Director: Ravi Abbulu
Cast: Rajan Tejeshwar, Tarushi, Chammak Chandra
Seyal begins in North Chennai where the entire market area is controlled by a local thug Dhandapani (Chammak Chandra). Karthik (Rajan Tejeshwar), a happy- go -lucky guy comes to the locality for some work and a small argument between him and the thug leads to the former beating the latter in the public view. Thus Dhandapani loses his hold in the market and no one is willing to give him any ‘maamool’ anymore. The gangster seeks his guru Thimingalam’s (Jayabalan) guidance to sort out the issue and in turn he tells him to trash the boy in the same place where he was beaten. The guru sets a time frame and also warns Dhandapani that the market would go to his opponent Seval (Dheena), if he fails in his attempt. But now Karthik is in Kerala chasing his love interest Aarthi (Tarushi). All efforts of Dhandapani to bring him back to Chennai prove futile. Finally, when Karthik returns at his own will, things aren’t as easy as Dhandapani imagines. The rest is if Dhandapani wins over Karthik, which is narrated in a humorous manner.
North Chennai movies are normally filled with sickles, violence and bloodshed but here in Seyal, director Ravi Abbulu differs and sprinkles comic flavor throughout the film. The manners in which Dhandapani loses respect from his wife and admiration from his underlings who keep reminding him of the ‘thrash incident’ with funny one-liners are to some extent enjoyable.
Debutant Rajan Tejeshwar does a decent job. Given his average stature, portraying him as a macho man who takes on dozen goons looks funny (but the story is all about that!). His love episode with Tarushi also lacks the fizz. Chamak Chandra’s performance is adequate. Vinodhini, Renuka, Munishkanth in supporting roles pitch in their bit. But why everyone speaks so loud? Though songs add to the length of the movie, Vipin’s rerecording is good.
