Hollywood has the concept of counter-programming, which refers to the practice of releasing a film for a niche audience on the same day that a more popular film is being released. So a chick flick would be released on the same day as, say, a Star Wars film. Sevvel's producer might have had the same idea when he released the film on April 14th - the same day that Chandramukhi, Mumbai Xpress and Sachein were released. Or maybe he was just hoping that viewers who didnt get tickets for those 3 movies would watch Sevvel instead. But for either of those ideas to work, the film itself must provide something special to its audience. That unfortunately is not the case with Sevvel.

Sudalai(Rajkiran), a well-respected man in his village, is forced to move to the city. He works as the driver for a minister but is falsely accused of killing her by the minister's lawyer Parasuram('Kalabhavan' Mani). Sudalai loses his wife(Seetha) and son after he is hauled off to jail. His son Raja(Jai Akash), brought up by a kindhearted poor man, is now a student in a law college. His one aim is to clear his father's name and reveal Parasuram's guilt. Without realizing each other's identities, Raja ends up working for Sudalai.

Though the film starts off with Jai Akash, it soon becomes clear that Rajkiran has the bigger role. That by itself would not be a bad thing but his flashback becomes so silly that it makes us lose interest in the proceedings. Rajkiran being the respected village elder who judges the villagers' cases(while sitting under a tree and holding a vel, Padaiyappa-style) is a staple of Tamil cinema and so is acceptable. But then the police, who is ostensibly there since the panchayat is not following the law, lays down the punishment that Rajkiran should clean the slippers of other villagers! That is the specific point where the film lost me. A passable storyline of a father and son searching for each other is spoiled by scenes like this.

Ever since Kaadhal Koattai, we are used to the hero and heroine look for each other and have several near-misses during their search. In Sevvel, we get the hero searching for his father in the same manner. As expected, he has some near-misses and some promising leads that eventually don't pan out. As in all searches, this gets tiring after a while and the methods used by the director to ensure that the two don't meet too soon(Jai Akash goes to jail to get his father's photo and the jailer tells him that all records were lost in a fire!) make it seem like he took the easy way out.

The movie doesn't seem concerned with logic in its rush to get the story moving in a certain way. So we get sequences like a professor telling to his class to attend court to learn from Radharavi, a criminal lawyer who uses a silly argument to deprive a widow of money due to her! And Jai Akash, working part-time as a rag-picker to pay the bills! He also becomes 'Kalabhavan' Mani's junior but doesn't really make use of it. But the pace of the movie does pick up after this point. Mani trying to frame him in the same way he framed his father is interesting and the way Jai Akash counters it shows some quick thinking.

Jai Akash, who seems to be landing new projects even though none of his movies is a hit, suits this role better than the rowdy he played in Gurudeva. Rajkiran plays the role the same way he has played his roles since he acted in a similar role in Nandhaa. He is dignified but I wish he would speak more clearly. Misha appears in an inconsequential role and one can predict quite confidently that we wouldn't be seeing any more of her. 'Kalabhavan' Mani is a little less irritating as the villain than he is as the comedian but wish he would let go of his habit of adding mimicry to every character he plays.Ilavarasu has a few nice lines which make us wish he had a bigger role.