Seetimaarr

Seetimaarr (“Blow the Whistle”) is a 2021 Telugu sports action film written and directed by Sampath Nandi and produced by Srinivasaa Silver Screen, with Gopichand as the coach of a village women’s kabaddi team and Tamannaah as a rival coach. Bhumika Chawla and Digangana Suryavanshi co-star, with music by Mani Sharma. Its title comes from the song “Seeti Maar” in DJ: Duvvada Jagannadham. Delayed by the pandemic, it was released for Vinayaka Chaviti on 10 September 2021, drew mostly positive reviews and was a moderate success.

What the story is about

Karthik is an assistant bank manager in Kadiyam, near Rajahmundry, whose real purpose is coaching a women’s kabaddi team from the village, to fulfil his father’s dream of a sports academy. He takes the team to Delhi to represent Andhra Pradesh at the national championship, where he meets an old classmate, Jwala Reddy, now coaching the Telangana side. But Karthik’s visit to his sister Bhoomi and her husband Aravind, a police officer, draws him into a fight with a criminal network, and his players become pawns in it.

Cast and crew

• Gopichand as Karthik
• Tamannaah as Jwala Reddy, the Telangana team’s coach
• Digangana Suryavanshi as Akruthi, a news reader
• Bhumika Chawla as Bhoomi, Karthik’s sister
• Rahman as SP Aravind, her husband
• Tarun Arora as Maakhan Singh
• Rao Ramesh, Posani Krishna Murali and Pragathi
• Preethi Asrani as Shailu, the team captain

Writer and director: Sampath Nandi. Production: Srinivasaa Silver Screen. Music: Mani Sharma. Cinematography: Soundararajan. Runtime: 138 minutes.

Making the film

Announced in September 2019 and launched that October, the film needed two full kabaddi teams: Nandi auditioned more than 700 girls and told the Deccan Chronicle he hired four national players and trained the cast for three months. Shooting began in December 2019, stopped in March 2020 for the COVID-19 lockdown with about 60% done, resumed in Hyderabad in November 2020, moved to Jaisalmer in February 2021 and wrapped in March; The News Minute reported on its progress along the way. The songs, including “Jwala Reddy” and “Pepsi Aunty”, came out through 2021 on Aditya Music.

Reviews and box office

Thadhagath Pathi of The Times of India found it a “paisa vasool” film whose mass appeal makes up for its flaws. Y. Sunita Chowdhary of The Hindu said the crime and kabaddi portions “blend well”, though she found Tamannaah’s Telangana dialect unsettling; Eenadu liked it. Cinema Express called it “a fairly enjoyable potboiler”, and The Hans India and Sakshi were broadly positive.

According to News18 Telugu, it earned a ₹2.98 crore distributors’ share on its opening day and grossed ₹15.10 crore in eight days; T2BLive puts its total gross at ₹18.85 crore, better than Gopichand’s previous films.

Where to watch Seetimaarr

According to Wikipedia, Seetimaarr began streaming on Disney+ Hotstar on 15 October 2021, and its satellite rights were sold to Gemini TV. We have not checked a current listing, so availability in your region may differ.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Seetimaarr and the reviews and reports it cites, linked above; our own cast and crew records.