Saani Kaayidham movie review: Keerthy Suresh, Selvaraghavan shine in this unrestrained flow of savagery

Ponni is a hard-working woman with no big dreams. All she wants is to provide three square meals every day to her daughter Dhanam and save enough money for her education. She has no skin in the toxic game of masculinity. And yet, she becomes the target.

One of Ponni’s rapists tells his accomplices, “I am sure this is her house. I have followed her to this place many times before.” It is like Ponni’s husband gave these men an excuse to fast track their wish to commit the heinous crime. An excuse they could use to justify their hate-filled actions, something they probably would have done anyway. But, now in their own twisted moral sense, they have an excuse to act on their deranged desire and will.

Ponni is beaten, humiliated and violated by four men, who also lock up her husband and daughter in their own house, and set it ablaze. The scene plays out longer than we would like. But, the crime is shown from the perspective of the victim, capturing the nauseating ugliness of the actions of these men. It’s repulsive and unsettling. Arun knows that it’s important to make the audience feel the inhumanity of the crime so that when the perpetrators are butchered inhumanly by Ponni, we don’t hate her.

Keerthy Suresh in Saani Kaayidhame. (Photo: Amazon Prime Video)

In her mission to get revenge, Ponni teams up with Sangaiah (Selvaraghavan), with whom she shares a troubled history. They don’t talk to each other and yet they share a mutual fondness for each other, which they never disclose.

Saani Kaayidham is a no-nonsense revenge drama with non-stop action, meaning an unrestrained flow of savagery. Keerthy Suresh gets to perform some action scenes and punchlines that are usually reserved for male superstars. With flared up nostrils and an unquenchable urge for vengeance channelled through her physical acting, Keerthy makes us feel her loss and her need to kill as a way of healing her wounded heart and soul.

Selvaraghavan fits effortlessly in the role of a man with deep despondency and hoping to find something good in this harsh life, he could live for. Arun is uncompromising in showing the gravity and the magnitude of the consequences that could be unleashed by one single hate crime.

The violence, torture and deaths, and a lot of deaths, form the core experience of Arun’s movies. It is not something we are used to in Tamil cinema but something we may develop a taste for if we can manage to see the primal truth that provides Arun’s characters with a superhuman capacity for brutality and violence.

The intent of Arun’s movies is not very different from the kind of movies made by Pa.Ranjith and Mari Selvaraj. While the latter filmmakers use the gifts of cinematic landscape to shine a light on the evils of casteist practices, in the hope of increasing our empathy, Arun serves the same purpose from the other end of the spectrum. He shows the unadulterated vision of what happens when we let hate into our hearts and the toll that it takes on the human psyche and our civilization. If Ranjith and Selvaraj use carrots, Arun employs a stick.

Saani Kaayidham movie director: Arun Matheswaran
Saani Kaayidham movie cast: Keerthy Suresh, Selvaraghavan
Saani Kaayidham movie rating: 3 stars