Director: SR Prabhakaran
Cast: Vikram Prabhu, Manjima Mohan, Kavin, Aishwarya Dutta
Set in Trichy backdrop, Sathriyan is a gangster film where two powerful gangs, one led by Samithiram (Sarath Lohitaswa) and the other helmed by Shankar (Aruldoss) who has the support of a local minister (Poster Nandhakumar) indulge in all kinds of nefarious activities to prove their one-upmanship.
Meanwhile, to curb the soaring popularity (!) of Samuthiram in the political arena, the minister hatches a plan and bumps off the former with the help of Shankar.
Now, the onus falls on Samuthiram’s next in line –Ravi (Vijay Murugan) to look after the former’s family that includes his wife (Thara), college going daughter Niranjana (Manjima Mohan) and son Niranjan (Soundararajan) who is a coward.
When Niranjana finds it difficult to go to college owing to problems created by smalltime thugs, Ravi employs his right-hand Guna (Vikram Prabhu) as her bodyguard. Over the period, the duo falls in love, which apparently did not go well with Niranjana’s family as well as with Ravi. When Ravi warns Guna to move away from Niranjana, it is too late, as Guna wants to turn a new leaf in life.
However, in a turn of events, Shankar brutally attacks Guna with the help of his underlings. Fortunately, a medical student (Kavin) on intern saves Guna’s life. How Guna fights back his enemies and saves his love forms the rest of the story.
Vikram Prabhu has done a good job and as usual he is treat to watch in action sequences. Manjima is okay in a role with substance. All other baddies are just about adequate. Kavin and Aishwarya Dutta don’t contribute much to the story. Yogi Babu appears from nowhere in two scenes and disappears.
SR Prabhakaran has chosen a gangster plot, which is an all-time favorite of Indian cinema, provided it is well executed. Though the film starts off with a bright note with some interesting twists, it fizzles out midway with an unexciting screenplay. There are no convincing backstories as to how and why Vikram Prabhu resorted to rowdyism. The director could have infused few twists and turns and enough enjoyable elements in the later half to sustain audiences’ interest. However, some of the dialogues are noteworthy and the message against violence is conveyed well.
Technically, Yuvan Shankar Raja’s background score sounded different and Sivakumar Vijayan’s visuals are worth mentioning.
