Synccinema Quickie - Major

 Major - Sincerely Celebrating the Unsung Hero

Sesh’s writing has brought a new wave to Telugu Cinema. His thrillers are that finest quality of binding smart with art, that you feel like your IQ has been raised by a few points after watching his film. Major has similar characteristics – the characteristics of a Sesh thriller. And just like his previous thrillers, it’s only him who can crack the formula of making us sit at the edge of the seat.

Major, which celebrates the real-life hero, NSG Training Officer Sandeep Unnikrishnan, get’s its story told with enough deft towards complexity and rousing payoffs. Sesh’s storytelling is sincere and respects the ideology of a soldier. He emphasises the soldier’s mentality to just be that protector, that shield which stops innocents from showering bullets, pack of grenades and most importantly from the terrorist. He is a Protector.

But Major feels like a twinning tale to Goodachari, where the journey and state of mind of the protagonists sometimes feel like a chirality to each other. In simple words, I could see Trinetra’s Gopi fighting a 51 SAG NSG’s Sandeep fight. I could the former spewing those philosophical words for talking it out about the problems in the latter’s personal life. One could replace the other. Sandeep could fight for Trinetra while Gopi strategizes the attack for NSG and hardly any difference will be made.

What makes Major better than Goodachari is the fact that now Sesh can write his layered heroics for a Real-Life hero than a fictional spy. Already heightened by the patriotism and the sympathy which easily gets earned when Sandeep and his team start fighting for the innocents at Taj, Sesh doubles the impact by re-earning the idea of – “Trust me, I am there”. 

For this, Sesh firstly sinks his teeth as a writer, to tightly weave all his ambitious hero defining moments into the life of this sincere army man. The result is you get an excellent emotionally high scene after scene in the first half where Sesh as a writer seems to enjoy celebrating those bitter-sweet formative years of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan. He makes a master move by paying off all those emotionally heavy acts in the first half with a sympathetic closure in the second half. The dexterity creates a consistent character whose life, in his last moments, has come a full circle – He has become the Protector. 

Secondly, Sesh as an actor produces that sincerity, especially in his eyes, which are always ready to look up and climb the tall mountain of emotional detailing that his writing has created. Here, his passionate and seasoned acting perfectly fits his complex writing, which felt too large for his raw talent in Goodachari. In Major, Sesh floods the space in which his writing is created by living the part of playing Sandeep Unnikrishnan. 

What seems to be the strength of the film, also is the weakness. Sesh’s Writing brings coherently the smartness, complexity and clear understanding of most of Sandeep’s life. You never mind, even if his heroic definitions go overboard as he stands showered with the god’s whitest of lights and has a halo effect around his head. What did bother me, was the cheesiness he brings to his characters. This overly cinematic rendition takes the film aback when implemented on the romantic track.

Sesh’s film has these urbane and woke episodes of romance, here feeling dragged in the scheme of things. Sesh deals with the romance as another feather to an emotionally hefty hat, with a more cinematic touch. It’s not the fairytale-like treatment that I’m complaining about, but the lack of grounded approach at least in the initial stages, which could’ve helped build the foundation for the Real to Reel transition. Also, this track goes on for way too long, with 2-3 forgettable songs, that I lost the interest to care about. There is an excellent twist to this episode in the second which went lukewarm rather than blasting all over. 

Also Read: Thoughts on Shyam Singha Roy  (2/2) 

Similar to the romantic track, Sashi Kiran Tikka’s direction though showing a slight improvement(Sandeep is shown repeatedly as a soldier bringing his presence from the shine of Sun. An heir of the Sun-god.) from Goodachari, offers nothing new in terms of cinematic storytelling. The same goes with the background score, which sounds similar to the previous scores of Sricharan Pakala’s thriller. I can't help but state that Major is cut from the same cloth as a series of Sesh’s own thrillers like Goodachari, Evaru and Kshanam. It felt fresh and unpredictable initially, but now Sesh’s writing techniques marred by a mediocre direction feel hackneyed. 

Major is made with discipline, sincerity and honesty towards depicting the beautiful 31 years of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan. It doesn’t push the boundaries of Cinema, like Mahanati, but definitely serves its purpose of existence, which is, to celebrate our country’s Unsung Hero.