Saindhav marks the collaboration of veteran star Venkatesh and upcoming director Sailesh Kolanu. The film released in theaters today and he let us see what is has to offer.

Story: Saindhav (Venkatesh) has a treacherous past that is loaded with violence. While he leads a happy life with his wife(Shraddha Srinath) and daughter in the current day, he is forced to go back to his old ways after he discovers that his daughter needs a syringe worth Rs 17 crores to battle a rare medical condition. What will Saindhav do now to save his daughter?

How did the actors perform?

Venkatesh has played a very intense role in the film. He wasn't seen in such an intense avatar in the recent past. He delivers full justice to the role with his fine performance in this tailor made role. He excels in the emotional sequences. 

Shraddha Srinath has limited screen time and she does a fine job in this constrained space. Nawazuddin Siddiqui delivers a thumping performance. 

What about the technical finesse?

The director, Sailesh has picked an intriguing premise and loaded it with action blocks. The action part works but there is no compelling drama to sustain the drive it. The music director Santosh Narayanan has put on a disaster class with his weak soundtrack. The making values are very good. 

Analysis:

Saindhav takes a good 30 minutes to set into the real core point and this time has simply been wasted with unnecessarily long character establishment tracks. A better start was needed for the film. 

The interval block, where there is the big reveal about the main conflict of the protagonist's daughter needing the costly syringe works out well. This sets the stage for the second half. The film needed a big second half to make up for the lost ground with the first half.

But the director fails in delivering a good second half that doesn't have the impetus to make for a compelling thriller. The climax payoff is not worth the build up. The film has been ended on a hurried note just to keep the overall runtime short and crisp. 

The writing for most part underwhelms big time and this isn't expected from a capable filmmaker like Sailesh Kolanu. His writing is shallow and incoherent. 

Verdict: Saindhav is a weak thriller that doesn't have the impetus to make for a compelling watch. It isn't the kind of film that is expected to fare well this Sankranthi. It might struggle big time at the box office.

Rating: 2/5