Saguni – Mokka is an understatement

Once upon a time, a three-legged tortoise was in search for its long lost two-headed tortoise cousin. It flew to the moon but accidentally landed on Neptune. It was captured by an alien group which was headed by George Clooney. It defeated most of the aliens and was waiting for the final confrontation with their leader. At that time it got a special power from the planet of Krypton with which Clooney was easily defeated. It again went in search for its cousin and finally found that he was killed long back in the hands of Clooney. The tortoise then returned to its home disappointed.

I had the exact same expression that you are having now after I watched Saguni. The word ‘logic’ was brutally destroyed in this movie. I still have no idea why there were some scenes before the title card. Some may argue that it was added to show how ‘evil’ Prakash Raj is. But isn’t he evil all over the movie? What is the point of killing a family for a silly reason? It certainly did not help the storyline of the movie (yes, it had a storyline. The script and screenplay weren’t good enough to balance it).

Just because the movie starts with a crow stealing vada from a patti which Karthi picks up, Shankar Dayal does not become a Tarantino. Then comes the hero introduction song, the choreography of which deserves a special mention. I’m no judge in Ungalil Yaar Adutha Prabhudeva but I’m pretty sure that I haven’t seen shittier dance movements in any other song.

I’ve lost adjectives praising Santhanam in his each and every movie. In this movie too he has done his part well. But I don’t think even the mighty Santhanam could save Saguni. His one of a kind one-liners in the first half does get the expected applause from the audience but the director should have been careful enough while penning the script not to deviate much from the story. Even after 30 minutes into the movie I was waiting for the main story to start. The cameos were completely unnecessary.

There were no flaws in performances. The movie had many veterans like Prakash Raj, Nassar, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Roja, Radhika and if the movie still fails, the blame is completely on the captain of the ship. Karthi’s charm has never failed in his previous flicks and he delights us in Saguni too. The role of Praneetha was no different from the cameos by Anushka and Andrea. She had a couple of foot-tapping songs, but the latter didn’t. Had it not been for the songs, many would have ended up doubting that she was the heroine 0f the film. It’s not really apparent till she joins with Karthi at the end.

Remember the Venpaniye song from Ko? Remember how people were criticizing that it was completely not in sync with the screenplay? After watching Manasellam Mazhaye and Vella Bambaram, I’ve changed my mind. Venpaniye was completely in sync in comparison with these songs. Others were at least in sync with the scenes that come before the songs even though they could have been avoided. For the first time, G V Prakash Kumar has failed to impress with his background score. In some places the music was was just random, and unrelated to the scenes. But still, he has to be appreciated for his unfailing and irresistible tracks.

Shankar Dayal has to be appreciated for choosing a political satire as his debut project. Lesser the slapstick comedy, more the chances for a movie to become a hit. Many directors have to consider this while making a movie. Being his first movie, he can be forgiven. But after some time, even Santhanam’s one-liners become unbearable. He should have concentrated more on the politics than on the humour part.

It’s customary to mention what didn’t work in the movie at the end of a review. Here it is the opposite. The director should be appreciated for not having many action sequences in an out and out masala flick except for the one at the beginning the reason for which no one knows till the end  (May be they will tell us in Saguni 2). A couple of mistakes can be tolerated in a director’s first movie but blunders like these – even the most light-hearted movie viewers would puke at.

Saguni – Karthi’s first flop in Tamil

[rating:4]