Saindhav is a disappointing, annoying fare

Hyderabad: Seasoned star Venkatesh who has great flair for comedy, which was showcased in blockbusters like ‘Malleswari’ and ‘F2’ turns a vigilante in his latest release ‘Saindhav’ However, the clichéd plot and dreary narration takes the sting out of the action film and leaves the audience in despair.

Despite being the 75th landmark film in his illustrious career, Venkatesh chose to do a fiery role over his familiar good guy image but the insipid plot disappoints his fans and general audience too. Of course, Venky does his job well showcasing varied emotions, and scores in emotive scenes with his doting daughter. Still, his angry avatar hangs on a ‘fictional’ plot that goes overboard and even involves Isreal attack on the Gaza strip and falls flat on its face. Director Sailesh Kolanu who proved his mettle with investigative cop dramas like the “HIT’ series, fails to blend an action film with a social message.

He gives twin tasks to hero—one saving his girl with a Rs 17 crore injection and two-stopping the infiltration of 20k youngsters into terrorism. While the former gains some sympathy, the latter goes over the top and fails to connect with the viewers.  This mismatch of goals tests the audience's patience, while snail-paced narration adds to viewers' woes. The arrival of renowned actor Nawazuddin Siddique known for his acting brilliance in films ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ and ‘Sacred Games’ puts up one of the worst performances in his chequered career. He looks menacing and a clown, but fails to impress in both due to his poorly-etched role.

Coming to the plot, widower Venkatesh leads a simple life with his daughter and works as a crane operator in the port city of Chandrapastha. His neighbor and taxi driver Sraddha Srinath is close to their family and they want to marry soon. Meanwhile, illegal arms and drug cartels involving Mukesh Rishi, Nawazuddin, and Jisshu Sengupta plan to smuggle arms and train 20,000 youngsters in arms and then send them to a terrorist organization. Venkatesh gets to know of the arms and drugs in containers and changes them in the port. He also has a dark past and he is called a ‘psycho’ by his opponents who dread his name. All of a sudden, his daughter falls ill and she is detected with a rare disorder SMA- demanding a Rs 17 crore injection for treatment. Will Venkatesh be able to save his daughter and checkmate his opponents? You have to watch it in theatres to fnd out.

Venkatesh tries to breathe life into the role of a dreaded man who has a dark past and now wants to lead a peaceful life. He scores well with his ‘emotive’ skills and flexes his muscles many a times. His brooding anger is okay, but he cannot save a contrived plot of saving youngsters from being imported for terrorism. However, he is convincing as a helpless father who is running from pillar to post to garner money for his daughter’s treatment. Shraddha Srinath plays a supportive character and has her moments in the film. Nawazuddin disappoints with his overacting and whacky behavior.  

The cinematography by Manikandan captures a few breathtaking visuals, music by Santhosh Narayanan has nothing much to crow about.

Director Shailesh who showed promise with the ‘HIT’ series should have avoided doing larger-thanlife movies with big stars since even such films demand scripts with logic and larger connectivity.

Probably, he wanted to show the pain and anguish of parents, who are unable to arrange Rs 17 crores to save their kids, but he unnecessarily brings in the ‘terrorism’ angle and links the ‘injection’ factor to villain Nawazuddin which is a bit hard to digest.