Film: Seetha Payanam
Rating: 1.5/5
Cast: Aishwarya Arjun, Niranjan Sudhindra, Dhruva Sarja, Prakash Raj, Sathyaraj, Bithiri Sathi, Kovai Sarala
Music: Anup Rubens
Editing: Ayoob Khan
Cinematography: G. Balamurugan
Producer: Arjun Sarja
Director: Arjun Sarja
Release Date: 14 February 2026
Arjun Sarja came up with a film under his own production and direction, with his daughter playing the female lead. The title sounded classic, and the visuals in the trailer and poster looked rich.
Let us see what this film offers to the audience.
Story:
Seetha (Aishwarya Arjun) is the daughter of a big businessman (Sathyaraj), who has only her in his life. Seetha loves to be a chef and decides to attend a workshop at a star hotel in Hyderabad.
On her way, driving the car herself, she comes across a guy named Abhi (Niranjan Sudhindra), who asks her for a lift. Though both of them are travelling on the same road, their journey gets delayed by certain people along the way.
By the time she finally reaches the star hotel, the workshop has already started and she is late. But as she enters the premises, a major gas leak explosion occurs and the entire hotel blasts.
Seetha survives the blast and realizes that all those who delayed her on the way actually helped save her life; otherwise she would have been there on time and lost her life.
She then decides to thank each and every person who hindered her journey, including Abhi and the others. What happens next forms the rest of the story.
Artists’ Performance:
Niranjan Sudhindra, the male lead, with his looks, appears more like a handsome villain than typical hero material. He looks more convincing in negative roles than as a hero. However, overall, he did what the director required of him, including the anti-gravity stunts.
Aishwarya Arjun looks decent and carries the film with her presence throughout. She appeared a bit aged to her role in some frames, and there is even a dialogue that refers to this.
Arjun Sarja appears as Giri, a tough guy, but in a very weakly written dramatic role.
Prakash Raj, as the village elder Anjaneyulu, is convincing and makes his presence felt, adding some screen value, though cliched.
The rest of the characters are fine.
Technical Excellence:
Music by Anup Rubens is quite average. There are no haunting tunes. The song “Aaha Oho Antaadu… Nuvve Beauty Antaadu…” sounds outdated in terms of lyrics, composition and choreography, reminding us of late-1990s songs.
The folk number “E Oorukeltave Pilla…” is interesting, but the way it is placed in the narrative feels out of flow. The energy of the song is not carried forward either before or after it.
The editing could have been much better. Sitting through two and a half hours for this narrative feels tedious. At some places it is fine, but in others the cuts feel abrupt.
Cinematography and the art department are rich enough. The production values in terms of ambience and set properties are good. However, the junior artistes look too tacky.
Highlights:
Idea
Title
Drawbacks:
Execution
Screenplay
Direction
Dialogues
Analysis:
An idea is the seed for every story. But it needs a lot of watering and nurturing to grow into a strong narrative. A bound script alone is not enough to go on floors; the story, screenplay and emotional depth must be properly developed.
In this film, the characters display emotions among themselves for very simple reasons, but the audience does not feel them. The problem lies in the dialogues and in the series of events on screen, which look contrived and inorganic.
Moreover, films of this kind should stay away from regular commercial, over-the-top fights and hero elevations. It should have been treated as a simple road film with a more convincing and natural progression.
Arjun Sarja, as the director, gives himself massive elevations for his role. Even his relative Dhruva Sarja is given an action cameo with similar heroic elevations.
Both the first and second halves feel equally tedious, as the film offers no real highs or engaging moments. The narrative moves in a flat, pale manner throughout, with neither emotional depth nor dramatic lift to hold the audience’s interest at any point.
To sum up, the fundamental idea of the film is about thanking everyone who unknowingly helped save a life. The final message, that a daughter marrying does not mean leaving her single father forever, and that he can still remain part of her family, is good in intent.
However, to arrive at this climax, the audience has to endure a long and tedious journey of two and a half hours, which is difficult. The characters played by Arjun Sarja and Dhruva Sarja feel forced. Moreover, the transformations in the characters happen too quickly and appear artificial. Every character seems easily influenced without proper depth or reasoning, which is another major limitation in the script. Whoever assumes it is a pleasant family entertainer looking at the title, may end up tedious with a lethargic documentary-like travelogue feel.
Bottom Line: Tedious journey