Saithaan movie review: Vijay Anthony plays to his strength and delivers

Director: Pradeep Krishnamoorthy

Cast: Vijay Antony, Arundhati Nair, Y.GEE. Mahendran, Kitty, Murugadoss

Saithaan comes after Vijay Antony delivered a huge hit ‘Pichaikkaran.’ And his bold and new method of marketing to reveal a 10 minutes clip from the movie before its release raised big anticipation. Inspired partially from popular late writer Sujatha Rangarajan’s novel Aaah, did Saithaan – touted to be a psychological thriller – live up to the expectations?

Dinesh (Vijay Antony) is a calm person and a brilliant software engineer. He leads a happy life with an appreciative boss (Y Gee Mahendran), a colleague and friend (Aadukalam Murugadoss) and a doting mom (Meera Krishnan). Things turn topsy-turvy when Dinesh marries Aishwarya (Arundhati Nair) whom he finds through a matrimonial website.

Dinesh starts hearing weird voices and strange figures from his brain, which ask him to, either commit suicide or kill one Jayalakshmi. His boss takes him to a hypnotherapist (Kitty), who finds out during the course of treatment that Dinesh is suffering from a problem related to his earlier birth. Who is Jayalakshmi and in what way she is connected with Dinesh now, forms the rest of the story, most part of which is narrated in a riveting manner.

The first half is highly gripping, suspense filled and you have enough twists and turns to keep you hooked to your seats. Thanks to the debut director Pradeep Krishnamoorthy’s innovative screenplay and a haunting background score from Vijay Antony, the film moves along at a brisk pace. Post interval when the actual reasons for Dinesh’s bizarre situation is unraveled, the film loses its steam and travels in a predictable manner with a typical baddie who is behind creating the havoc and a over the top climax stunts (which is normally associated with a mass hero). There’s not much for the horror lovers.

Vijay Antony’s major success can be attributed to the smart choices he makes while choosing a script and playing to his strength. Saithaan is no different. He shines in both the roles of Dinesh and a Tamil Brahmin teacher Sharma. Like any other Antony’s films, here also the heroine has a meaty role and Arundhati Nair makes use of it fully. Y.Gee Mahendran, Charuhaasan and Kitty are aptly cast in supporting roles. Cinematography by Pradeep Kalipurayat aides the narration and goes well with its mood.