Saithan movie review: Vijay Antony's film has a juvenile plot that leaves us possessed

As a marketing strategy, the makers released the first 10 minutes of Saithan online, which clocked more than two million views on YouTube. And now the entire film is in theatres. Here is our Saithan movie review to help you decide.

Saithan Cast: Vijay Antony, Arundhathi Nair and YG Mahendran

Saithan Director: Pradeep Krishnamoorthy

Saithan Rating:

Psychological thriller is an intriguing genre that Tamil filmmakers have barely explored. What's common between Sigappu Rojakkal (1978), Enakkul Oruvan (1984), Nooravathu Naal (1985), Aalavandhan (2001) and Anniyan (2005)? Apart from the fact that the aforementioned films are psychological thrillers, these films have a cult following mainly because of its intricate plot and characters.

Right from the introduction scene, the director wastes no time in establishing the tone of the film. Saithan opens with a traumatised Dinesh (Vijay Antony), who seeks help from a psychiatrist (played by Kitty). This is where veteran screenwriter-novelist Sujatha's famous novel Aah comes into play. Much like the novel, our protagonist suffers from Auditory Hallucination, which means hearing some unidentified voices in his mind. Through Dinesh's narration, the plot slowly unfolds. Dinesh is a software engineer at a corporate firm in Chennai. To substantiate his mettle, we see Dinesh solving a complex bug by merely clearing the browsing history. Who said Saithan has no comical portions?

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Cut to the present, he's with the psychiatrist. The voice, which talks gibberish to him, taps his subconscious and takes him back to his past life. This is where Dr Brian Weiss' novel Many Lives Many Masters comes into play. Through regression therapy, we see Dinesh's past life.

On paper, Saithan encompasses multi-genre elements. But on the screen, it's only half-effective.

Last year, SS Rajamouli left the audience awed in the climax of Baahubali. Especially the million-dollar question, 'Why did Katappa kill Baahubali.' Drawing inspirations from Rajamouli, director Pradeep Krishnamoorthy boggles the mind with 'Who's Jayalakshmi?' in Saithan. So much so, that one's bound to ask the lady next seat if her name is Jayalakshmi. After setting the mood of the film, the director keeps building the plot in the first half. Dinesh is married to Aishwarya (Arundhathi Nair), an orphan. Their marriage begins to break apart when Dinesh's past life haunts him. Who is Jayalakshmi? Is Dinesh possessed by her spirit ? Is he hallucinating or is it because of drugs? Where are the villains? What about the mass moments?

Saithan tries to answer these questions, but only if you don't care about the logical connection.

Now, the problem with Saithan is the lack of a solid actor for the female lead. Arundhathi Nair looks like one of those heroine's sidekicks from director Hari's film or from Sasikumar's. She couldn't quite fit into this urban-centric film. One might even ponder about her character's impact, had someone like Aishwarya Rajesh played the part.

Though she's passable for a lossu ponnu, Saithan takes an unwarranted twist before the interval and gives prominence to her character. The pre-interval bit is one of the most satisfying parts of Saithan. Be it the plot building scenes with Dinesh or the pulsating score from Vijay Antony, Saithan soars high in its interval block. A mix of some jarring beats and a classic interlude usher us in for a promising second half.

However, the writing becomes narrow and the plot becomes tedious in the latter half. The film has an interesting portion between the lead actors- Vijay Antony and Arundhathi Nair. But it takes a bizarre turn when a subplot about drugs and organ trafficking takes centrestage.

Vijay Antony knows the fact that he's an okayish actor. However, his choice of films subvert his acting ability, be it Naan (2012) or Pichaikaran (2016). It's sad that Saithan fails to impress the audience like his earlier works.

With that said, it's a delight to watch veteran actor YG Mahendran in a pivotal role. Charuhasan's cameo may result in a fleeting smile for the ones who grew up watching '80s films.

Saithan is a decent attempt from a debutant filmmaker that could have been far better.

( The writer tweets as LoneWolf_7126 )