Saamy Square movie review: Vikram plays an angry cop in a sequel which follows the same plot as Saamy

Saamy Square
Director and writer: Hari
Cast: Vikram, Keerthy Suresh, Bobby Simha, Aishwarya Rajesh, Soori
Rating: 2/5

Saamy Square is proof that a director requires talent to entertain an audience with exactly the same plot that worked 15 years ago. Director Hari has added just a few elements to present the idea of a sequel. One such an element is to make Vikram’s character ‘overpowered’ (OP), like a character in video games, which wreaks havoc. While it is fun to see characters break loose on the screen when you play a video game, it doesn’t look at attractive in a film.

The sequel first introduces the audience to the main players, as it has been 15 years since Saamy released. Aishwarya Rajesh plays the role originally portrayed by Trisha; her part is more a cameo. Aarusamy’s son Ramasamy (played by Vikram) is the one to carry forward the legacy of his father and he locks horns with Perumal Pichai’s son Raavana Pichai. The name of the villain and the fact that the character is from Colombo is used by the director to stress on how bad he really is. This is quite similar to the manner in which every invader in period films is portrayed as being barbaric, and so Bobby Simha’s Raavana Pichai is one-dimensional.

That is not the only problem with the film. While, on one hand, we have Aarusamy and Ramasamy talking about respecting women (Keerthy Suresh as Diya, doesn’t think twice before slapping harassers), on the other hand, the film also has Soori who tries to be funny (by using rape in his jokes) and doesn’t seem to know how. Comedians should not feature when the topic of rape is being touched upon because there is nothing funny about it. All mention of rape is sure to make women cringe and by introducing it, in the name of humour, the film only trivialises it. Everything that the lead cop preaches in the film, simply goes down the drain.

However, even if one was to overlook these drawbacks, Saamy Sqaure still has a problem – it has nothing new to offer that wasn’t in Saamy already. The male and the female lead fall in love after a misunderstanding, one of them saves the other from a grave situation and another misunderstanding nearly separates them. There are some intelligent ‘hero’ moments thrown in to keep the audience entertained. The protagonist faces a loss that is followed by a challenge, which eventually leads to the hunt. The formula for two films remains same though they are 15 years apart. But does the film engage? The answer is yes but in parts.

What does make Saamy Square different is Hari’s decision to pack something extra to show how heroic Vikram’s character really is. For instance, he throws powerful punches that make things fly farther than usual. Also, small bits like the way Ramasamy reacts when he comes in contact with anything that has to do with khakhi, the supernatural element when Ramasamy ‘becomes’ his father, Vikram’s bulging muscles and grand gestures in the romantic department are used to make the oldest trope in the revenge drama interesting. Saamy, back in 2003, was pretty straightforward in comparison.

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