Sakka Podu Podu Raja movie review: Santhanam offers a string of tired cliches

I am still trying to figure why Santhanam made this movie. During the entire duration of the movie, I was hoping for someone to pop up and scream ‘Surprise you are watching a spoof movie’; I was reminded of Tamizh Padam multiple times. You might ask me how that makes any sense, but that is probably the only way Sakka Podu Podu Raja could be salvaged. Nothing else makes sense anyway.

A movie doesn’t need logic to entertain us – Chennai 2 Singapore is a good example. But Sakka Podu Podu Raja is a string of cliches lined one after another. Somehow, we are expected to be entertained or surprised by the events. Also anything seems to be a punchline these days. Despite the exaggeration, punch dialogues are enjoyable when the right things are said the appropriate way. But with SPPR, I was reminded of Vivek’s dialogue in Sivaji where he says ‘Vidala pasanga lam virala soduki punch dialogue pesranga’ (Everyone seems to be speaking punch dialogues these days). For example, Powerstar says, “Nee Ajith nu ninacha naa Ajith, nee Vijay nu ninacha Vijay, nee Loosu nu ninacha naa loosu da.” I genuinely want to know what he means by this so-called ‘punch dialogue’. Please feel free to comment below in case you figure it out.

To be honest, Sakka Podu Podu Raja feels like a story has been concocted to accommodate the whims and fancies of the people involved. I wonder how story discussions had progressed. Maybe someone had said, “We haven’t had anything about separation, so let’s picturise a song that way even though they practically are in the same house.” Or maybe someone said, “Why should heroes do all the unrealistic fighting or get the mass moments.” It is a very indulgent movie that makes some very convenient progressions as story arcs. Simbu actually makes a decent debut as a music composer. But that is about it.

Everything set apart, one thing I will never forgive Sakka Podu Podu Raja for is its portrayal of women. Almost every woman has been used as a sexual object — even a housemaid who appears on screen for exactly 2 seconds has saree draped in a way that shows her cleavage. While Vaibhavi Shandilya is a good-looking woman but does she need to be wrapped around in a towel or walk around in a bikini? Another example is Sanjana Singh’s character. Her ‘character’ did not need the sexual overtones that it acquired. As the year is approaching a close, I pray that this is a trend that is truly put to rest. Forever.

This was first originally published on https://indianexpress.com/. You can find it here.