Saripodhaa Sanivaaram: A film on anger management enrages audience with contrived plot

Direction: Vivek Athreya

Rating: 2/5 stars

After tasting success as a doting father in ‘Hi Nanna’, popular star Nani does an anger driven role and flexes his muscles in ‘Saripodhaa’ Sanivaram'. However, it turns out to be disappointing fare due to wafer-thin plot and dreary narration and eventually, the much-hyped action film goes for a toss, although it has its share of good moments. Actually, director Vivek Athreya wanted to convey that a fearless person should use his anger not to fight for himself, rather to instill confidence in hapless people and make them fight for their rights. For this, he brings in anger management issues and restrictive days for the hero to use his anger against evil and so on and tests audience nerves. A film like ‘Yevadu’ had a similar plot where hero Ram Charan also instills confidence in slum dwellers who are crushed by baddy Sai Kumar and others. Without any novelty in the plot, actor Nani has to work doubly hard and he comes up with his best-in emotional scenes with his family and showcases love moments with his childhood love (Priyanka Mohan) and expresses his fiery side too and it turns into a one-man show. Of course, Tamil actor S J Suryah is back in his element as a whacky and merciless cop who trashes poor people to satiate his anger against his brother (Murali Sharma) and corporate of that region. Priyanka Mohan who is looking for a comeback has nothing much to do in the film and plays an innocent police officer who supports the hero in his mission.

The film starts with Nani falling down from bike and he recollects his childhood and advice of his mother (Abhirami) who advises him to restrict his anger for one day (Saturday) and to remain normal on other days. He grows up and lives with his father (Sai Kumar) and sister (Aditi Bala) and is a successful insurance agent. He is craving for his childhood love (Priyanka Mohan) and they finally meet each other, with the hero claiming to be soft and innocent. Eventually, she also gets to know about his dual personality and both decide to teach corrupt cop S JSuryah a lesson for torturing people in a slum. Meanwhile, Suryah has land issues with his brother (murali Sharma) and they are at loggerheads. Will the hero be able to resolve the woes of slum dwellers, watch it in theatres to know more.

Actually, Nani is known for his lover boy roles and has turned action hero with ‘Dasara’ and the film had intrinsic love between Nani and Keerthy Suresh and it worked besides action. Now, he had done a routine Good Samaritan role which would be difficult for him to pull off, without a novel story. S J Suryah is known for his baddy roles in films like ‘Spyder’ and ‘Mark Antony’ and again showcased his ugly side and impresses, albeit he goes overboard at times. Murali Sharma's character is more of caricature than relatable. While Sai Kumar, Abhirami and others do their roles without much stress.

Young director Vivek Athreya who made light-hearted movies like ‘Mental Madhilo’ and “Brochevarevarura’ picked the subject of anger management for ‘Saripodha…’ but he couldn’t handle it convincingly. Probably, he wanted to show that he would also deliver an anger-driven movie with three characters who behave extremely violent but he would realize his folly soon. Even Allu Arjun couldn’t pull off a film ‘Naa Peru Surya’ which also harped on anger management, since such themes demand deft and intelligent handling.