Sattam En Kayil Movie Review: Sathish’s crime thriller tries to stick to the genre, but hardly evokes any intrigue

2/5

Sattam En Kayil story

Sattam En Kayil is a story that happens in one night, predominantly at a police station somewhere in Yercaud. Gowtham (Sathish) who is found suspecting of his behavior and rash driving at police checks, is brought to the station for further enquiry. While he has a secret of his own, the police officials stationed there are no less, with each of them having a track record for notorious behaviour. With a woman’s dead body found, a chain-snatcher gone missing, and Gowtham caught between corrupt officials, what is the real knot of Sattam En Kayil, is the story.

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Sattam En Kayil review

At the very beginning of the film, we see a man who has been wronged by medical authorities, begging the police officials to get him justice. We are almost convinced when a constable sides with the victim and upright questions the perpetrators for their mistakes. Director Chaachi convinces that the film is onto something, when he makes you believe how officials known for corruption, for once adhere to their responsibilities and raise the right questions. But as you start believing, the cop finishes a deal of bribe to close the case in the most nonchalant way and we see how the complainant is bruised black and blue. Sattam En Kayil too begins to make you wonder about what its knot is, that it forgets to keep you invested in its characters.

With the film majorly happening overnight, and corrupt officials at play, the hero stranded at station for a crime he did not commit (or perhaps?), Sattam En Kayil rather chooses to concentrate on individual scenes for the time being rather than make a cohesive whodunit thriller. For instance, there is Baasha (Pavel Navageethan), an openly corrupt and violent cop, and his senior Nagaraj, who appears to be more approachable to Gowtham to prove his innocence. A play between these two officials, even as the film exploits to a limit, is not enough to make film more intriguing. The scenes appear to be disjointed even if they are sequential, and by the time you near the pre-climax of the film, you begin to guess the connections between characters and deduce this is more of a revenge thriller.

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Sathish headlines the film, and appreciably restrains himself from doing the comedy that he is used to. There is also a portion of vulnerability as well he shows off, and that it is subtle. But the writing does not back the story with dense characters to feel for them. Rather it expects a sudden injection of emotional connection between characters to make the audience empathise with them. And for most parts, Sattam En Kayil also does not go beyond a certain pace to uplift the rhythm of the film. The characters too appear to be laid back despite the whirlwind of emotions and loss they go through, making Sattam En Kayil less to offer.

Sattam En Kayil verdict

Sattam En Kayil tries a lot to stick true to its genre, by doing away with unwanted yet commercial elements like song-dance and comedy. Even as much appreciation to that, the film offers so less meat for audience to consume the genre as a nail-biting experience.