Sanikelamai Sayaungalam 5 Mani ,Review

[Friday, December 10, 2010]
Movie
Sanikelamai Sayaungalam 5 Mani
Director
Ravi Bharathi
Cast
Malini, Sarath
Movie Review
Sanikkilamai Sayangalam 5 Mani’s claim to fame is that it is the first film that has been shot using the HDSLR technology. We’ve had films in which cinematographers used digital cameras, but here still cameras have been used.
Debutant director Ravi Bharathi has tried to make a village-based crime thriller, which begins on a Saturday evening at 5 p.m. and ends at the same time, on the same day, in the following week.

The film starts with the heroine, Maha (Malini), in wedding attire boarding a bus from Kodaikanal to Vethalagundu. She’s on her way to meet her boyfriend Sakthi (Sarath) and do a quick registered marriage.

There is pressure at home over a marriage proposal that she is not keen on. She is constantly on the phone with Sakthi during the journey, but her phone suddenly goes dead and she vanishes into thin air.

Maha’s uncle, a cop, starts a missing person hunt, and Sakthi is the prime suspect. However, when he is questioned, the cop realises Sakthi is innocent and lets him go on bail.

Now Sakthi and his friends start their own investigation by piecing together the evidence they get.

Sanikkilamai Sayangalam 5 Mani follows the pattern set by Samuthirakanni’s Nadodigal - of friends coming to hero’s rescue in his troubled times. The hero’s doggedness and friends’ support is what unravels the mystery of the missing heroine.

The trouble with the suspense laden plot is that it is slow and songs in flashback comes as a speed breaker. The story and screenplay lacks logic and just drags on to a predictable climax.

The first 15 minutes of the film moves at a brisk pace before things start slowing down. There are also a lot of similarities with some of the recent crop of films.

The newcomers in the film are a major drawback, as they cannot emote. Music is jarring. The only silver lining is the HDSLR camera work.