Saani Kaayidham is not for the weak-hearted. Writer-director Arun Matheswaran has created a 138-minute long cinematic world loaded with gory, disturbing, and gut-wrenching violence, which is only the second instalment in what he describes as a “revenge trilogy”. The Tamil film, streaming on Amazon Prime Video, may not be easy to watch, but there are several moments sprinkled throughout the narrative, making it an indulgent tale of revenge drama.
Violence is an essential cog of Saani Kaayidham — it is the facilitator for the initial conflict, the solution, and redemption. The motives behind the violent actions vary but it is a language that everyone speaks fluently in Matheswaran’s cinematic landscape.
Ponni (Keerthy Suresh) and Sangaiah (K. Selvaraghavan) are half brother and sister who are brought together for a common purpose—revenge. It all begins after Ponni’s husband gets into a scuffle with his colleagues at a mill in the hinterlands of Tamil Nadu. To avenge their insult, the mill workers decide to—as often seen in Indian cinema—target Ponni. After brutally assaulting her, the men burn down Ponni’s hut while her husband and daughter, Dhanam, are sleeping inside. Her brother, Sangaiah, who shares an estranged relationship with Ponni, holds her daughter dear to his heart. After the mill workers run away following a court hearing that had sentenced them to 15-day remand custody, Ponni decides to take revenge as she deems fit. Sangaiah joins her.
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The ‘violent’ trauma in Saani Kaayidham
From here on, the two head out on a killing spree. Do not mistake this for a ‘regular murder’ or ‘shoot one in the face’ death. Ponni is adamant to kill the men responsible in a manner where their suffering lasts for as long as possible. In one scene, she asks Sangaiah to pour acid on the man’s penis after she hits his head with a brick and breaks a bottle on his face. Director Matheswaran allows cinematographer Yamini Yagnamoorthy to capture Pooni’s angst steadily until she lets it all out. In another scene, she slits a man’s throat—steadily—with a machete while the blood spews over her face with a sequence from Mahabharatham playing in the background. At the moment, as Ponni channelises her inner Panchali, her fury knows no bounds. Every time she takes up a weapon or her eyes evoke anger, you get a glimpse of how the trauma of being violated and losing her loved ones has pierced through her psyche, and justifiably so.
Sangaiah, as Ponni’s deputy, is not as confrontational in dealing with his trauma or grief. As opposed to her, he is calmer and has made peace with his reality. In one of the earlier scenes, he tells Ponni how the same men who assaulted her, had killed his wife and daughter. Ponni asks him if he ever thought of taking revenge, but Sangaiah has no concrete answer. As she expresses her desire for vengeance, Sangaiah agrees to be her charioteer.
United by a common motive, Ponni and Sangaiah also differ in their approaches. At one point, Sangaiah tries to save a blind boy because of his friendship with Dhanam, but Ponni is adamant to kill the boy as she believes he was complicit in the heinous crime she endured.
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Exceptional acting, punctured plot
Both Keerthy Suresh and Selvaraghavan are exceptional as Ponni and Sangaiah. This is not to say that Saani Kaayidham is flawless. It comes close but falls short. As it turns out, Arun Matheswaran’s strength lies in being a director. The film has a steady pace like most classic films do. The symphony of creative technicalities like cinematography, production design, and direction has resulted in some of the most picturesque scenes to the point where it feels like an additional character in the film. The film seamlessly flows from the present to glimpses of the past in monochromatic colours. The clean, long sequences are a testament to Matheswaran’s immense talent.
However, the story has way too many punctures. How Ponni and Sangaiah face no hurdles in catching the perpetrators one by one is simplistic to the point that it feels like a joke. Due to this, Ponni’s revenge and violent actions come across as stylised instead of genuine.
Saani Kaayidham is the brutal revenge of a woman disappointed by the system around her. While it was released on an OTT platform, it has the chops for the silver screen. If only the story had more punch in it, this could have easily passed as a classic.
(Edited by Srinjoy Dey)