Sivappu Manjal Pachai - A fairly engaging family drama!

Bharath Vijayakumar

Sasi's latest offering is curiously titled. Siddharth plays a traffic police and G.V.Prakash an illegal racer and the title could be an obvious reference to the colours of the traffic signal. Or does it denote the three primary characters of the film played by GVP( the hot headed youngster - Red), Siddharth ( The upright cop who has a temper too but relatively patient - Orange) and Lijomol ( The girl caught in between these two men who bears all the turmoil - Green).

Sivappu Manjal Pachai is Sasi's forte as it is primarily an emotional drama. Sasi is one of those filmmakers whose films does have a fair share of melodrama but there is a little restraint that ensures that it is not the on your face kind of manipulation. So while you might have reservations about exaggerated emotions you always have a certain trust on the genuiness of the intentions.The crux of the film is about a woman who is caught between two warring men. While she wants both, the two just can't stand each other.

The earlier portions of the film are neatly packaged and the major conflict between the characters are quickly established. Sasi tries to keep the film closer to the masses and he keeps fluctuating between emotional scenes and also light hearted banter. But this keeps us away from getting emotionally invested. The conflict between Siddharth and GVP is believable at times and comes across as downright silly at other instances. If the film was treated as a light-hearted entertainer, the silliness would have gelled but here the fluctuations keep us confused.

Credits to Sasi for ensuring that he is very careful with what he is propagating through the medium. A crucial scene has a guy have another guy wear a nighty to shame him. While I was wondering how this could be a very bad example and reinforce certain prevalent but stupid notions, Sasi ensures that he sends across the right message with a scene in the second half that brings about a nice closure to this whole idea of trying to shame someone by comparing him to a girl. Also the fact that how we as a society tie women down in the name of love and care is addressed.

GVP fits the bill perfectly and it is good to see him playing roles that sit easily on him. Siddharth comes across as too stiff and this looks a conscious decision and you wonder why. Lijomol is good and doesn't oversell the emotional parts.

The portions involving the villain and the long drawn out climax are definite dampeners. The impact ought to have been way higher without these portions or if they had been handled with a little more finesse. .

Bottomline: A fairly engaging watch that tries to be emotional as well as entertaining. The mix is a little way off but the film does pass muster.

Rating: 2.75/5