Seshu Review

"Seshu, the saga of a medico" the banners declare. Seshu has been long awaited by the Rajashekhar fan club (assuming there still is such a club), but after the 3 hours that the movie meanders through, you're still wondering why this had to be a saga of any medico, and more importantly, why this had to be.

The flick starts off promisingly with the news of a final year medico being sentenced to jail for five years after a long series of incidents. This going to say that the aforesaid student stands up for others' rights even against the highest authorities. The student is released after five years, and surprise! An aged Rajashekhar turns out to be Seshu, the ex-final year medico who doesn't hesitate to stand up for anyone's rights. And he is back in college.

From hereon Seshu goes on to bash up every baddie who oppresses the downtrodden. After a while, however, there is no distinguishing the baddie from the downtrodden! For now it is the invincible Seshu, the college president who has the entire college in his pocket (his own words), and whose HOD was his classmate once upon a time (again his own words). Everything is fine as long as you stay on the right side of this man, "lovingly" called Chiya (there is a ten-minute long scene in the movie where they try to find out what this word means - no one knows yet!).

Enter trouble in the form of Abhitukuchalamba (another ten-minute scene trying to ascertain the meaning of that one!), a dusky village belle who stutters and stammers her way into Seshu's heart. An agonizing hour is spent with the hero (for lack of a better word) trying to win her heart. He finally just scares her nuts, and she pronto falls in love with him - some courtship!

The director, finding the movie still an hour too short, gets a few baddies to bash in Seshu's head with the help of some graphics, and voila, Seshu is admitted in the mental hospital. But after he jumps off the top floor onto a hapless watchman and almost kills him (no kidding!), the doctor washes his hands off this hopeless case. Telling you the rest of the story would be spoiling the "suspense".

The technical points in the movie do not do much to make up for the flaws in the story. Rajasekhar's wife Jeevitha making her debut as a director loses her way five minutes after the movie begins. Yuvan, the master Ilayaraja's son, does not impress with his music, which is very ordinary. Kaveri as Abhitukuchalamba, the supposed to be lovable heroine, never recovers from her name, and is perpetually teary eyed if not terrorized. Rajasekhar is fiery as Seshu, but with no direction given to the fire, he splutters out. The rest of the cast does not do much.

A strange story supposedly inspired from the Tamil hit Sethu, this one has nothing to attract anyone except for the staunchest Rajashekhar fan.