‘Sabapathy’ film assessment: Santhanam’s newest has an thrilling plot however is let down by tepid writing

R Srinivasa Rao’s Sabapathy jogged my memory of Mr. Denton on Doomsday, an episode from Rod Serling’s cult traditional TV collection, The Twilight Zone. Within the latter, destiny, personified as a wierd salesman, saves a former gunslinger’s life from continual alcoholism and a fatally harmful duel by giving him a gun and a tiny bottle of magical potion. Destiny, which is often blamed by people for his or her misfortunes, lends a serving to hand to a fallen man.

In Sabapathy, too, destiny is personified. Destiny on this movie is a VFX creation — a man with a longish beard and a baritone voice who sits in a dimly lit room and does unusual issues like reversing the collapse of a card fort. He, like the salesperson in The Twilight Zone episode, intervenes within the lifetime of the struggling and stammering Sabapathy (Santhanam) to make it higher.

Nevertheless, in contrast to The Twilight Zone episode, which readily evokes philosophical contemplation (as most The Twilight Zone episodes do), Sabapathy, as a consequence of its ineffectual screenplay, leaves you with that feeling of showering in lukewarm water on a moist, chilly morning. If solely the water had been hotter. As a result of the plot of Sabapathy, though not fully novel, is strong: a naive good man, struggling in life, will get a suitcase full of money belonging to a corrupt politician. That is the purpose the place Destiny decides to intervene in his life. However the build-up so far and its aftermath are tiresome.

The writing is to be blamed. The construct as much as the intermission, the place Sabapathy finds the suitcase, is tiresome. A few of the scenes between Santhanam and MS Bhaskar work to an extent as a consequence of their performances. And, Cooku With Comali-fame Pugazh, who performs Santhanam’s ‘quarter’-loving buddy of Santhanam on his big-screen debut, delivers a couple of one-liners. However barring a couple of such moments, no traces stick.

The tone of the film fluctuates wildly within the second half. For some time, it needs to be a madhouse caper with many individuals chasing after the identical object, leading to comical accidents. However a couple of moments later, it will get all motivational.

However it was refreshing to see Santhanam not arising with a one-liner or a retort each two minutes he’s on display screen. What Sivakarthikeyan did in Physician, Santhanam does in Sabapathy. Enjoying an ungainly, small-town man with a stammer, Santhanam, for probably the most half, doesn’t remind you of Santhanam. Additionally refreshing to see was the movie not veering away from the plot, aside from an pointless combat sequence and songs. All this ends in a Sabapathy that isn’t lengthy…however had the writing been stronger, it might have been extra than simply watchable.