Amidst a barrage of rural action movies and masala flicks, comes Seedan, a refreshing family entertainer. Helmed by Subramaniya Shiva who gave us movies like Thiruda Thirudi and Yogi, Seedan is the remake of a 2002 Malayalam film Nandhanam. His previous movies being of a completely different genre compared to Seedan, the director has done a decent job with this film.

Mahalakshmi (Ananya) is an orphaned girl who takes care of an ancestral household at Palani belonging to Amritham Paati(Sheela). An ardent devotee of Lord Muruga, Mahalakshmi is treated like a daughter in the household and is Amritham Paati’s favorite. She falls in love with Mano (Krishna) who is Amritham’s grandson and he reciprocates too. But things take a U-turn as Mano’s mother (Suhasini) has already chosen a bride for him and cannot cancel it at any cost. In comes Saravanan (Dhanush) and the happenings afterwards form the rest of the story.

Unadulterated family entertainers are a rarity these days and Seedan is one of those rare films. The characters are like those whom we meet in our everyday life and can relate to. Ananya as Mahalakshmi looks homely and comes out with a mature performance and it is hard to believe this is just her second film. She is especially good in the scenes where she talks with Lord Muruga’s picture. Debutant Krishna as Mano has done his role well and looks good too; with better grooming, he could go places. But the show stealer is undoubtedly Dhanush for he does some uninhibited acting as the cook Saravanan though we can see his trademark style in few instances. Sheela and Suhasini Mani Ratnam do the needful and their natural acting shows their experience. Vivek does a good job as a punch dialogue speaking fake saamiyar and evokes laughter with his antics.

What works against the movie is its lackluster pace. The entire film chugs in snail’s pace and that is bound to test the patience of the audience. The beginning of the second half picks up pace but drops immediately and falls into a lull. Adding to this, the predictable turn of events makes the film even slower and loses out on the engaging factor. Also in the beginning of the film there are three songs within just 45 minutes which again proves to be a negative. We find it hard to sympathize with the lead pair who are in love but find it hard to confess it to the elders. These factors are a major turn off to an otherwise pleasant film.

Music by Dhina is very pleasant and the song Saravana Samayal stays in your mind and has you humming along. The director has done justice to the picturisation of the song and it is a delight to watch Dhanush in it. The locations in the film look beautiful and are captured nicely by Cinematographer Srinivas and bring out the village side in a new essence when compared to the other rural films.

All in all, Seedan is a film that is made exclusively for the family audience. After long, we get to see a film that totally justifies the ‘U’ certificate given to it. But the big question is whether a slow paced family film will draw today’s audience who prefer fast paced and off beat films. The film would have surely done better had it been made ten years back.

Verdict: Clean, but slow paced family entertainment