JSiddham (2009) Review

Cast: Jagapati Babu, Sindhu Menon, Mukul Dev, Subbaraju and Others.
Cinematography: Bharani K. Dharan.
Editing: Bhanoday.
Production Designer: Suman Varma.
Producer: Kiran Kumar Koneru.
Direction: JD Chakravarthy.
Banner: Shreya Productions.
Release Date: 12th February, 2009.

If you want to know what Asafoetida is called in Tamil, you must watch Siddam. If you want to know how Padma is spelt in Tamil you must watch Siddam. If it escapes your mind, never mind, there are other things to watch out in this film. Like Jagapati Babu. He is the heart and soul of the film and everything moves around him. He plays the role of encounter specialist Dayanand who knows the art of shooting and eliminating criminals but for whom the official and unofficial numbers don't really matter. It does matter for his colleague who envy's him for all the attention he is hogging from the media and wants to take his position some day.

In between we are treated to not so romantic flashback of this tough yet cool cop. We knew that director JD belongs to the RGV Factory, rehashes and recycles his guru's movies but being lazy is lot more criminal than being a terrorist, and covering up the laziness part by saying the romantic scenes were lifted from a film is least amusing. Also adding that this film is no way related to Ab Tak Chhappan smacks of selective amnesia.

Coming back to the story Jagapti with his crew cut, old fashioned cop glasses, and a controlled yet cool performance wows the audiences. He is behind the criminals from the first to the last, he finds time to shed a tear for his wife only after vanquishing the criminal. While an attempt is made to show that the stereotypes are defied, it just doesn't happen. Chakri makes a sincere effort to give an insight into the lives of the cops and he succeeds in it but somewhere at the end of the film you have a feeling that the film is good but something is missing. The only distinctive part of the film is Jagapati Babu, he plays a highly competitive cop in the crime branch in Hyderabad.

He wants to cleanse the city from underworld and Mafia and he faces a tough competition at work. A new commissioner arrives and worsens the setting, he is hand in glove with criminals and his subordinate is plotting to overthrow him. A don talks to him as he is the cop's best friend from Dubai and becomes instrumental in Dayanand (Jagapati) becoming a fugitive. He resigns from his job to take revenge and moves to Dubai.

The settings and locations are realistic and visually, technically the film stands out. The background score adds a value. But even those who haven't watched the Hindi original will be least surprised with the script. It is more or less like cold, stale pizza that isn't tempting or exciting enough.

Sindhu Menon is interesting to watch, after seeing her shoot her trap off non-stop in Chandamama. This film is far better than previous JD Chakravarthy movies despite the clichéd plot but that doesn't mean you got to watch it, unless you are a Jagapati Babu fan.

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