Sayanna Varthakal is at its best when it seriously pursues the whistleblower and his backstory but falters in other places
This might seem a strange thing to say about a film that has nothing to do with science fiction, but Sayanna Varthakal, Arun Chandu's long-delayed debut feature (his second, Saajan Bakery, was fortunate enough to be released first), recalled some of the low-budget sci-fi movies that Hollywood made in the 80s. Why? Firstly, because it has so much to say. Second, it's also trying to be more than one thing. However, there is a problem: whatever it wants to express isn't fully realised because it seems to have been curtailed by severe budget starvation. I bring up low-budget 80s sci-fi because films like The Terminator and They Live had so much to say within a B-movie budget. Not only did they have thought-provoking genre-specific ideas but potent commentaries about our society, too. So my point is, there are parts of Sayanna Varthakal that really work, and it's mostly the bits where it wants it to be a serious-minded whistleblower thriller that also attempts to inform. The parts that don't work are the bits where it not only wants to be a Sandesham-type satire about unscrupulous politicians but also an absurdist comedy involving an attention-craving actor embarking on an 'experimental', 'single-actor' project helmed by a pretentious filmmaker.
Film: Sayanna Varthakal
Director: Arun Chandu
Cast: Gokul Suresh, Dhyan Sreenivasan, Saranya Sharma
Gokul Suresh...
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