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Saani Kaayidham
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Wikipedia article
'Saani Kaayidham' is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language action crime film directed by Arun Matheswaran. The film stars Keerthy Suresh and director Selvaraghavan in lead roles. Siddharth Ravipati produced the film while the soundtrack and cinematography were handled by Sam C. S. and Yamini Yagnamurthy respectively.
It released on Amazon Prime Video on 6 May 2022 to highly positive reviews from both the critics and audience, with praise for the performances, direction, cinematography, background score, and editing, but criticizing the predictable screenplay and excessive graphic violence.
Plot
Ponni is a hard-working police constable with no big dreams. All she wants is to provide meals to her daughter, Dhanam and save enough money for her education. Ponni's husband Maari, a mill worker aspires to break free from caste-issues and poverty in their village, where he decides to participate in Indian elections. The mill owners, who are powered by their senseless bigotry and caste pride, humiliate the family. In return, Maari humiliates them, which upsets the upper-caste owners. The owners, overcome with shame after being talked back by a lower-caste person, whom they consider an inferior specimen, kill Ponni's husband and Dhanam but Ponni's life is spared after having her brutally assaulted. When she seeks justice for her husband and daughters deaths, the owners use their influence to escape any possible sentence. A traumatised Ponni teams up with her half-brother Sangaiyya to seek vengeance against the upper-caste landlords. They manage to kill the landlords, but some goons chase after the van, While Ponni leaves to fetch Sudalai, Sangaiyya dies by making a gas cylinder explode, thus leaving Ponni devastated.
Cast
* Keerthy Suresh as Ponni
* Selvaraghavan as Sangaiyyah
* Kanna Ravi as Maari
* Lizzie Antony as Advocate Raani
* Vinoth Munna as Deva
* Murugadass as Giri
* R.K. Vijay Murugan as Anbu
Production
The shooting of the film was wrapped up on 18 August 2021 at Adityaram Studios on East Coast Road. Keerthy Suresh plays Ponni and for her it was revealed to be a lean and mean character. Both Keerthy and Selvaraghavan also completed dubbing for their portions.
Music
The music of the film was supposed to be composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, but he was replaced by Sam CS.
Release
The film was released on Amazon Prime Video on 6 May 2022 alongside its dubbed versions in Telugu and Malayalam, with the Telugu version titled 'Chinni'. The film's teaser was released on 22 April 2022.
Reception
M Suganth of 'The Times Of India' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "It is ultimately the performances of Keerthi Suresh, who is terrific as the revenge-obsessed Ponni and Selvaraghavan, who superbly turns Sangayya into the film's beating heart, that hold the film aloft and prevent it from sinking into a mindless violent movie". Ashameera Aiyappan of 'Firstpost' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Saani Kaayidham is a solid revenge drama that achieves its humble aspirations". Janani K of 'India Today' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Saani Kaayidham is a neat revenge thriller which lacks depth in writing. If only Arun added more punch to the story, the film could have been flawless". A Reviewer from 'Pinkvilla' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "This film is worth watching for the performances by the lead actors, and of course, a story that needs to be told. Latha Srinivasan wrote in 'Moneycontrol' that Saani Kaayidam' rests firmly on the shoulders of Keerthy Suresh and Selvaraghavan, and works to a great extent only because of them. Haricharan Pudipeddi of 'The Hindustan Times' stated "The film pushes Keerthy Suresh out of her comfort zone while Selvaraghavan contributes in not making the film end up as a blood-soaked tale of vengeance". Bharathy Singaravel of The News Minute wrote "Filmmakers need to stop, just simply stop using sexual violence as a cinematic prop. Normally, in Tamil films, a womans life is over after she has been sexually assaulted. Saani Khaayidham tries to deviate from that, but ends up reinforcing another trope - that a woman, who is otherwise primarily the wife, daughter, or mother, needs to go through something as traumatic as a sexual assault to become stronger. Srivatsan S of The Hindu wrote "He (Arun Matheswaran) needs to direct his violence towards the audience and not be content with exploiting it for shock value. He needs to direct his violence towards making standout sequences".
References
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