Loud dialogues, punch lines that linger and a larger-than-life hero who sends goons flying with the flick of his hand — that’s director Hari for you. Hari’s first police story Saamy (2003), with Vikram in the titular role, was a box office hit. It was about an honest police officer fighting the bad guys of society. Using the same template, Hari explored another police story Singham in 2010, but with Surya in the lead. It’s sequels Singham 2 and Singham 3 are now well known. Hari now brings back Vikram in Saamy Square. And, with a title like that, you can expect everything done in Hari’s trademark style but twice over. Romancing Vikram on-screen are Aishwarya Rajesh and Keerthi Suresh. Bobby Simha plays the villain and the supporting cast includes Delhi Ganesh, Soori and Prabhu. Devi Sri Prasad has composed music. From the trailers, we gather that Vikram is playing IPS Aarusamy’s son Ramasamy, also a policeman. Saamy Square appears to be a revenge tale. Ramasamy shouts in one scene from the trailer, “I am not a policeman but a rogue”. And in another, he bellows ‘I am not a Samy [priest] but a bhootham [ghost].” Saamy Square, produced by Shibu Thameens, releases in the UAE on September 20.<doc-sep>Read Also Chiyaan Vikram is all set for the release of the much-awaited ‘Saamy Square’ , in which he is teaming up with Hari after a long time.Ahead of the release of the film, the makers have released a new promo video that shows an intense Aarusamy packing a punch.Going by the video, it looks like ‘Saamy Square’ has several action-packed scenes in the film.‘Saamy Square’, which is a sequel to the blockbuster cop thriller ‘Saamy’ in 2003, seems to be an out-and-out masala entertainer and is likely to strike a chord with the masses.Touted to be a racy film, the sequel will see Vikram returning as the foul-mouthed police officer Aarusaamy. The film is reported to be a revenge story that takes place years after the death of Perumal Pichai (Kota Srinivasa Rao). Reportedly, Bobby Simha will be seen as the prime antagonist and will be locking horns with Vikram.The trailer of ‘Saamy Square’ received mixed response from fans. However, the film has reasonably good hype, thanks to its predecessor. Produced by Thameens Films, the film stars Keerthy Suresh John Vijay , Prabhu and Soori among others. ‘Saamy Square’ is slated to release this Friday.<doc-sep>Vikram oozes charm and is terrific in action scenes and while delivering those formulaic punchlines in Saamy Square, the sequel to Hari's 2003 film Saamy. It is another cop action adventure from Hari, the director who specialises in making films on the police force. Fifteen years after the success of his Saamy, where Vikram played the popular no-nonsense cop Aarusaamy, the director is back with Saamy Square. There is nothing new in terms of story and treatment other than Saamy’s son returning to avenge his father’s murder. Any guesses who the bad guys are this time? Yes, the old villain’s children. The story demands that the newer generation takes over. Early in the film, a recap of Saamy is told to the audience. Then starting from where Saamy ended, the villain’s family, led by Ravana Pichai (Bobby Simhaa) and his two brothers settled in Sri Lanka, are planning to come back to Tirunelveli to avenge the death of their father Pichai Perumal (Kota Srinivasa Rao). He was killed by the honest and fearless cop Aarusaamy (Vikram) in the original. Saamy ended with the caption - 'Saamiyin vettai thodarum', meaning Aarusaamy would continue his hunt against the criminals. In Saamy Square, Pichai Perumal’s sons are vying for revenge. We are told by one of the characters in a flashback that Aarusaamy, along with his wife Bhuvana (Aishwarya Rajesh miscast as she replaces Trisha), were brutally murdered by Pichai and gang. Next, the director introduces us to Ramasaamy (Vikram), his son, who was born minutes after his mother’s death. Ramasaamy is brought up in Delhi by his grandparents who want him to become an IAS officer, but after topping the civil service exam, he decides to join the IPS as there is 'police blood' in him. Meanwhile, a union minister’s (Prabhu) daughter Diya (Keerthi Suresh) falls in love with Ram. At the same time, Ravana Pichai and his brothers, who are part of an international money laundering network, take control of the Tirunelveli town. Ramasaamy is posted there as the top cop and he cannot be shunted out as the President of India is supporting the honest and fearless man. The tables are turned as the fearless and deadly cop decides to eliminate the Pichai brothers one by one, leading up to a climax in the desert of Rajasthan. The film is too loud and formulaic. There are regular Hari scenes like caste clashes, chase scenes and crass comedy injected into the proceedings. Everybody shouts in the film, especially in the villain vs hero scenes, where the dialogues are laced with bombastic punchlines. The film redeems itself to a large extent post-interval after a slow first half. Some needless comedy track by Soori makes the film long (156 minutes) and there are the usual songs thrown in. Keerthy Suresh, the arrogant rich foreign-educated heroine caricature who falls for the hero after seeing his courage and bravery, has been done to death in so many films. Bobby Simhaa, as the loud villain is a revelation and stands as the perfect foil to Vikram. It is Vikram’s performance and his style that form the silver lining in the film. He is one actor who gets better with age. The star oozes charm and is terrific in action scenes and while delivering those formulaic punchlines. He lights up an otherwise insipid action entertainer.