In the first hour of Sailesh Kolanu’s Telugu film Saindhav, which is written and directed by him, various characters repeatedly declare, “SaiKo is back,” with horror in their eyes. SaiKo refers to the protagonist Saindhav Koneru, portrayed by Venkatesh Daggubati. Without hurry, Sailesh explains the legend around SaiKo and what makes him so terrifying. He has faith that the audience will accept the myth and exercise patience, in part because this is the actor’s 75th movie in the role and he exudes the necessary aura for the role. The director does not want the past to overpower the urgent plot, which is one of the reasons for this.Does it function? The response is not in the affirmative.
The movie’s and its characters’ more positive qualities come first. Nothing unusual is happening to Saindhav; he is living a regular life. With his daughter Gayathri (Ssara Palekar), he works as a crane operator at the port and resides in a middle-class neighbourhood. A mature actor playing the father of a child who might be six or seven years old is not taken for granted by the movie. To his neighbor Manognya (Shraddha Srinath), who adores his daughter and keeps a candle burning for him, Saindhav confides in her about his age. It’s a positive step to make the observation that the ages are different. Over time, several aspects of Manognya’s life become apparent, including her background, her means of subsistence, and the source of her sense of agency.
Given the dark activities in the port city, such as the trade of drugs, ammunition, and power plays, a sense of unease and dread permeates the story even when it concentrates on Saindhav and his family. The activities of the drug cartel become entangled with Saindhav’s personal quest to save his daughter, who has been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy and needs an injection costing ₹17 crore. The daughter thinks her father is a superman who will always stand by her side. On paper, the idea of bringing a flaming hero back from sabbatical to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of saving his daughter sounds intriguing.
However, the storyline on screen veers between attempts to satisfy the demands of the stars and to provide an engrossing action and emotional drama. The declaration that “SaiKo is back” is overused, and the protagonist’s aura is overly developed with slow motion swagger. There is a lot of spoonfeeding when Saindhav enters the arena and the power struggles between the cartel members Viswamitra (Mukesh Rishi), Vikas Malik (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), Jasmine (Andrea Jeremiah), and Michael (Jisshu Sengupta) commence. This is especially true when Saindhav’s every move is explained in detail. Sailesh believed that the audience would follow along and make sense of the proceedings in his first film, HIT: The First Case. That would have been a wise move for Saindhav.
Fortunately, as the battle lines are established and we discover that Vikas may be a more powerful opponent than Saindhav anticipated, the movie returns to its intended course. A few of the action scenes and cat-and-mouse games are engaging, and the clever narrative decision to provide just enough information about Saindhav’s history without going overboard in a flashback is also noteworthy. There are a few wonderful payoffs after the first hour, such as an episode featuring a stylish automobile.
Venkatesh, who carries the movie through all of its high points and bad points, is the rightful owner of Saindhav. It goes without saying that he would do well in the sentimental scenes; in the action sequences, he also makes a strong impression as a threatening old pro who demonstrates his continued seriousness. It’s difficult to ignore the John Wick influences, and Sailesh pays tribute to Kamal Haasan in a fleeting Hey Ram scene.