Sagaptham

Ah, star kids! They definitely have it easy or so you might think until you have seen this film, the debut of Shanmugapandian, the son of Vijayakant. The lad, who seems to be an amiable chap, definitely has put in efforts when it comes to the stunt scenes, which have been the hallmark of his dad. It's true not all star kids start emoting like pros right in their first film, but at least, we could see that they were ready to take the plunge. But in Shanmugapandian's case, what those who are launching him have forgotten is that it requires a capable director to make an actor out of someone. Take the case of some of the successful star kids — if Vijay had a director in his own father SA Chandrasekaran, Suriya and Karthi had Vasanth and Ameer respectively, while Prabu Solomon and M Rajesh guided Vikram Prabhu and Udhayanidhi Stalin. And, even though his Kadal didn't create waves at the box office, Gautham Karthik's talent has never been questioned because of Mani Ratnam. Unfortunately, for Shanmugapandian, Sagaptham's director Surendran is the film's weakest link. The story that Surendran tells is dated by at least 20 years while things like plot, logic and craft are invisible. Things just happen. Like the hero becoming a hotshot detective within days of arrival in Malaysia. Like the heroines breaking into a song and fighting over the hero after a single phone call. Like the inevitable cameo by Vijayakant coming up without any proper lead-in (and, sadly, confirming the veteran's acting days are clearly over). That is not to say the others are good. Both the heroines are plain terrible when it comes to emotions and their lip-sync non-existent. When the film begins, we get a rider stating that since major portions of the film takes place in Malaysia, the characters are shown as talking in Tamil. Maybe, they should have included the heroines somewhere in it as well. The supporting cast, which includes dependable names like Ranjith, Devayani, Suresh and Thalaivasal Vijay, are given roles that are mainly there to prop up the hero. And, the poor youngster is made to utter punch dialogues that want to keep reminding us that he is a chip of the old block (Mannipu enga parambaraikke pidikkadha vaarthai). But then, we see his baby face, and realize this is just too soon and all that we feel is pity. Ah, poor star kids!