‘Sathya’ has little for genre fans , since action certainly isn’t its forte. Totally missing bite, it’s a flat misfire of a film that is dull and inert at its core, and with far better options all around, ‘Sathya’ might find it difficult to outlive the box office week.
If there is one noble purpose that Jayaram’s latest release ‘Sathya’ has served, it would be the stringent word of warning that rings throughout, that its way past time for him to reinvent and revive himself. True, there has been an attempt on the part of the actor in ‘Sathya’ to move away from the stereotypes that he has been consistently assigned, but with a stilted screenplay, this is one appalling effort that totally backfires, and which is neither ‘mass’ nor ‘cool’.
It’s a long, wearisome journey ahead folks, for Sathya (Jayaram) and the girl he has just managed to haul out of a bar, Rosy (Roma) and for us, who are as clueless as Rosy herself as to where the guy is headed or what his mysterious intentions are. With the memories of a horrifically shot item number blazing in our ears, we sit in wait, for Sathya to come up with a few explanations.
A K Sajan’s writing has none of the vigor or fervor that would make ‘Sathya’ an edge of the seat thriller; and there is no way in which you would relate to his life or his moral quandaries. With a tale that is formless, ‘Sathya’ could even be considered a bland departure from some of his previous works.
What is frightening is the ‘Mass Cool’ attitude that Sathya sports, that can only be watched with bated breath. Dare not blink your eyes for a moment, as the ‘Mass Cool’ effect peters out in less than a moment, and then you have to wait a while before it resurfaces again. You might not be lucky the next time though, since there is a high probability that you might have nodded off by then.
That said, do not even dream of getting a peaceful snooze in there, since ‘Sathya’ has quite a lot of action in store, most of it, the boisterous kind. Overstuffed is the word that comes to mind, and there seems to be an overdose of almost everything in the film, that finally takes the form of a disjointed mess.
Sometimes you end up looking for something – some remote thing at least – that would justify your decision to have walked in to watch a film. ‘Sathya’ has those hunting moments galore, wherein you are engaged in this frantic search to isolate one desolate character, emotion or an object that would redeem your faith in cinema.
If I thus had to pick one, I would go for that composition by Gopi Sunder that goes ‘Chilankakal..’ that again, sadly isn’t easy on the eyes. When item numbers have started giving even commercial cinema a bad name, ‘Sathya’ has them in abundance, and its songs could best be enjoyed with your eyes closed.
This is a sad film for Jayaram; one that he would certainly be remembered for, mostly for the salt and pepper looks that he sports in it, and also for the hardy hero who never got to score. It’s been a while since Roma has been around, and ‘Sathya’ asserts that we haven’t missed much. Parvathy Nambiar looks stiffly uneasy as well.
‘Sathya’ has little for genre fans , since action certainly isn’t its forte. Totally missing bite, it’s a flat misfire of a film that is dull and inert at its core, and with far better options all around, ‘Sathya’ might find it difficult to outlive the box office week.
Verdict: Disaster