Sakka Podu Podu Raja is a 2017 Tamil action comedy film directed by Sethuraman and produced by VTV Ganesh. The film features Santhanam, Vaibhavi Shandilya and Vivek in the leading roles. Featuring cinematography by Abinandhan Ramanujam and edited by Anthony, the film began production in October 2016. This film is a remake of the 2014 Telugu movie Loukyam, with Gopichand.
What do you expect from a film which boasts of a bunch of comedians in almost all its scenes? There’s Vivekh, Robo Shankar, VTV Ganesh, Mayilsamy, Lollu Sabha Swaminathan, Power Star Srinivasan, and last, but not the least, Santhanam, who is playing the lead role. Unfortunately, what was promoted as a comedy movie turns out as a mish-mash of things we have seen in numerous films in the past.
The film starts with Santa (Santhanam) running with a girl for his life — before we assume things, it is shown that he is actually helping a couple elope. A furious Bhavani (Sampath), the brother of the girl who ran away with her lover, is after Santa after knowing his role in helping the pair. Bhavani, with his henchmen, goes to Bengaluru after getting to know that he is there. He and his men seek the help of Delhi (Vivekh), a cab driver, to find Santa. Meanwhile, Santa falls in love with Yazhini (Vaibhavi).
Like an unbelievable number of Tamil films, this heroine, too, is introduced in a temple. Though he follows Yazhini, she shows little interest in him. But when Santa starts avoiding her, she takes it to heart — she even appears in a two-piece and jumps into a swimming pool to impress him, but in vain. Later, she completely falls for Santa when he slaps her and reminds that girls should be soft in nature! And then, Santa finds that she happens to be the younger sister of Bhavani.
A surprised Santa hatches plans and brings Bhavani’s family back to Chennai so that things become favourable to him. Little does Bhavani know that he would have to settle scores with another gangster (Sharath) in town. What follows is a medley of confusing sequences, involving several characters, in the name of comedy. As if this wasn’t enough, there are songs which come and go at regular intervals for no reason.
There are some moments in the film which could have been improved to generate enough laughs, but sadly those are left under-utilised. There are many instances where we are confused whether it is a spoof film or not. Santhanam shines in fight sequences, though it lacks punch at times. Vivekh’s one-liners work in a couple of scenes. Simbu’s background score is decent, but the lack of a proper story plays spoilsport. Overall, Sakka Podu Podu Raja is a comedy movie with hardly any comedy.
Directed by G. L. Sethuraman
Produced by VTV Ganesh
Written by G. L. Sethuraman
Starring Santhanam, Vaibhavi Shandilya, Vivek, Sanjana Singh, Sampath Raj
Music by STR
Cinematography Abinandhan Ramanujam
Edited by Anthony
Production VTV Productions
Distributed by Trident Arts & AP International
Release date 22 December 2017
Country India
Language Tamil
