Saindhav: Meet the pivotal characters of Venkatesh, Sailesh Kolanu’s pan Indian film; here’s a glimpse

Venkatesh, who’s completed nearly three and a half decades in Telugu cinema, isn’t new to Hindi either - Anari, Taqdeerwala, the recent Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan and Netflix’s show Rana Naidu are a few instances where he reached out to a wider audience base. He’s starring in his first pan-Indian film - Saindhav - the 75th project in his career, written and directed by Sailesh Kolanu.

Saindhav is backed by Venkat Boyanapalli of Niharika Entertainments, the banner that bankrolled films like Shyam Singha Roy and Like, Share & Subscribe earlier. The film is coming to theatres for the Christmas weekend - December 22, 2023. Commemorating the 76th Independence Day, the makers of the action entertainer released a special glimpse featuring its lead actors.

“Team #SAINDHAV wishes everyone a Happy Independence Day. Marching ahead in all glory for the mission. #SaindhavOn22ndDEC,” the production house Niharika Entertainment, the cast and crew tweeted. The film has a stellar star cast comprising Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shraddha Srinath, Ruhani Sharma, Andrea Jeremiah, (Baby) Sara and Jayaprakash.

While Venkatesh is seen holding a gun in the glimpse, Nawazuddin grabs your attention with his casual yet menacing avatar (who also holds a gun). Ruhani has a stethoscope, Jayaprakash appears as an officer, Sara holds a pup in her hand though there’s still some mystery around Shraddha and Andrea’s roles. Santhosh Narayanan’s controlled background complements the ambience.

The glimpse suggested that Saindhav may be a road thriller after all; the film’s climax shoot was wrapped up recently. S Manikandan cranks the camera for the same, Garry Bh is the editor and Avinash Kolla is the production designer respectively. Kishore Thallur, S Venkatarathnam (Venkat), and Praveen Ghanta are the co-producer, executive producer and VFX supervisor.