Saahasam movie review: A frame by frame remake of the Telugu original
Cast: Prashanth, Amandha, Sonu Sood
Direction: Arunraj Varma
‘Saahasam’, which marks the return of Prashanth after a long gap, is very crucial to his career as he is looking forward to a comeback hit flick. Let’s see if the film has lived up to the expectations.
Ravi Narayan (Prashanth) a jobless youth, who hails from a middle class family, is easy going and according to his dad (Nasser) is good for nothing. Nevertheless, Ravi is intelligent and street smart. In order to make quick bucks, Ravi resorts to betting. As fate would have it, he crosses path with Bittu (Sonu Sood) who has planned to execute a daring bank heist with his gang. Now, Ravi becomes the witness for the bank robbery in which Bittu gets arrested, thus landing himself in big trouble. Ravi is relocated to Coimbatore in a witness protection programme to stay with the family of ACP (Thambi Ramaiah). He meets the girl of his dreams Madhu (Australian actress Amandha) and it was love at first sight for him. Meanwhile Bittu escapes from the jail and vows to take his revenge on Ravi. Thus a cat and mouse game begins between the two.
For his comeback, Prashanth has chosen the remake of the Telugu hit flick ‘Julayi’, which typically had its formulaic pattern of an action sequence, followed by comedy, then a romantic song, followed by an emotional family scene etc. Prashanth does his part well - he dances and fights energetically and given a decent performance. Amandha does what is expected out of her – oozes with glamour in her song sequences. Thankfully, limited dialogues have resulted in good lip sinks. Not to forget, B’town hottie Nargis Fakhri sizzles in a special song sequence. As usual Nasser and Kota Srinivasa Rao deliver. Sonu Sood in a routine role is adequate. Thambi Ramiah, MS Bhaskar and John Vijay try to tickle your funny bones, but their efforts are in vain. Screenplay and dialogue credits go to Prashanth’s dad Thaygarajan.
The film has a number of glaring logical loopholes, coupled with contrived and predictable sequences. Thaman’s musical score is foot tapping and background music is passable. Shaji’s cinematography goes well with the mood of the film.
Instead of recreating a frame by frame remake of the original, debut director Arunraj Varma should have improvised on the story a bit to suit the audience’s sensibilities.
