'Siddhu +2' (Tamil, Romance, 2010)
Director: K Bhagyaraj
Cast: S hanthnoo, Shanthini, Rajesh, Sita, Avinash,Thalaivasal Vijay
Bhagyaraj had wielded the megaphone for his daughter’s debut film 'Parijatham'. But son Shanthnoo had debuted under another director in 'Sakkarakatti'. And now, Bhagyaraj has wielded the megaphone in Shanthnoo’s second film 'Siddhu Plus 2', a teen love story about a Class XII student, who after flunking in his exams, leaves his home, intending to commit suicide.
He runs into Pavitra, who, under similar circumstances, runs away from her home too. And the film is about the duo’s roller coaster love saga. The recent Ranbir Kapoor film, 'Anjana Anjani', had a similar theme.
Shanthnoo (his home production) is earnest and maintains a consistency in his portrayal of Siddhu, despite the inconsistencies in the script. Debutante Shanthini gets her expressions right. But her self-conscious laborious dialogue delivery does distract you from her performance. Also, the inconsistency in her characterisation affects her performance too.
When she is introduced to us, her demeanour is of a naïve, unpolished, rustic belle. But a few scenes later she’s shown speaking English with panache. And when in the second half the scene shifts to her village, where Siddhu follows her, it’s a totally different Pavitra we get to see, playing the modern miss to the hilt.
Who is the real Pavitra, we wonder. The earlier scenes of Pavitra encountering Siddhu at the railway station, where he bails her out of a tricky situation, promise of more fun moments to come.
But it’s a lackluster series of events that follow, the script taking a down slide never to recover. New characters keep appearing, at times making us feel that we are watching segments from different films. Like, Pavitra’s grandma and her son (who makes much heavy weather of his role), a suitor to her hand.
There is a terrorist suddenly popping up, and for whatever reason plants a bomb at a carnival.
So appalling are some of the flaws and inconsistencies, that it is difficult to believe that a scenarist-maker, undoubtedly one of the best, and a master in screenplay writing, could have been behind such slipshod work.