seetha kalyanam Movie review:jayaram,jyothika,indrajth,geethu mohandas

T K Rajeev Kumar’s much delayed movie ‘Seetha Kalyanam’ will finally see the light of the screen. The movie which was in the making for the last six years, have Jayaram and Jyothika in the lead. Produced by Revathy Kalamandhir, the movie is set in the backdrop of a Brahmin marriage that extends for many days.

The big question is how does 'My Best Friend's Wedding' look like, in a Brahmin household? It looks like 'Seetha Kalyanam', with classical music blaring in the background, plenty of laddus and jilebis being served around and marigold garlands adorning every nook and corner of the screen. 

As for the theme and the plot, ‘Seetha Kalyanam’ has nothing new to offer. It’s all simple. Sreeni (Jayaram) is a software professional working in Bangalore and having a nice time with his colleagues, especially a few girls, of whom Nimisha (Jyothika) is his close friend. His marriage is fixed to Abhirami (Geethu Mohandas) in the traditional way and he travels home, to get married in the traditional Brahmin manner, in a marriage ceremony spanning seven days. His colleagues, Nimisha and her gang, reach Kerala to be part of the ceremony. As the marriage ceremony goes on, Nimisha begins to realize that she loves Sreeni. She tries not to tell him, but at last, unable to help it, she reveals it all to Sreeni. It’s then that Sreeni too realizes his love for her. The marriage ceremony is half way through. It’s from here that the plot develops.
Hey, this is ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’, you may say. It sure is, if you look at it that way. So what? There is no rule that a film should be 100% original. (How many are, these days?) Well, the ‘My Best Friends’ Wedding’ thing apart, ‘Seethakalyanam’ is just a so so kind of film with more of flaws than merits. The proceedings seem to lag a bit or maybe too much at places and there are many things that seem unconvincing. There are some scenes well shot and some poorly executed. A couple of songs stand out in rendition as well as in picturisation while the others are unimpressive. The comedy track goes all out of control. The ambience of a traditional Brahmin marriage is partly felt and partly not. The frames are all colourful and the presence of the big mirrors works on a symbolic level too, to an extent. Too many characters, but the characterization aspect fares too poor. So, in short, ‘Seethakalyanam’ goes wrong to a great extent and the plusses don’t work out favourably either.

Performances
In the lead role, Jayaram is of course OK. His performance anyhow doesn’t stand out and the role could very well have been handled by anyone. Jyothika is good and does justice to her role. Indrajith and Geethu Mohandas are OK with their roles, though they have nothing much to do, performance-wise. Siddique does a good work of his role and shines well, but the others don’t get much to do. So many popular faces in the cast is a good thing and it’s to be mentioned that everyone does justice to his or her bit, in their respective styles. But it’s real sad to have veteran Tamil actress Manorama and the late Oduvil Unnikrishnan sans their respective voices and styles of dialogue rendition, which form part of their identity. (Well, technical reasons, quite understandable ones).
Technical aspects
Rajiv Ravi has done a great work of the cinematography, composing the frames as colourfully as possible. Art-work by Prakash Moorthy and Rasi and editing by Arun Kumar is good.
Music
Background score by Sharath jells well with the mood of the film. Of the songs, set to tune by Sreenivas, ‘Ragasudharasamayi pranayam…” stands out and is picturised well too. “Doore Doore…” is OK.
Script
Director T.K.Rajeev Kumar, who has penned the script too, has tried to do a good work of it all, but there are times when he seems to fail utterly. While some of the scenes are well-written, some of them fail to make any impact. The comedy track, woven around Janardhanan, Kalpana, Bindu Panicker, Jagadeesh and Bheeman Reghu, fall short of all standards and don’t evoke laughter at all. He has also failed on the characterization side.
Direction
There are plusses as well as minuses to speak of, when it comes to direction. The theme, though not new or different, could have made for a good, enjoyable movie, had Rajeev Kumar paid more attention to things. As of now, the minuses outweigh the plusses and the film goes all wrong.

Producer : G.Suresh Kumar
Director : T.K.Rajeev Kumar
Cast : Jayaram, Jyothika, Indrajith, Geethu Mohandas etc.
Music : Sreenivas
Lyrics : Beeyar Prasad
Cinematography : Rajiv Ravi
Story,Screenplay,dialogues : T.K.Rajeev Kumar