Saripodhaa Sanivaaram review: Barring a few drawbacks, Nani’s film is entertaining

Surya (Nani) patiently waits until Saturday to unleash his anger against those who have wronged him. Dayanand (SJ Suryah) unleashes his anger at anyone at any time without even a reason. The conflict between these two contrasting characters and the interesting lead up to their confrontation is what makes up Saripodhaa Sanivaaram.  

The film directed by Vivek Athreya stars Nani, SJ Suryah, Sai Kumar, Priyanka Mohan, Murali Sharma, Abhirami, Aditi Balan, and others. 

Surya works as an LIC insurance agent. On every Saturday, he takes a holiday from work to fulfil his other duty — beat up people who have done wrong. Seemingly inspired by the popular animation series Death Note, he has a book where he notes down the names of the people who have troubled him during the week. If by Saturday, his anger has subsided, he strikes off their name. But if he is still angry at them, he picks a fight with them and assaults them. 

Dayanand, the Circle Inspector of the fictional village Sokula Palem, is a cruel man who derives pleasure from punishing people. Whenever he is in a bad mood, he takes out his anger at the residents of Sokula Palem. The village is inspired by Stuartpuram village near Guntur, a penal settlement established by the British to confine a marginalised community by labelling the entire tribe as “criminals.” The action led to stigmatisation of the entire village, who were branded as thieves and criminals. The police also have a prejudice against the residents of this village. Ravi Teja’s recent film Tiger Nageswara Rao was also based on Stuartpuram. 

Saripodhaa Sanivaaram is largely a well-written film. Every scene and character is relevant to the story. Each time you try to predict the plot, Athreya cleverly surprises you by widening the canvas.

Usually, after the first half of the film, one can mostly tell if the story is not going to have any more surprises. But in Saripodhaa Sanivaaram, the director consistently tries to add an interesting element to heighten the drama until the climax. 

Though the runtime of the film is nearly 2.50 hours, the screenplay keeps the audience engaged thoroughly. 

But the film does have its flaws. In the beginning I was in awe with the way the character of Dayanand is introduced and his relationship with Koorma (Murali Sharma) is established in a simple scene with a lengthy monologue. But later, these dialogues also became its undoing.  

The film would have been even better if Athreya did not heavily rely on dialogues to take forward the story. The thrilling cat-and-mouse game between Surya and Dayanand gets ruined when Athreya does not write scenes but sums up a significant twist through a dialogue. 

The scenes of Dayanand deducing that the attacker who assaulted him had some connection to Saturday, or the scene of him narrowing down the attacker seem superficial. Instead of writing these scenes, Athreya chooses the easy path of abruptly ending the suspense. You can feel that the director is in a hurry to get to the climax.

Similarly, when the residents of Sokula Palem gather the courage to confront Dayanand, the scene feels forced. There is no emotional depth to it because Athreya again crutches on dialogues to show what these residents feel. A scene or two before this build up would have added heft to the film. 

The film has several interesting threads, like Surya having a crush on his cousin, Surya’s relationship with his sister. And Vivek Athreya brilliantly ties together these threads culminating in the climax of the film. 

Saripodhaa Sanivaaram has perfect casting. Nani shines in the role of Surya, convincingly portraying the character who is both calm and yet so aggressive.  

As an unhinged police officer, Suryah is impressive. Though his fake moustache and eyebrows are distracting, Suryah makes up for it through his exceptional performance. 

While Priyanka Mohan does not have much of a role, she does an adequate job. Murali Sharma, Sai Kumar, and Abhirami prove their versatility yet again. 

Cinematographer Murali G does a brilliant job in executing the fight scenes. Jakes Bejoy’s music is a mild let-down, as his background scores are too overpowering and loud. 

Despite the drawbacks, Saripodhaa Sanivaaram can be watched for the performances and the fluid screenplay. 

Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the producers or any other members of its cast and crew.