Ten years ago Shaji Kailas was the most happening director in Malayalam movie industry. After a series of mega hits like 'Aram Thampuran', 'Narasimham' and 'Valiyettan', Shaji Kailas lost the company of his regular scriptwriters to eventually fade off from the scene. His attempt at associating with the younger bunch of writers never succeeded in making the right kind of impact either. With 'Simhasanam', he turns writer himself and has penned a script which, turns out to be a poorly prepared mix pooled from his yesteryear hits.

The story is still stuck in a 'la la land' and is thematically based on the rivalry between aristocracy and democracy. Shaji Kailas is still dreaming of a land ruled by a kind-hearted aristocrat, with loyal subjects who are willing to die for their ruler. However, Sai Kumar does pull off a terrific job playing 'Madhavan', the aristocrat of 'Chandragri' and father to 'Arjun' played by Prithviraj. The veteran actor, who gave new definition to villain roles in Malayalam films, does a remarkable transformation into the ageing but powerful and influential landlord, and the best father that a son can have.

However, Sai Kumar's enactment of 'Madhavan' in such a brilliant manner completely downs Prithviraj's shaky attempt at being the strong and humorous 'Arjun'. For one, the young actor does not posses the voice or tone to go for lengthy dialogues containing tough Malayalam usages. And the image that Prithviraj has built for himself through his previous movies completely bars him from being the 'Arjun' that was demanded as 'Madhavan's' son in the movie.

Vandana and Aiswarya Devan are the two heroines in the movie and they end up doing double damage to the already weak script. The only thing that 'Simhasanam' achievedwith the casting of two heroines opposite Prithviraj was reminding the viewer of Mohanlal's 'Aaram Thampuran'. Thilakan has been completely wasted as the Christian priest who appears once in a while to hail 'Arjun' as the savior of 'Chandragri'.

BijuPappan gets more screen time and presence than usual in 'Simhasanam', and to his credit, he has made use of it the best way he can. If he could maintain this growth, BijuPappan could very well be the next 'strong hand' consistently required by a superstar in the lead to add to the weight of his character in action-masala entertainers.