The makers of 'Sadhuram 2' are promoting the film as inspired by 'Saw' the 2004 psychological horror thriller through which James Wan stormed Hollywood. The Tamil version is a shot by shot remake barring a few changes to the Jigsaw killer’s characterization.
A doctor (Yog Jaypee) and a photographer (Riaz) two seemingly unconnected people wake up in a dark room with one leg chained to a post. As they come to terms and switch on a light they find each other at the exact opposite with a dead body lying face down in the middle. Through an audio cassette player the abductor informs the doctor that he should kill the photographer or his wife and daughter will be killed. The abductor is watching their every move through CCTV and his motive is for these men to understand the value of their lives and repent as the doctor is having an extramarital relationship and the photographer is a blackmailer. Parallely a passenger flight from Chennai crashes, killing everyone , a former cop is hunting the serial killer while a young man (Kaushik) whose wife(Suja Varunee) is expecting twins is suffering from a brain tumor. How these unconnected threads collide in the end forms the mostly engaging screenplay that leads to a gripping climax.
What the film needs is some great acting from the cast like for example in ‘Demonte Colony’ where most of the action takes place in a single room and Arulnidhi and co. did a great job. Sadly, in ‘Sadhuram 2’ the acting of the entire cast of mostly newcomers and little known faces is average and below which is a big minus. The backstory of the antagonist which has been written for the remake does not make any great impact as it is far fetched. Dialogues are pretty ordinary. Luckily the taut screenplay saves the day for everyone.
The cinematographer has tried his best to recreate the original and succeeds to some extent and the editor should be commended for a neat cut to a complicated screenplay. The true talent of director Sumanth Radhakrishnan will only be known when he makes an original film, but this could serve as a nice little calling card as he has delivered a neat package within high budgetary constraints. Hope this opens the doors for more crowdfunding in Kollywood to make offbeat films for niche audiences.
Verdict: In spite of a few glaring flaws ‘Sadhuram 2’ engages with a taut screenplay leading to an interesting climax. Go for it.
