Seeru movie review: Jiiva's action thriller is a 'time-pass entertainer with all essential commercial ingredients'

Language: TamilSeeru is a typical factory-made ‘time pass’ entertainer with all essential commercial ingredients. Jiiva taking a leaf out of Vijay’s book has made something that the Tamil superstar used to dish out more than a decade back (Thirupachi, Ghilli, etc). It is an okie-dokie masala entertainer which can hold your interest with a limited run time of two hours.The basic rules of such films are that don’t ask for a story, look for the overall packaging and mix of comedy, action, sentiments, and message. Director Rathina Siva and so many others will lecture you that such kind of films is what the public in Tier 2 and 3 single screens prefer. The hero concept is the same – a do-gooder with lots of friends and his world revolves around his sister and he will move the mountains for her. And there will always be two villains, a good at heart village villain and a dark and deadly city villain.[caption id="attachment_8014181" align="alignnone" width="825"]

Still from Seeru. Image from Twitter[/caption]Manimaran (Jiiva) is a jolly good fellow residing in a small town of Mayiladuthurai and running his own local cable TV channel. As the news anchor, he highlights all the happenings and runs into trouble with the local MLA. In the opening scene itself, his goodness and his uprightness are established when he saves two women from thugs on a lonely highway. The MLA arranges a Chennai based ‘hired killer’ Vysarpadi Malli (Varun) to eliminate Marimaran. A cat and mouse chase ensues between Mani and Malli over the phone and soon Malli comes to eliminate him in his home town. The twist happens as Malli saves Mani’s sister and goes back to Chennai without any encounter.Now Manimaran goes to Chennai in search of the guy who saved his pregnant sister and also donated blood which is now flowing through her veins! In the second half, the story shifts gears to urban surroundings and a new villain Ashok Mithran (Navdeep), a suave high profile advocate surfaces. His job is to fight cases for politicians and safeguard their ill-gotten wealth. In a flashback, everything falls into place when a group of school girls expose the evil machinations of Ashok and want to take revenge for the death of one of their colleagues. The rest is as predictable as the happy ending and a photo opportunity for all good guys and girls to come together in the last frame.What makes the film work to a large extent is it a crisp run time of two hours and it is unpretentious. Jiiva is apt for the role of Manimaran with his comic touches and friendly look. However, the scene-stealer is Varun as the villain Malli in the first half of the film and his phone conversation with the hero impresses. Navdeep as the main bad guy is menacing but is let down by the clichéd script. By the way, I forgot to mention that there is a heroine in new girl Riya Suman, who is there for songs and regular romantic scenes. In fact, the sister character Gayathri has a better etched role along with the crucial school girl character done impressively by Chandini. Why can’t Tamil mass cinema directors provide a little more space and an independent mind to their heroines? D Imman’s music, especially 'Sevvanthiye' is a hummable number.On the whole, Seeru is an unpretentious regular commercial cocktail and watchable to an extent if you have two hours to while away.Rating: ***