Hiphop Tamizha Aadhi has been a hero in Kollywood for a few years now, but does not have a prefix to his name yet. He could be called ‘Restless Star’. Most of his offerings till date have a certain energy and vibrancy to them, which is probably the reason he’s a huge draw among the college crowd. While his debut offering Meesaya Murukku showcased a colourful campus, his sports drama Natpe Thunai (2019) brought to life edge-of-the-seat hockey matches to a considerable extent.
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With Sivakumarin Sabadham , the restlessness is restricted to the first half: a few college campus sequences here, a fast-paced dance number there. A few comical situations are packed in too, but the film itself is, at the end of the day, trying to package a social message about the state of the handloom industry through its various characters.
This is Aadhi trying to move up the ladder as a hero. He isn’t content with the college crowd that usually flocks to his films. He wants family audiences as well. He wants sentiment as well (there’s oodles of appa, thatha and even chittapa sentiment!).
- Cast: Hiphop Tamizha Aadhi, Madhuri, Prankster Rahul
- Director: Hiphop Tamizha Aadhi
- Storyline: A youngster has to revive a dwindling handloom industry
And he wants an issue to campaign for, and thus comes into picture Kanchipuram, the one-stop destination for sarees. The big AC showrooms and the middlemen make a lot of money, but what of the people who toil away in the looms, is the question Sivakumarin Sabadham poses.
This isn’t too different from the multiple pro-farming subjects that Tamil cinema has been fascinated with in the last few years. The industry is different, but the emotion and the pain is almost the same.
And the results are mixed: it is difficult to take Sivakumarin Sabadham too seriously because of the many jokes that it is packed with. The songs work to a large extent, especially the catchy ‘Thillalangadi Lady’ and ‘Sivakumar Pondatti’ numbers. But the tone of the film turns serious way too suddenly, leaving the many college-going youngsters in the cinema hall wondering if they’d walked in to the wrong screen post intermission.
The writing and transition could have been better, but then, Aadhi was probably bogged down with the multiple responsibilities he has (he is in charge of production, direction, dialogues, music, lyrics… and acting). There’s not a single great acting moment, though there are various colourful characters, including Prankster Rahul. There is one dialogue-heavy sequence in which Aadhi talks about the symbolism of the hundiyal that the film opens with. It’s like those motivational videos that an uncle might send on the family WhatsApp group; it isn’t the greatest speech you’d watch, but it is hard to ignore.
Sivakumarin Sabadham is currently running in theatres
