Sita - Movie Review

What is it about?
Sita (Kajal) is a money-minded, astute business woman. She heads to Basavaraju (Sonu Sood) for help when she is in trouble. He on the other hand helps with a condition. Sita has to be his lover for a month. She denies and all hell break loose. Basavaraju creates problems for her and her business. Meanwhile Sita's dad dies leaving all his money to Ram (Bellamkonda Sai Srinivas). Sita can get it from Ram, again a condition attached. Who is Ram? What is the condition? Is Sita willing to go that extra length for all the money?

Analysis

The film is an unofficial remake of 'Rain Man' (1988), an American comedy-drama. Writers Teja and Lakshmi Bhupala add their own Tollywoodish elements to the script to make the film taste native. In their attempt, they end up reminding the audience of certain outdated flavours.

'Sita' does well to introduce its hero (Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas) 25 minutes after the heroine (Kajal Aggarwal) entered the screen. That's quite bold enough. Early on, the film makes a mistake by introducing its villain (Sonu Sood) as a cheap womanizer. His motivations should have been concealed till the interval or till the middle of first half. In that case, the audience would have been in suspense over why the powerful villain (he is rich and a ruthless politician) is after Sita and why Sita is on hunting for the hero in Bhutan.

Teja's obsessions with certain elements are very stubborn. For example, we have seen how side characters have been involved in key scenes since his 'Jayam'. In the beginning, it used to look refreshing. This is 2019 and such ideas have lost their appeal.

The first half at least sustains interest with its decent premise, the hero's character, and the comedy. But the second half comes with problems aplenty. Sonu Sood's villainy becomes too monotonous. Comedians Bithiri Sathi and Abhinav Gomathy don't add much to the entertainment value after a point though they generate laughs in the beginning.

The climax looks like a large stretch with all those unrealistic action shots and old-fashioned telling of the flashback.

Kajal Aggarwal's performance as money-obsessed, selfish and heartless character is interesting. Her equations with the hero and how she abuses his innocence are also interesting on the paper. But the execution is not up to the mark. How does Bellamkonda fare? He gets to play an unconventional character who is mocked at as a 'Swathi Muthyam' guy by the heroine. Having seen him in routine action hero roles, this is welcome.The director should have made him look even more sympathetic in the eyes of the audience but towards the end Bellamkonda gets to play his typical action role.

Sonu Sood is superb as a villain who enjoys his assistant Tanikella Barani's insults. He gets a full-fledged role and shines through even in monotonous scenes. Others, including Mannara Chopra and Bhagyaraj are just OK.

Anup Rubens songs pass muster (Payal Rajput's 'Bulreddy' is a disappointment on the big screen), the cinematography is main asset in the first half. The film needs better cut. Lakshmi Bhupala once again writes good dialogues.

Bottomline: 'Sita' has an interesting premise based on 'Rain Man'. While it creates interest in the first half, the film fritters away it's potential in the second half. Some scenes are too lengthy and climax sequences tests patience. Good beginning, boring end.