Director: Eashwaran
Actors: Vijaykant; Khushbu, Manthara, Radhika Choudhry, Ambika,
Viji.
Vijaykant plays three roles in 'Simhasanam'. That of a father and his two sons. The father, a respected village elder, kind-hearted, tolerant, gutsy and benevolent, with the whole village under his sway. Killed a couple of decades back supposedly by his mistress Viji, a poor field-hand who, like all the rest, had sympathised with the man's plight of having to live with an acid-tongued wife.
The elder son Shaktivel, is again a kind-hearted, tolerant, gutsy, benevolent guy with the whole village under his sway. He hates his brother Thangarasu's guts, for he was born of his father's mistress. The younger son Thangarasu who is again a kind-hearted, tolerant, gutsy and benevolent guy. Again one whom the whole village adores.
With these three main characters, almost identical in every way (distinguishable by their wigs), there is not much that an actor can bring in by way of variation. So it's like one is seeing the same person again and again.
After many listless scenes, 'mistress' Viji suddenly appears. It seems she had taken the blame of the murder to protect Ambika. The two brothers now patch up and make a beeline for Ambika. Ambika (trying hard to look lie the duo's mother) indignantly denies the charge and points to her two wicked, avaricious brothers as the culprits. They were the evil influence and it was they who carried the food that was poisoned, says she. The two men too hotly deny the charge, though they look like they were capable of anything. 'Must be the rival zamindar', they say. The whole group now converges on Rajan P.Dev. The poor guy looks quite bewildered, for obviously he hadn't been told what exactly his
role was. Hovering all along on the sidelines, not knowing what to do, Dev is suddenly hauled up and made the villain of the piece. So that the family can have this happy group photograph.
Younger brother Thangarasu is asked to choose between his
two buxom cousins (Manthara and Radhika Choudhry). As he stands undecided (there wasn't much to choose anyway), the two girls decide that they both want a piece of him. 'We are both willing to marry him', they say as they pounce on the guy. Thangarasu doesn't seem to mind, nor do the elders. Taking a leaf from his father's book?
After two consecutive hits 'Vanatheppol' and Vallarasu', 'Simhasanam' is a diappointment.
Malini
