Moviw: Sattai
Producer: Shalom Studios
Director:M Anbazhagan
Stars: Samuthirakani, Thambi Ramaiya, Yuvan, Mahima, Black Pandi, Jr Balaiya and others.
Music: D Imman
No matter if it is a government school or private school teachers play a pivotal role in either shaping up a student into a responsible citizen or turn him into a vagrant. Sattai is all about schooling and the teachers’ role in shaping up a student. The film, by the debut director M Anbazhagan, is a whiplash for all teachers and is a warning bell for the teaching community as a whole.
Dayalan, played by Samuthirakani, takes over as a teacher of a school which is backward in all aspects. His sole intention to set things right and bring the best out of his students. He gets to work with this intention and soon becomes very popular in the school thereby incurring the wrath of his colleagues.
Right from making a girl student to speak confidently in front of the boys to becoming one of them, Samuthirakani succeeds in all. He also finds success in making the good-for-nothing students into brilliant ones by tapping their talents well.
Thambi Ramaiya (Singaperumal) is yet another teacher in the same school but quite opposite to Samuthirakani. When he comes to identify a talented student he makes sure that he is sidelined and his talents are not utilized to the fullest. He punishes students whose parents do not pay up their loan dues and never shows interest in conducting classes. Apart from this, he is totally against the reformatory measures taken by Samuthirakani. He raises a war flag against Samuthirakani and keeps the head master Pandi and other teachers under his control.
In the mean time, +2 student Pazhanimuthu (Yuvan) falls in love with his classmate Arivazhagi (Mahima). Black Pandi helps the lovers along with other students. Mahima is loyal to her parents and thwarts all attempts made by the hero. She also complains to Samuthirakani about Yuvan’s moves. One day, when Mahima returns after the special class, Yuvan confronts her and in the process tears her blouse. Samuthirakani sees her crying under a tree in the school and comes to know of what had happened. He advices her to go home with the promise that he would take care of Yuvan but Mahima consumes poison and attempts suicide. The school watchman, who sees Mahima and Samuthirakani conversing, misunderstands the whole situation and spreads rumors about them to the other teachers and villagers.
Thambi Ramiya also uses this opportunity to seek his revenge and Mahima arrives on the spot alleging that the person responsible for her suicide attempt is not Samuthirakani but another teacher and the villagers’ ire turn towards him.
Now that it is proved that Samuthirakani is not the culprit, his good works come to light and teachers supporting Thambi Ramaiya shift camp. The school goes on to win prizes in the sports competition for the first time; thanks to the efforts of Samuthirakani, the head master and other teachers. Dayalan also persuades Mahima’s parents to send her back to school and brings out the talent of Yuvan making him an apple to his parents’ eyes while he was just a burden to them until then. Thambi Ramaiya is not able to compete with Samuthirakani with his popularity soaring high and therefore decides to attack him with the help of some thugs.
Dayalan is grievously injured due and at the same time his students face the final exams. The rest of the film is about: what happens to Dayalan? What happens to the school which is notorious for its poor performance? Did Thambi Ramaiya turn into a new leaf? And what happens to Yuvan’s love for Mahima? The answers for all these questions form the climax.
This is the role of the lifetime for Samuthirakani. In scenes where people beat him up and yet he remains mum keeping in mind his student’s interests; the way he carries himself throughout the film and his support for his students all make him live the role instead of merely acting it out. Every step he takes for the welfare of his students is simply great. It is not necessary to explain about Thambi Ramaiya’s acting because as usual he has given his best. He has in fact lived as Singaperumal. Yuvan, Mahima, Jr Balaiyya and others have done a good job as well and deserve appreciation. Pandi has taken care of the comedy and has done well. Other than this, it is boring to watch the other actors’ performance.
Director M Anbazhagan is a rare find. Commendable direction and sharp dialogues are his plus point. The one dialogue – Yeniyai kooraimel podatheenga… vaanathumel podunga – is enough to prove this point. Jeeva’s camera and D Imman’s music are ok.
Positives: Samuthirakani and Thambi Ramaiya’s acting, direction, dialogues and music.
Negatives:The over build-up that other actors give for Samuthirakani is too much to take in. Some characters just talk too much.
In total: A story that is the need of the hour. The film clearly states the plight of the government schools and what the role of the teaching community particularly is. It is, therefore, a film that must be seen by all and the director should be lauded for making such a film!
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2012 seems to be a year of movies that speak about the need to reform the education system. First came ‘Nanban’ and then followed ‘Dhoni’. Now it is the turn of ‘Saattai’.
‘Saattai’, directed by debutant M Anbhazhagan, speaks about the pitiable condition of primary education, especially in government schools.
The need to upgrade the knowledge of teachers, make them interact more with children and get to know their strength and weakness is what the movie is all about.
Though preachy at places, no doubt such movies are the need of the hour. Anbhazhagan seems to have done his home work right and had apparently been to several government schools, which face a stiff competition from many a private school.
He has tried to convey a strong moral that students need to be motivated, encouraged and it should be ensured that they learn in a way they like the most.
Dayalan (Samuthirakani) joins a government school in a village as teacher. The pitiable condition of education in such government schools worries him.
In the school, the teachers and students are like two rail tracks never meeting eye-to-eye. It bothers him more. The materialistic lives of the teachers play spoilsport on the children’s motivation to learn.
Dayalan expresses his desire to set things right. As expected, he faces the wrath of teachers and the students too. However as things progress, he wins the confidence of students and head master Pandian (Junior Balaiyah).
He introduces novel methods, gives confidence to students and motivates them to evince keen interest in education. But he faces a huge hurdle in the form of assistant headmaster Singam Perumal (Thambi Ramaiah).
Anbhazhan’s strong dialogues that take a dig at the system of education and the quality of teachers make it an interesting watch. The need of the hour is clearly understood by him., He has managed to blend entertainment well with a strong message. But there are some turns in the script that are far too predictable.
Imman’s music lends support. The number ‘Sahayane…’ by Shreya Ghosal is nice to listen to. Jeevan’s camera captures the beauty of the village well. Newcomer Nirmal has handled the editing.
Samuthirakani lends grace to his role while Yuvan as a rough and tough student does a decent job. Swasika is bubbly. Three cheers to Thambi Ramaiah. His body language and dialogue delivery are perfect fit for the role.
Produced by Prabhu Solomon and John Max, ‘Saattai’ ends up a preachy tale and the dialogues go overboard at places.
But forget all for the noble intentions of the director, who in his very first film has touched a sensitive issue and come up trumps.