Sir Review: Simple story with grand message

The movies is about how education can change a person’s life and lifestyle

Title: Sir

Cast: Dhanush, Samyuktha, Samuthirakani, Sai Kumar, Hyper Aadi

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Director: Venky Atluri

Hyderabad: One of the most popular Tamil actors, pan-Indian star Dhanush makes his Telugu debut with ‘Sir’, which is helmed by director Venky Atluri. While his earlier films like ‘Raghuvaran B Tech’, ‘Raanjhanaa’, ‘Shamitabh’, ‘Chennai Central’, ‘Atrangi Re’ and the recent ‘The Gray Man’ brought him closer to audiences across the country, his first straight Telugu film has generated a lot of expectations among Telugu audiences too.

With its simple story and grand message, ‘Sir’ is based on the simple premise – how education can change a person’s life and lifestyle. The story revolves around Bala Gangadhar Tilak (Dhanush), a lecturer working at a college in Siripuram, a small town in Andhra Pradesh. He works towards the betterment of local students to help them achieve success.

This, obviously, doesn’t go down well with Tripathi (Samuthirakani), the chairman of the Tripathi Educational Institute, who wants to destroy the public education facilities and ensure that students join his colleges so his coffers are filled.

This ordinary assistant teacher soon gets caught in the mayhem of ‘privatisation of education’. Dismayed by the happenings around him, Tilak, along with his colleague Meenakshi (Samyuktha), leaves the college and resolves to face the storm and train the students of a government school to excel in exams. Will he manage to succeed? If yes, how does he go about it forms the rest of the story.

Dhanush does an excellent job as Bala, who believes that education is essential for everyone and that it ought to be free. He is the soul of the film and the ease with which he performs, especially in the dramatic scenes, is commendable. His moving conversations with his students work well.

As Meenakshi, Samyuktha looks gorgeous. In the limited scope and screen time she gets, she leaves a lasting impact with her decent performance. Samuthirakani, as usual, does a brilliant job as the greedy businessman (and, of course, the main antagonist). Sai Kumar, who is seen after a long break, does admirably well in his role. Hyper Aadi appears only in a few shots and is unable to generate any real chuckles.

GV Prakash Kumar’s background score aids in subtly constructing the emotional moments. Overall, the movie’s powerful message against the education mafia gets delivered with the right dose of emotions and clarity.

Venky Atluri managed to bring out a strong storyline with poignant sections that effectively stand out in the film. With the exception of a few scenes in the second half, the movie is a good weekend watch.