Seetha Payanam Review: Aishwarya Arjun's film is slow but a sincere family drama

Seeta Payanam Story

Seetha (Aishwarya Arjun) loses her mother in childhood, and her father, Rajendra Prasad (Sathyaraj), raises her with immense love, becoming both mother and father. They share a close bond, but Seetha always avoids the topic of marriage. She travels from Vizag to Hyderabad for work, where she meets Abhi. During the journey, a few unexpected incidents change her life. What exactly happened on the trip? What roles do Giri (Arjun Sarja) and Basavanna (Dhruv Sarja) play? And finally, does Seetha get married or not? The answers unfold on screen.

Seeta Payanam Review

In many of his interviews, actor-director Arjun Sarja revealed that the idea of Seeta Payanam is almost a decade old. Well, he was exactly right, but Arjun backs it up with his well-executed storytelling and emotional thread that makes all the difference.

The values showcased are very good and raise several questions about upbringing, how one should teach their kids values from a younger age, how today's youth is moving beyond all that, and what they should learn from experiences.

As the story states, the character of Aishwarya Arjun does not like discussing marriage as she does not want to leave her father, who is everything to her. To escape all this, she heads on a journey from Vizag to Hyderabad, where a character named Abhi joins her. To reach this aspect, Arjun takes a lot of time and adds several mundane and boring scenes. But once the journey starts, things make a lot of difference.

The film is simple and is about imbuing values into the setup through Aishwarya's character. Be it violence against animals or treating cows as sacred animals, all these aspects are showcased interestingly. 

There is nothing new that Arjun showcases here, but the conviction with which the emotional journey of the female lead through varied circumstances in the film is portrayed is quite impressive.

Aishwarya carries the film on her shoulders, and the cameos of Arjun and Dhruv Sarja are neatly planned. The father-daughter bonding in the film is quite good and evokes decent emotions. 

A few scenes where the heroine breaks down in tense situations and how life puts her through a test of time are showcased engagingly. Arjun puts a lot of emphasis on Sanatan Dharma, and luckily, none of these aspects look forced into the setup.

Coming to the performances, Aishwarya Arjun makes an impressive Telugu debut. As her character carries the entire film on her shoulders, she gets a lot of scope to perform and does quite well. The best part is that she does not overdo the emotional angle, and this is where her character makes a lot of sense.

Sathyaraj is very good in the role of a father, but one also gets a feeling that he is becoming repetitive these days. Bithiri Sathi evokes a few laughs here and there. 

Seeta Payanam also marks the Telugu debut of Kannada superstar Upendra's nephew, Niranjan. Rather than choosing an over-the-top character, he has chosen a supporting role and does well. Niranjan looks a bit rustic in the initial parts of the film, but as the film progresses into the second half, he gets the pulse of his character right and is decent.

Arjun Sarja does a cameo, and his screen presence brings a lot of depth to the proceedings. Dhruv is shown as the man who is the savior of animals, and his role is there just for the sake of a commercial angle.

Anup Rubens has composed the music for this film, and his songs are quite good. The production values are decent, and the camerawork is very good. The production design is also neat, but the editing pattern in the first half is not that great, as several repeated scenes should have been chopped off.

Seeta Payanam’s first half starts with the journey of the lead pair, but it is the second half that holds forth. Though the pace is slow and the outcome is routine, the manner in which the emotional family drama is executed by Arjun surely holds your attention.

Seeta Payanam Verdict

On the whole, Seeta Payanam is a decent family drama that talks about values. Though the story is nothing great, the human values, coming-of-age elements, parental values, and embracing our culture that have been showcased make this film an honest attempt

Also Read: Seetha Payana trailer: Netizens point out lip-sync mismatch in Kannada version; ask if it has been dubbed from Tamil or Telugu