Sattam En Kaiyil Review - A Decently Engaging Thriller!

Ashwin Ram

Sattam En Kaiyil is a thriller flick starring Sathish in the lead role. The film is directed by Chachi.

Premise:

Sathish commits a road accident and the man who got hit in his car dies at the spot. He hides the body in the trunk, but gets caught by a cop. What happens after he is taken under the Police custody forms the remaining story.

Writing/ Direction:

The basic thumb rule of the genre is to hook and send us off with a convincing twist in the end, in that case the film gets the basics right. Director Chachi has delivered a worthy screenplay that would keep the audience invested in the story throughout, the writing is also clever in certain parts. There are some interesting scenes which have a solid setup to it, but falters during payoff, Sathish purposefully damaging his car windows for example, the reason he gives for the activity is lame. The play within the Police station and the egoistic behavior of the cops are shown well, which also involves them into the story world deeply. The core backstory is simplistic, yet the manner in which the characters are developed and the situations are executed make it a satisfying outing. Downside, there are shortcomings in the form of logical errors, not completing some emotional arcs, offering nothing new and mainly the directorial craft being mediocre. Indeed there are some good turns in the flow, but the title could have been different to avoid the predictability factor. The low production cost was evident in some parts of the making quality. Also, the core emotion didn’t really work as they were conveyed in a rushed and vague manner.

Performances:

Sathish is focused and he has done the stammering portions neatly. Solid roles for Ajay Raaj and Pavel Navageethan, the story flows on their shoulders for quite a while and they both have played their part superbly. The other supporting characters in the Police stations have delivered natural performances. Vidya Pradeep and her son characters were unnecessarily added, there would have been no difference in their absence.

Technicalities:

A couple of passable songs that help the narrative with apt lyrics, background score is pretty good for the thrilling mood. Night shots have enough brightness, and there is a nice single-shot sequence, but otherwise there are many weak and plain frames. The film is tight and the crisp two hours runtime helps. Poor stunt choreography, the two crucial car accident scenes look very fake on-screen.

Bottomline

Might not be an edge-of-the-seat flick, yet it has ample interesting elements to hold throughout. The emotions are underwhelming, but the reasoning is strong enough.

Rating - 2.75/ 5