Saithan Tamil Movie
Disclaimer: This 2016 Tamil movie is not to be confused with the 2011 Hindi thriller that has the same name.
At the beginning of this movie, it is mentioned that this has been partially inspired by late writer Sujatha's novel (Aahh!). I haven't read the novel, so cannot comment on what part of the movie has been inspired and what has been manipulated. However, I could sense writer Sujatha's allusion throughout, especially the point where science meet nature meet super human abilities. The movie's trailer raised a lot of enthusiasm and dropped some bread crumbs that it might not be a true-blue supernatural thriller but there might be some surprise elements. Thanks to the late writer, this movie packed some serious punch in terms of laying out a solid plot, but as for the finesse in direction, it left a lot to be desired.
The story is about a yuppy IT pro, Dinesh (Vijay Antony) who starts hearing strange voices from within soon after he gets married to Aishwarya (Arundhathi Nair). As his condition worsens, he gets reduced to a chronic psychic who struggles to differentiate between his real and illusionary world. His search for the unknown eventually opens up a bag of worms and murkier details emerge making him realize that he is part of a bigger conspiracy.
As a novel, I guess this might have been a page turner as the majority of the screenplay and mise en scene is left to the audience to interpret and weave through in their heads with respect to their whims and fancies. This is the case with every novel and also this poses a major threat for any movie that gets adapted to screen from a successful novel. Doing full justice for a novel on screen is next to impossible. Robert Langdon series would be a classic mainstream example. Likewise, this movie had a great potential to be an edge of the seat thriller, but the amateurish screenplay and abrupt character arcs have played spoilsport.
The narrative was conspicuously rushed! This is one of the few movies where the lead man gets married at the drop of a hat. Not a bad thing at all, but the movie doesn't settle into a rhythm from then on. It just doesn't have that sort of a maturity that is needed for this script. Even during the climax, the villain who was shown as a decked up mass of evil until then is reduced to a tear of laughter with a few rushed-out lines from the hero. Maybe this script required a much more experienced hand, with the likes of K.V.Anand who would have made merry by tossing some serious masala.
However, debutant director Pradeep Krishnamoorthy does certain things right by keeping the narrative intact and focused even with these roughed up edges. Firstly, the length of the movie being a little over 2 hours was commendable; having the murkiness under the wraps for almost nearly 2 hours deserves some browny points as well, and finally having just 2 songs in this movie with the BGM doing the talking should be appreciated as well. Apart from these, I am not able to recollect something that clicked for this movie, except for the dexterously done 2.5 D title card. Just wondering how different this movie would have been had Sujatha penned the screenplay and dialogs? Even now, this certainly ain't a bad movie, but all my crib is that it could have been a great one with a much tighter and sensible screenplay.
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