Kollywood actor Dhanush is known for doing different genre roles and versatile performances. When he teamed with Telugu director Venky Atluri, everyone got excited. The film's title Vaathi/SIR generated immense interest. The film's first look, teaser, and trailer got a good response and the film is released on 17 February 2023. The film's OTT rights have been bagged by Netflix and streaming will be done after the completion of its theatrical run. Let us find out what Dhanush offered to movie lovers as SIR.
Vaathi/SIR story is all about a young lecturer and how he faces the might of the private college's president and emerges successful. SIR's story deals with the lecturer taking on the entire educational system and the powers that be.
Few students are unable to cope with the pressures of the intense coaching at the inter classes. When one of the students, father decides to sell off their video shop, they come across a video, where they come across a person teaching mathematics in the easiest way. Their curiosity increases and goes in search of the person and in the process meet the collector of Kadapa.
Through him, they come to know about a junior lecturer Balu aka Bala Gangadhar Tilak (Dhanush). What Balu did and what he has got to do with Srinivas Tripathi (Samuthirakhani), owner of Tripathi Private College, and how he is related to biology lecturer Meenakshi (Samyuktha Menon), Siripuram Sarpanch (Sai Kumar) from the rest of the story.
Dhanush is known for his versatile performances. He lived in the role of the junior lecturer Balu. He played his role to perfection. The way he showed emotions as a junior lecturer who got nothing to do at the private college, the way he showed excitement when he was transferred to the government college, the way he takes care of the students, his interactions with the biology lecturer, the way he deals with the village sarpanch, his verbal war with the private college owner, all is wonderfully shot. Dhanush's body language and mannerisms are perfect and he nailed it to the point. His expressions make a lasting impression on the viewers. Dhanush acted as the livewire and he carried the film on his shoulders.
Samyuktha Menon performed her role neatly. She complimented Dhanush perfectly. She carried herself well on the screen and made her presence felt. Her chemistry with Dhanush is good and a treat to watch. Samuthirakhani played the role of the private college owner quite well. Though there is nothing much in his role, he did not overdo it. He is apt for the role. Sai Kumar in the role of a Sarpanch did well at first as an enthusiastic person out to impress the private college owner and get publicity. Later his transformation is shown quite well in a smooth manner. Tanikella Bharani is ok. However, the scenes featuring Narra Srinivas and Hyper Adi impacted the narration. They tested the patience of the viewers and irritated them to the core. Others performed according to their roles. All the children performed well as the students.
SIR/Vaathi story written by Venky Atluri is nothing new. He came up with a story that is routine, predictable, and well-known to all. Movie lovers are used to watching such films since the advent of the films. One remembers films from the days of NTR,ANR,Krishna,Sobhan Babu,MGR,Rajinikanth,Kamal Haasan etc. There are many films that come to mind and the recent being Super 30 in Bollywood. While that one was inspired by real-life incidents, this is quite similar to it.
Venky Atluri not only touched on the privatization of education during the 90s with the LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation), and as the story heads to the rural region, he also touched on the caste system. While the story and narration is predictable and so too the screenplay and direction, he included a few scenes that are thought-provoking and will get a good response from the viewers.
Scenes like Dhanush addressing the villagers in front of the Saikumar, Dhanush's conflict with Samuthirakhani, the video classes, the scene where he was banished and students coming in support of him, and a few emotional scenes and dialogues. Venky Atluri emerged successful in getting the optimum out of all the actors. The story and narration sail smoothly and the first half ends on a decent and predictable note. The real conflict starts in the second half and finally everyone passes through the motions in an emotional manner following which the film ends in a happy manner. With nothing new, viewers get bored as many scenes test the patience of the viewers.
GV. Prakash Kumar's songs are situational. The song Mastaru Mastaru which turned out to be the chartbuster is well shot. This song appeals to and attracts viewers. Other songs are just ok. He elevated the scenes with his background music. Editing of Naveen Nooli is ok. Except for a few lags during the comedy track featuring Hyper Adi and Narra Srinivas, everything else is fine. Yuvraj's cinematography is neat. He showed the rural atmosphere quite well. Production values of Sithara Entertainment, Fortune Four Cinemas, Srikara Studios are good.
Altogether, SIR/Vaathi is a routine message-oriented film. Venky Atluri took viewers down the lane in their memories to the 90s when private colleges and tuition centers increased to cash into the engineering and medical courses craze with entrance exams. All the scenes and dialogues like education shouldn't be for sale, it should be accessible to the poor, the importance of education, etc turn the film into a monotonous one. But Venky Atluri balanced it with good emotions and with an actor like Dhanush, he got a versatile performance ably supported by others. Though the roles are routine, everyone shone in their roles and Dhanush as the one-man army carried the film on his shoulders. Few dialogues are good, and thought-provoking and the same is the case with scenes that draw good applause from the viewers. Had Venky Atluri concentrated on elevating the conflict between Dhanush and Samuthirakhani and included a few interesting developments in the narration, SIR would have been even stronger. Considering all these points, Cinejosh goes with a 2.5 Rating for SIR.