Sathi Leelavathi - Thoughts

Having just recently started reviewing Tamil movies, Sathi Leelavathi was an interesting addition to the mix, as it was the first non-blockbuster, being a drama comedy at the core. It was brought to my attention by a friend who said it was an older comedy, worth watching, as it starred Kamal Hassan in an impressive comedy role. Going into it I had very little in terms of expectations, assuming it would be a run of the mill comedy.

As the movie opened and things kicked off, the first thing that hit me was the dated look the movie had. Not having watched an older Tamil movie like this in ages, it quite stood out. Also worth mention was the seemingly low budget feel, a clear contrast to recent blockbusters I had watched, and the non mega-star status surrounding Kamal Hassan. In fact, his role was more in the form of a supporting actor, providing comic relief to the plot. The bulk of the movie focuses on a married mans interest in a younger unmarried girl, who in turn is in pursuit of a wealthy man. The plot is very simple, and the execution is also pretty straight forward and almost stereotype. Don’t expect twists and complexity; Sathi Leelavathi is indeed quite simplistic. While some parts of the narrative are not intended to be funny, sophisticated audience groups will find scenes funny, due to its almost laughable dialog and execution. This is very apparent in the opening sequences of the movie, where the lead character makes an effort to pursue his lady interest. The quality comedy really kicks in wherever Kamal Hasan is present, and is at its peak towards the closing of the movie. The humor is largely situational in nature. If you’re in the mood for a casual watch, which is fun and somewhat dated, Sathi Leelavathi is worth checking out; just don’t expect something standout. Listen to it like it were on the radio while doing something else and you’ll still have watched the movie.

In short most of the performances are poor to average at best, with Kamal Hassan being the only exception, who is undoubtedly in a different league. He plays Shaktivel, a doctor who is the college classmate of the lead character. As usual his character portrayal is remarkable and Kamal Hassan lives the Shaktivel character; bringing to life the nuances and animation in a manner that perhaps even the real Shaktivel, if there were one, would not be able to outdo. Ramesh Aravind plays Arunachalam, the married lead in pursuit of the younger pretty girl Priya, played by Heera Rajgopal. Ramesh does an okay job, his performance often leaning towards overdone. Heera’s performance for most part was below average; though going by memory I have seen her do better. So I’d think that this was one of her early movies, where her inexperience was evident.

The content I was sampling was a lossy DivX rip, of medium bitrate, weighing in at around 1 gig for a 2 and a half hour movie. Video looked dated, with colors looking dull and severely lacking vibrancy. Clarity again was poor to average, especially in today’s day and age of high-definition. My guess would be that the original content in itself was not of superior grade, with the DivX compression further degrading it. Sound was presented by means of a 2 channel stereo soundtrack. Dialog which was vital was clearly audible, but nowhere near the fidelity of a modern 5.1 dedicated center channel presentation.

My Recommendation: Dicey (A comic Kamal Hassan from the mid 90’s)