gets to know the murderers of his father and takes revenge on them, retrieves the agricultural lands of poor people and becomes their saviour.
How would you analyse Simbu? It's high time he learnt that dancing is not gymnastics or some tricks performed in a circus tent. The unprintable choicy expletives he uses and the suggestive dance postures wouldn't make him dear to the masses, for sure. Karunas does a pedestrian job at comedy and the get-ups donned by many as 'Billa' only makes things worse for the viewers.
Sanaa Khan, a Mumbai import, looks sexy and has a voluptuous body that she flaunts in a no-holds-barred skin show. The consolation is the duet songs picturised on Simbu and Sneha. Sneha has a brief role which has accomplished in a nice manner. Villain Kishore (of 'Jeyamkondan' fame) proves that he has a bit of acting prowess in him than merely appearing as a hitman. Pity that he is eliminated in the end.
Saravanan has only attempted a 'Simbu' film rather than a nice film and in the process has committed many blunders. He has mixed the ingredients of love, comedy, action and vulgarity in equal measure to prop up his film. He might not succeed at the box-office.
Cinematography by Mathi is good. The song, sung by Maestro Ilaiyaraja in his son's music, is a real classic. A couple of peppy numbers are there but that may not save this film.
Nothing wrong with Simbu imagining himself as the next 'Rajni' but he would be doing himself a favour by analysing the thorny path that the superstar has tread over the past three decades and more. Rajni's initial films hardly were masala flicks; he did impressionable and strong roles before switching on to the 'Baasha' and 'Padaiyappa' mode.
An advice to Simbu: to achieve commercial success, don't get typecast!