Sakuni Review

If you are someone who likes escapist fare, go watch Sakuni.  Depending upon your taste, you may like the scenes involving Karthi and Santhanam or the unrealistic portrayal of daffy politicians/characters (read Prakash Raj, Kota, yesteryear actresses Radhika and Roja, Nassar, Kiran Rathod, Chandra Mohan) or both.  Though a dubbed film, Sakuni comes with the advantage of good number of familiar faces, which makes it attractive.

Kamal Krishnan (Karthi) is a villager with a philanthropic legacy.  He is there in Hyderabad to request a Central Minister to stay the acquisition of his ancestral property (a huge bhavan) for a railway project.  Much to his dismay, all that he faces is rejection and shame.  His aunt (Roja) and the Chief Minister (Prakash Raj) show him the door, but the latter adds insult to his injury.

Left with no option, Kamal, so far a faceless, soft-spoken, dumb villager, curiously becomes street smart, strictly in public interest!  He starts his onslaught by making Radhika, a small-time lender of micro-finance, the corporator of Ward No. 125.  This sets the stage for upstaging Prakash Raj's government.  Before you can make out what is happening, she grows to be the Mayor of Hyderabad.  Very soon, the political future of the Chief Minister is threatened.  Stung by the looming existential crisis, Raj frames Karthi in a `ganjai' case.  Karthi meets in jail Perummal (Kota), the leader of the Opposition party, who has given up his hope of occupying CM gaddi in his lifetime.  The rest of the film is about how Karthi finishes Raj politically.

How does Karthi help the victory of Radhika?  Among other things, by distributing cricket kit to children, who blackmail their fathers to vote for Radhika or suffer beatings with bats.  The ruling party has no woman to give a tough fight to Radhika.  Karthi becomes the nerve centre of the future CM, Kota, by teaching him how to make a public speech (now, Kota comes with a record number of years in public life and service), and by making a fake god man (Nassar) invest his ill-gotten wealth in Kota's electioneering.  This principal Opposition leader of Andhra Pradesh does not even know what people think about him, that a satellite channel can be founded to propagate party views, and so on.  From the Prime Minister down, everybody is a moron.  Karthi is the only wise man who can help them grow up in politics!

Performances were just about ok.  Karthi's characterization, as indicated earlier, was baffling.  His repartees with Santhanam (as Rajini), were entertaining though.  Prakash Raj dazzles with his dialogue-delivery.  Roja excels in her cameo.  Radhika and Kiran Rathod deliver neat acts.  Pranitha doesn't get much to enact.  The two duets were ill-placed.  When did Karthi start loving her?  As of Kota, he comes across as a cheap politico, when his character was that of an honest man.  Nassar is good as usual, but the dubbing artist proves to be a wrong selection.

GV Prakash Kumar does a good job with background score, yet again.

The dialogue-writer grapples with the script, thereby losing himself in writing monologues at places, when his work was to put cerebral words into Karthi's mouth.  Some of the dialogues could have been written for housewives, who don't know the ABC of politics.  All that he does is give voice to the wishes of the common man through Karthi's character.

Released on: 22nd June, 2012