May 13, 2011 Y. Sunita Chowdary
An absolutely squeaky clean movie need not be entertaining, it could smack of stale scenes but Seema Tapakai doesn't come with a baggage; In fact when one goes to watch an Allari Naresh show, you go with a pre–concieved notion of being offered some mindless comedy and that is exactly what is dished out here too and there is no necessity as such to get judgemental.
G. Nageswara Reddy's Seema Tapakai creates curiosity because of his earlier combination with the same hero and with the Seema title, the spoofs, parodies and silly jokes are enough to have a re-run in the theatre. While one still can't have enough of Seema Sastry, Seema Tapakai falls slightly short of the former but it has it's own whacky recycled buffoonery and wholesome masala for the family. It also comes with a cute message that there is some goodness in every human being and all one needs to do is go through is some earth shattering experiences like the characters in this film. Now these shattering experiences are straight out of a story book and our Telugu faction potboilers.
Just like most opening scenes have the wavering flame of an earthen lamp being threatened to blow away by the breeze in a temple and the heroine rushing in and protecting it with both her hands, here a woman selling a cart of corn with a baby in arms is surprised and dampened with a sudden shower. The heroine is introduced by sheltering the mother and a kid with an umbrella and our hero sees the most humane act in the history of mankind and falls head over heels in love with her. There is a hitch though, the hero has to drive away the cobwebs in the lady's brain before he can wed her, he has to pretend being poor as she hates anything everything and anyone rich.
For a man who's weight is measured by cash which is later on dumped at the Tirupati hundi, the girl's helping nature is a quality that is enough to convince his family to embark on a drama to disguise themselves as people living in penury. So amidst changing clothes and doing mean tasks, the domestic help and owners exchange roles to convince the would-be daughter-in-law that they are an impoverished lot.
The director obviously cannot have the entire second half of the story concentrated on the revelations so he fills it up with an act of pulling the curtains off the heroine's family. The lady who acts and behaves like Mother Teresa has a history herself, she hails from a family of factionists who are in constant war with their rivals in Seema. By the time the heroine is convinced of the hero and his family, it is the turn of the hero's father to refuse her alliance thanks to her faction history.
The rest of the drama unfolds, drags most of the time and just when you are getting exasperated he brings in Sadasiva Sanyasi number from Khaleja and a few more that acts like a nectar to a dying story. The song in Khaleja doesn't even look half as good like it does here, Naresh and his ensemble cast brings the house down, so does the comedians who show some spark of humour here and there.
Remix Raja of dances Naresh evokes a smile with his get-up in Akasamlo Oka Tara but that doesn't impress, he does away disappointingly with the drill of Superstar Krishna. Newcomer Poorna is a big surprise, she is camera-friendly, dances comfortably and is reasonably good-looking, shows no awkwardness in her acting. Naresh as usual dances well but sports a blank stares in most scenes, nevertheless he allows the script to move ahead.
All the comedians do a good job, there is no scope for controversy this time as the director tones down the spoofs and makes it light and entertaining. Seema Tapakai is not great a movie as Seema Sastry but it is one film that you can take kids, friends and family along kill time without complaints. A fun film for all this summer.
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