Sakhavu movie Revew : An engaging political drama

Sakhavu has the attire of a mainstream commercial cinema. But this Sidhartha Siva film isn’t entirely trying to capitalize on the left sentiments of the majority. Even after being predictable, Sakhavu succeeds in being an emotionally convincing movie on being a role model political worker and the commercial ingredients helps it in being cheerful.

The SFK leader Krishnakumar is this power driven person. He is there in the students association just to capitalize the opportunity to get better positions. One day, the seniors in his party asked him to help a family in the district medical college. Whose family is that patient and how that person’s story influences Krishnakumar is what Sakhavu all about.

Oru Mexican Aparatha was one movie that couldn’t really use its platform to say something politically correct beyond the mere left hailing agenda. Sakhavu manages to look in to the idea of communism and comradery in a slightly better way. In a scene in the movie, Comrade Krishnan is talking about the significance of politics through the example of a pen and the movie Sakhavu gets its credibility through such sequences. More than about being a leftist, the film becomes a take on having a political opinion. The fight sequence in the last quarter to glorify Sakhavu Krishnan could have been avoided. The predictable nature of the film got covered up by certain dialogues that emphasized on the communist ideologies.

Krishnakumar is a character that is pretty much in the safe zone of actor Nivin Pauly. His flow in performance and comic timing makes that portion enjoyable. The Sakhavu Krishnan part needed a bit more organic and restrained performance, but Nivin’s portrayal wasn’t that great there mainly due to the dialogue delivery factor. Aishwarya Rajesh was good. Aparna Gopinath was also impressive. Althaf who was last seen in Premem is here and he did a nice job. Binu Pappu manages to create an impression. The cast includes actors like Sreenivasan, Gayathri Suresh, Musthafa, Sudheesh and a few more as various characters.

Sidhartha Siva is not trying to make a film that simply exaggerates left propaganda. He uses a very simple structure to build a plot and works on the commercial elements to enrich them. In that process he makes sure that the movie isn’t shallow. Apolitical nature, caste based discriminations, greed for power etc. are mentioned in the movie. George C Williams’s frames are good. Prashanth Pillai’s music was really impressive. Ranjith Ambady’s make up adds more credibility to the looks.

Sakhavu has its flaws for sure. There are areas that need rework. But the film has a quality in its entirety and it isn’t trying to capitalize on the instant likeability such a communist ideology oriented movie could get.