Sethu

By A Prasad

Cast : Vikram, Abhitha, Sivakumar
Director : Bala
Music : Illayaraja


It's one of the few times that one gets to see a film with a good amount of realism in an otherwise routine story. Sethu, the principal protagonist, along with friends gets into fights often. He comes across Abhitha, a fresher in college and soon falls in love. Her silence is taken to be her approval, but in reality she is engaged to her uncle, a Brahmin priest. Her father sets the background for the conservative atmosphere. She rejects Sethu and he cannot tolerate it.

Meanwhile Abhitha's sister, sent home for not paying the dowry, is tricked into a brothel run in the Brahmin colony. One of Sethu's friends' fiancée is the target of the thugs running the brothel and so, the hero comes to the help. There, he finds Abhitha's sister and rescues her from the brothel and takes her out without revealing her identity. Later, he forces the hubby to accept Abhitha's sister back. This incident is told by Abhitha's would be and coincidentally, Sethu kidnaps her and questions her about her rejection of his love. She surrenders to Sethu's plea of love. At that moment, disaster strikes, with the goons of the brothel beating up Sethu and damaging his brain. He is reduced to a vegetable and is admitted in a mental asylum.

Abhitha is told by Sethu's brother to forget him and marry someone as per her father's wishes and she too, seeing Sethu's plight gets depressed. On hearing of the marriage, Sethu escapes from the asylum and comes to her house, only to find that Abhitha had committed suicide and this shock sets him back to a vegetable-like existence.

A fine piece of acting by Vikram as Sethu and the director's ability to weave a tight script without loose ends; the dialogues, the camaraderie and stunts make the film very realistic. New-find Abhitha does her part very well. Rathinavel's cinematography adds to the film's value while Illayaraja's music is a big let-down.

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