First Word:

Tamil Cinema has witnessed directors like K. Balachandar and Bharathiraja who have handled controversial stories on screen. Some movies by these veteran directors have portrayed women as strong and independent individuals who seldom give way to superstitious and ancient male chauvinistic customs. Aval Oru Thodarkathai, Kalki, Manvasanai and Puthumai Penn are notable examples. Commercial director Hari handles the story of one such woman in Seval.

Who's In It?

Seval has Bharath playing a spoilsport, who is not welcome either at home or in his village. Rajesh and Yuvashree play his parents, flower merchants selling garlands for auspicious occasions in the temple. Tollywood belle Poonam Bajwa makes an entry into Tamil Cinema with Seval. Vadivelu, who was already seen in Hari's previous movies like Tamizh, Kovil and Aaru, dons the role of Thapal Thangavelu - a postman. Simran, after her marriage, appears on the silver screen with Seval as Poonam's elder sister. The movie also has Sampath of Saroja fame as the villain. G.V. Prakash Kumar takes care of the music department. Story, screenplay, dialogues and direction are by Hari.

What's It About?

The story revolves around the lives of the lead pair Murugesan (Bharath) and Parijatham (Poonam). Bharath, son of local flower seller Rajesh, falls head-over-heels in love with Poonam from an Iyengar family. Poonam initially resists but then reciprocates. Periyavar (Sampath), the local womanizing landlord, lays his evil eyes on Poonam and desires to sexually exploit her but Bharath comes to her rescue. 

Poonam's father Y. Gee. Mahendran has her elder sister Simran married to Prem, who is brought up in an orthodox Brahmin family. Prem's brother Krishna also gets attracted to Poonam and looks for a chance to bed her. 

Fate plays its own game. When they take Simran to hospital in connection with her pregnancy, both families come to know that she has been suffering from cancer for long. They decide to have her sister Poonam married to Prem in order to take care of their child and support him in their household chores even before Simran's death. Poonam sympathizes with Simran's situation and accepts the proposal. Bharath and Poonam part ways and she gets married to Prem. Krishna, Prem's brother makes his perverted moves on Poonam, but she threatens to kill him for his illicit behaviour. 

A few days after the death of Simran, Prem gets killed accidentally by Sampath's men. Bharath then pleads with Poonam to marry him and offers to bring up her sister's child as their own. The remaining story is about whether Poonam accepts Bharath or decides to stay with her in-laws as a widow. 

Performances

After Pazhani with Perarasu, Bharath returns as an action hero with Hari's Seval. His action scenes have been choreographed well by Rocky Rajesh; it is a pleasure to see him not uttering any so-called punch dialogues. Poonam has a strong and bold character to play in which she is convincing at times. Simran, Rajesh and Sampath have given performances fitting the demands of the script. The one who triumphs as a performer is Vadivelu as Thapal Thangavelu. Even though his comedy is targeted at the B and C audiences, it is enjoyable by all. Vadivelu's role as a character artist has also helped to lighten the seriousness in the sad parts of the movie. Since the story and script is outdated, the movie suffers with average performances of the cast. 

For Techie Lovers

There is moderate innovation in all the departments and many scenes remind us of Hari's earlier films. Music, usually a highlight in all of the director's previous ventures, fails to impress. Overall, Seval is technically average.

Final Ve