Following in his father’s footsteps, Shanmuga Pandian, the younger son of Vijaykanth, debuts as an actor in Sagaptham (a home production). A lot of thought and effort must have gone into the star son’s launching. But one wonders why the production house settled for a mediocre screenplay with no freshness in it, and a narrative style sans a modern take. A fresh presentation with a modern sensibility could have worked better to the debutant’s advantage and made him look more presentable and acceptable.
Shanmuga Pandian plays Saga, whose introduction scene is not very striking. In fact, Vijaykanth’s introduction scene when he makes an appearance towards the fag end of the film is more impressive (typically Vijaykanth style). A little self conscious, the star son has his height as an advantage, and packs a powerful punch in the fight scenes. And that’s where his expressions too are just right.
The debutant doesn’t register much in the earlier scenes, with no real moments of substance given to him. Saga is seen tagging along with his friend Jagan. He gets to rescue a distressed woman from the lecherous money lender who was demanding his pound of flesh from her. And he has a cousin for the love-angle and the song-dance routine.
Then there is this other heroine in Malaysia later. Both cut a pretty picture, but bad lip-sync puts one off them. There is Powerstar for comedy. But he seems to pep up only when the comedy is turned against him. And being very less of that here, he is not his usual self effacing fun-self. When the story shifts to Malaysia, one hopes for a better scenario to follow. But that does not happen, and what we get to see is the scenic beauty of the place. Joining a detective agency there, Saga turns into a super-detective, who ends up solving almost the entire crime scene of Malaysia, the police there beholden to him. Some of the fights, chases and stunts are well choreographed, like the one in the Malaysian waters. Apart from that, Sagaptham is a wasted effort.