Seetharam

Vampire Owl: I remember hearing about the previous movie of this franchise.

Vampire Bat: Well, we have started hearing about more movies in different languages.

Vampire Owl: We have not reviewed enough Kannada movies either.

Vampire Bat: Well, we are still with a lot of chances to do the same.

Vampire Owl: Do you think that this is the twilight of our movie reviewing times?

Vampire Bat: Twilight and vampires are no longer related at all.

Vampire Owl: Still, nobody really reads the movie reviews. They only watch YouTube.

Vampire Bat: You know how lazy the humans are. They will stop reading completely.

Vampire Owl: As if they are reading anything right now.

Vampire Bat: Well, the lower number of students taking BA English clarifies on their lack of wisdom.

[Gets some Enchiladas and three cups of Agua Fresca].

What is the movie about? :: Seetharam (Vijay Raghavendra) is an honest sub-inspector who takes strict measures against criminals, and was only recently transferred from Haveri to a rural area where the Aanegadde police station is situated in Shivamogga district of Karnataka. The village appears calm like any other place which is far away from the busy cities and intermediate towns, but it has been experiencing a series of smaller crimes, burglaries and violent incidents that had created problems for him, but the biggest crisis was yet to come in the form of some gruesome murders. His investigation often suffered due to the lack of higher-level support and the reluctance of residents to cooperate with the police, but this time, everyone knew that things already went out of control and it was up to him to save them. This series of brutal murders without clear pattern except for the brutality continues to worry the village. As bodies continue to surface, forensic analysis suggests that these murders might be done by a psychopath and not by someone simply seeking revenge.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: As Seetharam and his team continue to try and identify the motives along with the patterns which could establish some connections that could lead them to the killer, they arrest Sebastian (Gopalkrishna Deshpande), a former headmaster who lost his mind and murdered his daughter’s boyfriend, but still thinks that his daughter who committed suicide lives with him. But after they arrest him, they find out that more killings continue in the same pattern, and Sebastian seems like a man living in hallucinations and causing no harm to people outside except for filing fake cases in the police station. At the same time, Seetharam is having his problems with reconciling with his sister and brother-in-law. As each breakthrough only mean more complications or a dead end, his frustrations combined with his personal problems make it more difficult for him. Now it is to be seen if he can solve this mystery and find the killer before more people are dead.

The defence of Second Case of Seetharam :: The movie has its suspense maintained well, and the mystery holds its ground with red herrings nicely doing the job of bringing new paths. The serial killer mode has us interested since its inception. The village settings work in favour of the movie as the sinister feeling never leaves the environment and one can remember that there are many areas for a serial killer to be present, and the possibility of finding a serial killer in the darkness has never been this high. There is danger in every corner, with the clues that lead the police to a psychopath or the other never really ending the problem as the killings continue without any chance seemingly there to stop. With violent killings of unexpected people in acts which are not just of random revenge, this keeps on the level of Forensic more than any other, as random killings without any big reason keeps us close to the true psycho killer mode rather than the usual tales of vengeance which has lowered the level of movies like Anjaan Paathira and Pappan during the later stages. There seems to be something special about investigating such a case in rural area with fine visuals and all the greenery and a grand twist.

The claws of flaw :: The movie does make us feel that it is another version of similar movies, and there are moments when we feel that it is going to be another Memories – the family elements and some possible red herrings point to something similar, even though the same does not happen in the end. The feeling that we have seen these before seems hesitant to leave us. The movie does not have that much of a pace, and we often feel that the brother-sister angle did not help to improve on the same much. The stretch seems to have kept this movie at a longer run-time than it should have ever had. The emotions are not working at all times, and sometimes we feel that some moments were not used well enough to create that feeling of disgust and anger as in some other movies dealing with similar topics. The action is minimum and even a consistent talk about clues being found is rather minimum here when compared to other movies with police investigation at the core. When dealing with psychological elements, the movie keeps on struggling too, as we just have the killer established all of a sudden.

The performers of the soul :: Vijay Raghavendra as Seetharam goes through the police role with ease, and along with the investigation, we see the emotional side being safe with him, as such a man’s struggle with the unsolvable problems and a family which is not there for him. The flashback helps to assert the same very well as much as the past of the serial killer. Even though not the main antagonist, Gopalkrishna Deshpande as Sebastian makes quite an impact which would make him more significant than the rest of the characters, as he is also a tragic hero. Both of these characters have been performed with some fine maturity and intensity which makes them some perfect examples of their own kind. There are multiple layers to their performances too, as they are both family men as much as what they have become, one for duty and the other madness. Sagar Puranik and Usha Bhandary provide good support, contributing meaningfully to the emotional to the overall work. The supporting cast, even though much limited in screen time, performs their roles convincingly, never really moving out of the film’s realistic tone. They enhance the film, making the mystery and emotional moments more engaging and impactful to the audience.

How it finishes :: The mixed opinions for the movie might be more or less justified, as the movie seems to keep itself at a specific level, never really going above with innovations in the genre. It surely had the scope for future, even though that much does not get close to being achieved by the makers. A combination like this one which has mystery, suspense and emotional depth will work well for most of the audience, but it is to be noted that Malayalam movie industry has the best thrillers, and they are there to be watched. Before this, Movies of the Soul only had two Kannada movies reviewed, Murphy and Mythri, and the former was such a wonderful experience. The truth is that I have never managed to get that many recommendations about some good movies in the language except for those which have some action which does not work with the willing suspension of disbelief with seemingly superpowered people. Those would be less explored, less commercialized gems, and I would be looking for them rather than those big budget movies. Until then, there would be three movies in the same language from the industry and the hope for more would stay.

Release date: 20th February 2026
Running time: 120 minutes
Directed by: Devi Prasad Shetty
Starring: Vijay Raghavendra, Gopalkrishna Deshpande, Sagar Puranik, Usha Bhandary, Pradeep Anche, Madhusudhan Gatte, Aravind Shetty, Rajesh Keelambi, Mathew Surani. Ananth Bhat, Manjunath, Shanmugam, Nataraj Aralasurali, Sridhar Shimoga, Sudheendra Rao, Latha Rajkumar, Aishwarya Nagaraj, Sushma Honnalli, Fathima Rodrigues, Manaf