Cast : Arya , Hansika , Anjali , Santhanam
Director : Kannan
Music : SS Thaman
Producer : U TV Motion Pictures
From the little I have seen and heard about Delhi Belly, I understand that the general reception had been divisive. Remaking such a film may not have been the brightest of idea, especially when you planning to omit the part that actually made it good in the first place. R. Kannan’s previous attempt at remaking a popular Hindi film hardly went well. Say what you will about Jab We Met, but you cannot deny the fact that Kanden Kadhalai was devoid of any charm the former film had. When you remake a film and don’t create a better product, you have failed as a director. But ending up with something that is, inarguably, very inferior to the original, you have failed miserably. So, yes. Settai is a very mediocre outcome from a clearly promising material. Am I surprised? No.
Excuse the pun, but Settai is not just a watered-down version of Delhi Belly, it is a version that never really understood why the original film worked. Besides the effortless and judicious use of cuss words, the original was very open when it came to discussing sex. Settai only offers us a few lazy winks and witless double entendres, coming across as cheap and gutless. If you want to make an adult joke, for chrissake, go ahead and do it. Cut the conservative crap; Tamil audience has had enough of all this babying nonsense. Are you really expecting us to laugh at words rhyming with Sottai, Maadu and Thanni while leaving the rest to our imagination? I mean, come on! We’re in 2013.
Under the pretext of “making it suitable for Tamil audience”, Settai lost all of Delhi Belly’s crackling humor and gained a whole lot of needless songs, which pop up at the wrongest of places. Settai lacks the thrill that makes Crime Caper films work. Thanks to the bevy of duets, the pace is badly hit. The central story keeps you mildly invested, as you sit there waiting, hoping the at least next one-liner from Santhanam would be funny. Excuse me for my poor choice of words, but when done tastefully, toilet humor can be very amusing. Here, after a point, the entire “upset stomach” subplot becomes repetitive. It does nothing to change or even tangentially affect the course of the actual story.
Firstly, setting the film in Mumbai makes not a speck of sense. There could be many reasons for making such a big creative decision; the main reason being the story appearing too alien for the milieu. A film like Thuppaki wouldn’t have worked had it been set in Chennai because of the scale it demanded. But in a pair of capable hands, Settai could have been wonderfully adapted to Tamil. The real reason why Settai takes place in Mumbai is because the a section of the creative team behind this film is so inept that they couldn’t even be bothered to re-imagine the film. Almost all the locations are exactly the same. The film certainly looks visually appealing but anyone could have directed it.
The narrative sequence towards the end is a total mess and the film comes to a jarring halt. It is clear to me that a good story is hidden inside Settai; it’s just that the treatment does no justice to it. The actors don’t do much to elevate the film. Santhanam’s performance is indifferentiable from his previous works. Premji was surprisingly restrained- thank God for that. The others look just pretty as required. Anjali was really convincing though. She’s the only person who looks and acts according to the demands of her roles.
Verdict – A very unimaginative remake which is passably funny
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