SAANI KAAYIDHAM (2022)
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| Critic No. 280 |
Director: Arun Matheswaran
Written by: Arun Matheswaran
Produced by: Screen Scene
Casts: Selvaraghavan, Keerthy Suresh
Music: Sam CS
Language: Tamil
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
SYNOPSIS:
A generational curse comes true in a senseless act of injustice to Ponni (Keerthy Suresh) and her family. Driven to seek vengeance by Sangaiya (Selvaraghavan), with whom she shares a bitter past.
REVIEW:
After a solid entry with ‘Rocky’ Arun Matheswaran continues his gritty and realistic cinema through his second with 2 remarkably talented individuals, Keethy Suresh and Selvaraghavan. Though acting is a new arena for the latter, no one would have any doubt about his performance given his excellent records of films where top actors were trained by him to be where they are now.
Inspired by a real-life tale, the film’s main narrative kicks off with Ponni (Keerthy) who is a police officer managing the station and her home which also includes her husband and daughter. After her husband gets into a problem with his boss (who is subtly shown as the upper class), the group of men rapes Ponni and sets her house on fire. How she rises from her grief and decides to slaughter her criminals forms the crux of the story.
The film also has a few segments shot in black-and-white cinematography with the frame within frames, the lengthy shots (the impressive cinematography is by Yamini Yagnamurthy) and of course, the violence brilliantly visualized. As the film progresses, the story is also broken up into chapters and narrated in a non-linear fashion and the backstories are scattered along the way, accentuating the bond between Ponni and Sangaiya gradually. The violence can be very disturbing especially when the frames are held longer than usual but they are all very well motivated by the oppressed emotions the film is dealing with. The violence is used more as a tool of redemption here than glory.
Caste discrimination is weaved organically in the film which drives this violent tale and gives it some strong motivation. Ponni's hopes are dashed just because her husband Maari had the courage to fight for his people. The fact that Ponni is a policewoman (a government authority) doesn't deter the casteist men to rethink but angers them more to destroy her. The film feels like an Indian version of Tarantino’s Kill Bill and similarly, we have a woman whose promising life is taken away when a group murder her husband and child and leaves her almost dead. The film constantly pricks in your heart emotionally despite the constant slashings.
After a while, due to the nature of the film, the violence becomes quite numbing and we cannot help but feel why the antagonists are quite one-dimensional. The self-indulgence is clearly sweeping in but that doesn’t really deter the film’s impact as the impressive lead duo keeps us invested in their emotions throughout. That said, the bunch of antagonists is well cast with natural delivery.
Keerthy Suresh is undoubtedly the best Indian actor we have currently and Saani Kaayidham is a clear testimony of it. Almost in each frame of the film, she lives as Ponni, and at no point can you separate the two. In a scene where she sits outside her newly made hut making a vow on how she will kill her predators, the camera is kept still in mid-frame and she immerses us into the film completely with no point of return. Those few minutes are enough to prove the acting process she holds and from that moment, the audience is transported completely to the world. Selvaraghavan is a sheer surprise in his organic display.
There are a few auteurist touches in Saani Kaayidham. The neglected half-brother becomes a watchful protector. Mahabharatham plays on the radio when Ponni gets her final act, almost symbolizing Panchali’s sabatham. Arun once again delivers a nod to Tarantino (like Inglorious Bastards) with an explosive climax - both visually and emotionally. Blood drips on kaayidham (paper) in the final few frames as we get a memorable revelation in the end. Clearly, Arun Matheswaran is a filmmaker to watch out for and celebrate!
VERDICT:
‘Saani Kaayidham’ is a focused gut-wrenching revenge drama that is packed with a hard-hitting premise and excellent visual grammar, reassuring Arun Matheswaran’s solid presence in Indian cinema.
CELLULOID METER- 3.75/5:
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