Saindhav Review - A Decent Action Thriller with a few Flaws

Movie: Saindhav
Rating: 2.75/5
Cast: Venkatesh, Shraddha Srinath, Baby Ssara Palekar, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Arya, Ruhani Sharma, Andrea Jeremiah, Jisshu Sen Gupta, and others 
Director: Sailesh Kolanu
Produced By: Venkat Boyanapalli

Release Date: 13th January 2024 

Story:

Saindhav (Venkatesh) works at a harbor in a fictional City called Chandra Prastha. He lives with his daughter Gayatri (Baby Ssara) and neighbor Mano (Shradhha Srinath). In an unexpected turn of events, Saindhav needs a enormous amount of 17 Crores to get an injection which can save his daughter. Also, he has a past life that belonged to a crime cartel in the city. Does Saindhav get successful in his mission? What's his past to do with the crime cartel? Answers to these questions can only be known after watching the film.

Performances:

Baby Ssara Palekar's performance was satisfactory, but Nawazuddin Siddiqui was impressive as well. Shraddha Srinath Arya, Ruhani Sharma, Andrea Jeremiah, Jisshu Sen Gupta, Mukesh Rishi, Jayaprakash, and others were okay.

What worked for the film

The first half of the film sets up the things nicely. Though the film moves slowly, the introduction of the cartel setup and the buildup/mystery behind the hero's past give an intriguing feel. The emotional thread of father and daughter was not great but the effect around the major twist and the subsequent interval episode work well for the film. The action sequences were good. The Climax episode works well and helps the film get an emotional impact which was missing otherwise.

What did not work for the film

The world building of crime cartel was not that effective. The intensity around their crimes was not visible, and no character had any impact on the villains except for Nawazuddin's character. Even Nawaz gets repetitive after entertaining for a while. The emergency regarding the injection lost the effect because of repetitive scenes in the second half. The hero taking on the crime syndicate along with saving his daughter was not dealt properly. The music scored by Santhosh Narayanan was a major drawback for the film. Both the songs and the background score are bad.

Saindhav Movie Review and Verdict:

Overall, Saindhav is a decent action thriller, with a few parts working and a few not. Venkatesh's performance, action sequences and a few good episodes, along with the climax work for the film while the slow and repetitive parts in the second half, lack of emotions work against it.