<doc-sep>Saamy Square movie review: Hari keeps giving you a reason to hate this film and the actors who helped the director to translate his absurd ideas onto the big screen. Saamy Square movie review: Hari keeps giving you a reason to hate this film and the actors who helped the director to translate his absurd ideas onto the big screen. Saamy Square cast: Vikram, Keerthy Suresh, Aishwarya Rajesh Saamy Square director: Hari Saamy Square rating: 0 stars Director Hari is not known for making subtle movies which are driven by strong characters and plots. But, even by his own standards, his latest film Saamy Square is an utterly ludicrous attempt that exposes his unwillingness to finetune his filmmaking skills with changing times. The question is what was the need to make such a cringe-worthy sequel. Did Hari even write a script for Saamy Square? Because had he put down his ideas on paper before going to the shoot, he would have realized how silly they were and, just maybe, he would have not made this film. The audience would have had one less bad film to suffer. The film is not just silly, it’s offensive on so many levels. The primary reason that made Saamy (2003) click with the masses was the film’s seperate comedy track which was led by actor Vivek. The comedy reflected the actor’s own progressive thinking and made the entire film look good. But, Vivek is not in the sequel. The director has brought in comedian Soori instead. Soori repeats his tiring act of a guy who suffers from a terminal illness called I-can’t-have-a-decent-conversation. It seems he is not capable of making sensible jokes unless he is working with Sivakarthikeyan. Every time he came on the screen, he made my skin crawl, especially with his jokes about rape. In more than one scene, Soori and Hari try to paint Delhi as the city crawling with rapists. What quality can you expect from a film team that still thinks slapping someone for no reason will crack up the crowd? Hari’s romanticisation of the act of slapping never misses to amuse me. He adds too much importance to slapping in his films. His heroines won’t fall in love with his heroes until they receive a tight slap across the face. This pattern is repeated in his movies. And Saamy Square is no exception. Keerthy Suresh plays Radhika, who is initially presented as daring and outspoken. But, she gets slapped by Rama Saamy (Vikram) and turns into a wide-eyed puppy longing for her master’s love. According to Hari, a slap is an expression of love. The harder the slap is, the stronger will be the bond. That’s just regressive thinking. It is also surprising that how actors like Aishwarya Rajesh and Keerthy Suresh, who play strong women characters in other films, surrender to patriarchal ideas propagated in this film. Vikram plays a son who gets possessed by his father’s spirit whenever he comes in contact with a police uniform. Did I mention it’s partially a horror film? Just when you think Hari cannot go any low, he surprises you. My intention is not to make you feel gross but picture this scene, so you get a taste of what I experienced: it’s somewhere in the middle of a forest. It’s night and it’s raining heavily. A badly hurt Aarusaamy conductus a surgery with a dagger and pulls out a baby from the stomach of a dead mother. Now, you see what I’m talking about. Scene after scene, Hari keeps giving you a reason to hate this film and the actors who helped the director to translate his absurd ideas onto the big screen. Saamy Square is Vikram’s worst career decision.<doc-sep>
Saamy Square Director and writer: Hari Cast: Vikram, Keerthy Suresh, Bobby Simha, Aishwarya Rajesh, Soori Rating: 2/5 Saamy Square is proof that a director requires talent to entertain an audience with exactly the same plot that worked 15 years ago. Director Hari has added just a few elements to present the idea of a sequel. One such an element is to make Vikram’s character ‘overpowered’ (OP), like a character in video games, which wreaks havoc. While it is fun to see characters break loose on the screen when you play a video game, it doesn’t look at attractive in a film. The sequel first introduces the audience to the main players, as it has been 15 years since Saamy released. Aishwarya Rajesh plays the role originally portrayed by Trisha; her part is more a cameo. Aarusamy’s son Ramasamy (played by Vikram) is the one to carry forward the legacy of his father and he locks horns with Perumal Pichai’s son Raavana Pichai. The name of the villain and the fact that the character is from Colombo is used by the director to stress on how bad he really is. This is quite similar to the manner in which every invader in period films is portrayed as being barbaric, and so Bobby Simha’s Raavana Pichai is one-dimensional. Vikram is presented as the heroic cop while Bobby Simha’s Raavana Pichai is one-dimensional. That is not the only problem with the film. While, on one hand, we have Aarusamy and Ramasamy talking about respecting women (Keerthy Suresh as Diya, doesn’t think twice before slapping harassers), on the other hand, the film also has Soori who tries to be funny (by using rape in his jokes) and doesn’t seem to know how. Comedians should not feature when the topic of rape is being touched upon because there is nothing funny about it. All mention of rape is sure to make women cringe and by introducing it, in the name of humour, the film only trivialises it. Everything that the lead cop preaches in the film, simply goes down the drain. However, even if one was to overlook these drawbacks, Saamy Sqaure still has a problem – it has nothing new to offer that wasn’t in Saamy already. The male and the female lead fall in love after a misunderstanding, one of them saves the other from a grave situation and another misunderstanding nearly separates them. There are some intelligent ‘hero’ moments thrown in to keep the audience entertained. The protagonist faces a loss that is followed by a challenge, which eventually leads to the hunt. The formula for two films remains same though they are 15 years apart. But does the film engage? The answer is yes but in parts. What does make Saamy Square different is Hari’s decision to pack something extra to show how heroic Vikram’s character really is. For instance, he throws powerful punches that make things fly farther than usual. Also, small bits like the way Ramasamy reacts when he comes in contact with anything that has to do with khakhi, the supernatural element when Ramasamy ‘becomes’ his father, Vikram’s bulging muscles and grand gestures in the romantic department are used to make the oldest trope in the revenge drama interesting. Saamy, back in 2003, was pretty straightforward in comparison. Follow the author @Priyanka_S_MCC Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop