Sir Movie Review

Dhanush emerged as a critically acclaimed star with films like Asuran and Karnan. For the first time, he teamed up with Telugu director Venky Atluri for SIR (Vaathi in Tamil) which raised many eyeballs in both the regions. The film’s trailer indicates a period action-drama revolving around the educational mafia. Does he prove his choice is right? With no further due, let us find out.

Plot: 

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (Dhanush) is a junior lecturer at Tripathi educational institute run by crooked businessman Tripathi (Samuthirakani). Tilak is sent on an assignment to teach for the students of a government college in Siripuram. Whereas Tilak does the unthinkable by achieving 100 percent pass percent in this government college through his best quality teaching. Meanwhile, he realises the true intention of his boss Tripathi and separates from him to fight against his goal of corporate educational business. Tilak challenges Tripathi and is now on a mission to get the students of Siripuram government college score top ranks in the Engineering and Medical entrance test EAMCET in the cutthroat competition from private college students. Does Tilak beat Tripathi and win the game? How does he win against all the odds?

Performances:

Dhanush has nailed it in the author-backed role of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Even heavy scenes were pulled off with ease by him. Samyuktha is a good addition as Tilak’s love interest Meenakshi. Their chemistry is good in the first half but fizzles out in the second half where the story takes the centre stage pushing the love track behind. For Samuthirakani, it is a cakewalk to do such a powerful villain role of Tripathi considering that we have seen him in many such baddie roles before. He makes his impact felt even though he lacked proper scenes to display his badness. Sai Kumar as the village president gets decent character and he fulfills its requirement.

Hyper Aadi is good as a fellow lecturer and evokes some laughs in the first half. Aadakulam Naren is Dhanush’s father and a car driver who gives emotional touch to the story when it is needed. Rajendran is videographer Bhushanam where he is involved in some crucial portions in the film. Hareesh Peradi is Dhanush’s teacher and mentor. Tanikella Bharani, Narra Srinu are seen as college principal and lecturer respectively and don’t have strong roles to leave a mark. Sumanth is seen in a cameo or guest role of AS Murthy (district collector). It is he who narrates the story of SIR to three children. His role has a twist involved and it is well done. All the children in the village did a pretty good job as well. The film has an ensemble cast who plays their parts well given the limitations of a hero-centric film.

Technicalities

Venky Atluri has opted for an intense, serious drama with SIR which is very different from his previous films – a heavy subject this time. Although the point of the education mafia isn’t new, the film deals with it in full-length. This makes the director’s task very challenging to hold intensity till the end. Writing for the film is strong, but in some portions, direction takes a hit. There is nothing to find fault with the Technical aspects. Visuals are impactful and GV Prakash’s background music made it work thoroughly. Editing is crisp.

Thumbs Up

Dhanush
Honesty In Story
Background Score

Thumbs Down

Predictable Scenes
Cinematic Liberties

Analysis

In a scene in Sir, Bal Gangadhar Tilak sir (Dhanush) is thrown onto the streets after badly beaten up by cops. Blood-stained, dress torn and wounds all over the body, Tilak struggles to walk. He comes to pick up his clothes, but he ends up choosing books. This sums up the concept of SIR which entirely revolves around education, academics, classes and subjects – Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

In the extended scene, the bare-foot Tilak barely walks in scorching heat as his feet burn. That is when a physically challenged student Satti Babu uses a hand water pump and pumps the water continuously to cool the feet of Tilak. There are a handful of such scenes in SIR that are filled with emotional-depth. These indeed worked as the director played it to the galleries.

Tilak, masqueraded in various avatars, does street plays in the village Siripuram every weekend to clear doubts to his students. In one of the scenes, he donned the get-up of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. But there are cinematic liberties and advantages taken by the makers. He fights the goons in a bus carrying college children to the EAMCET exam. This is not all. After the fight, the children are transported to the exam centre on local bullock carts. It is a totally cinematic and over-the-top sequence in the film that takes away the naturality and puts the viewers off. Interestingly, director Venky Atluri named his protagonist as Bala Gangadhar Tilak indicating what his character and integrity are.

The first part of SIR is engaging, promising with comedy, drama and emotion. Till interval, the film holds well. Even the initial 30 minutes of the second-half is also decent enough. Post this, it is a big let down after a promising start. The latter half is bogged down by under-directing scenes, nostalgic moments and somewhat flat climax sequence.

In fact, SIR reminds us of Shankar’s Gentleman that is based on the education mafia too and Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots that throws light on the loopholes in the traditional education system. The class war that is shown in Dhanush’s erstwhile film Raghuvaran B.Tech also occurs to one’s mind. The treatment of SIR is striking resemblance to Raghuvaran where an underdog takes on a powerful empire. These nostalgic moments make the SIR a predictable tale. Yet the film has its own strengths that make the film work.

The best part of SIR is its core emotion and honesty in its story. Most importantly, the heart of the film is at the right place. The scenes of the lecturer and students are impactful. The bond and chemistry between them is established well that ably acts as a strength. The way Tilak infuses inspiration and enthusiasm among his students deserves applause. The film has some good dose of clapworthy and whistle-worthy scenes. It is GV Prakash’s background score that elevated the scenes to the core. The visuals and music have taken the story to a notch higher.

Overall, SIR is a sincere film with emotion and strong message balanced well. It has its own share of flaws and shortcomings, yet the goodness in the script makes one forgive its drawbacks. Go for this honest class that is worth attending in cinemas.

Bottom-line: Emotional Class With Strong Message

Rating: 2.75/5