Sir/Vaathi Movie review: Honest attempt in a predictable way

National Award winning actor Dhanush is popular in Tollywood too with his dubbing films. His last release “Thiru” became a silent success in Telugu. Now, for the first time he is coming with a straight Telugu film “Sir” which was made as a proper Telugu – Tamil bilingual directed by Venky Atluri, produced by Naga Vamsi and Soujanya. Being the first straight film of Dhanush in Telugu, the film created huge buzz in film circles. The trailer released also made audience feel curious about the film. The film has been released in theatres and let us check how it fares at box-office.

Story

Balu, aka Bala Gangadhar Tilak (Dhanush), is a junior lecturer at the topmost Tripathi Jr College owned by Tripathi. When an educational bill proposed by the government poses a threat to greedy corporate colleges, Tripathi comes up with an idea to save them. What is the plan? How Balu fits into it? The journey of Balu transforming a government college by taking on Tripathi is the movie’s overall story.

Analysis

Venky Atluri of “Tholiprema,” “Mr Majnu,” and “Rang De” fame directs “Sir.” It is a different outing for him as he picks an issue-based drama instead of a romantic comedy. Anyone who has seen the trailer would recognise the topic chosen by Venki Atluri. It is related to education and its commercialisation. This is not a new topic, but a sense of honesty here that grabs attention, even if it follows a formula.

“Sir” begins on an ordinary note. The setting of the story happens blandly. The establishment of the antagonist and corporate greed are routine. The movie starts rolling when Sir reaches Siripuram. The whole village section is the heart of the movie, which is divided into two halves. The first half has its moments, like the one on caste, but it’s formulaic to the core.

Various issues happen one after another and are then resolved similarly with small talk, a class like the ‘panchayat’ sequence. In the age of realistic and rooted village dramas, the whole thing appears very polished and clean. Still, the emotions look genuine and hold the attention.

As mentioned, the village sequences are the movie’s heart, and we see the better side in the latter half. It is less formulaic, and the sentiments tug your heart. Dhanush rises the content and delivers emotions that are sure to bring tears to the eyes. The second half has a few such emotional blocks that deliver on expected lines but work out without looking formulaic.

However, it suffers from the ‘manipulative’ factor. While not all, some look deliberately done to push the tears. The theatre twist amidst all this makes things a little interesting. The ending is a mixture is reality and fantasy, but the message seethes through it, which is what ultimately matters. Overall, “Sir” is very predictable story, but it works because it has its heart in the right place.

Performances

Dhanush upgrades from his usual student roles to a ‘Sir’ in the movie. He suits the part and effortlessly breezes through it, which doesn’t require him to do a heavy-duty performance. An intensity is necessary, which Dhanush conjures up easily. Still, when he gets those emotional moments, the actor shows why he is rated one of the best in the country. The emotions are conveyed in a perfect manner

Samyukta Menon can be seen as playing a supporting role. She is okay and does well with sincerity in whatever she gets. Samuthirakani is okay, but he is highly typecast for the part (in Telugu). The same is the case with Saikumar playing the village head or Tanikella Bharani as the honest principal. We have seen them do it many times before. In quite a contrast, Aadukalam Naresh impresses even though he has much smaller screen time. What really works as a supporting cast is the bunch of youngsters playing the students. They work as a whole and individually, even with bits and pieces of roles. Hyper Aadhi appears briefly and is alright. The rest of the actors are okay.

Technicalities

Director Venky Atluri this time comes with a social problem that can be relatable to everyone. He has written and narrated the story in an honest manner backed wonderfully by Dhanush. He could have done better story wise making it more interesting. GV Prakash’s songs and background score are a significant asset to the movie. The cinematography is neat, keeping things simple. Some of the sets and their presentation could have been done better, avoiding the air of artificiality. Editing is good, pace is slow, but it never slackens or turns boring. Some dialogues have a strong hammer impact and hit home the point.

Advantages

Dhanush

Message

Emotional Scenes

BGM

Drawbacks

Predictable Story

Formulaic Narrative