Voice of Sathyanathan Movie Review: A silly, dated film played to Dilieep's strengths

A few minutes into Voice of Sathyanathan, a heavily drunk Sathyanathan (Dilieep) hurls abuses at his Panchayat president for blocking the way to his house. The next morning, he is summoned to the local police station, from where he is taken to New Delhi. There, he is grilled by the country's top security agency before being put behind bars. But why? Because these supposedly highly-educated officials mistake Sathyanathan's threats to be directed at the Indian President, and not the Panchayat president. Sounds silly? Well, brace yourselves for a barrage of such silliness in this 134-minute-long endurance test.

Cast: Dilieep, Joju George, Veena Nandakumar, Jagapathi Babu

Director: Raffi

Dilieep, in his first theatre release in almost three years, gets a character that seems to be meticulously designed to suit his strengths. Sathyanathan is naive, silly, and timid. His slippery tongue lands him in countless troubles—starting from a land-related dispute to eventually finding himself in a terrorist den. Dilieep employs all the tricks up his sleeve to make the fumbles funny but they aren't always effective. At his prime, such a setting would've been a cakewalk for the actor to amp up the humour. But times have changed and with that our sensibilities. It also has to do with Raffi's dated writing and treatment, which is a throwback to Dilieep's films during the 2013-16 period when he delivered a string of hits despite their mediocre quality. 

Voice of Sathyanathan resorts to archaic tropes like falling-in-the-well humour and making fun of someone's disfigured face to elicit cheap laughs. However, if some of these portions work to any extent, it is because of the delightful combination of Dilieep and Siddique. If one is forced to point out the film's positives, then it is this track between Varkichen (Siddique) and Sathyanathan. If forced further, one can also mention Ankit Menon's songs, which include a foot-tapping Hindi rap number. But if the forcing persists, I'm sorry, you're digging an empty grave.

Sathyanathan, declared a threat to national security, gets detained every time he is in close proximity to the President—the Indian president, of course. During his days in prison, he meets Balan (Joju George), who is introduced as a dreaded killer. But anyone who has grown up watching a good dose of the 80s and 90s Malayalam cinema can sense foul play with his imprisonment and where this subplot is heading to. With his earnest performance, Joju lends some gravitas to the proceedings despite the familiar writing and characterisation. Probably the only thing that's refreshing about the film is having Jagapathi Babu in a positive character.

While watching Voice of Sathyanathan, it's hard not to get reminded of How Old Are You? (2014) because of the whole President-connect and particularly with the way both films end. The closure is almost a shot-by-shot replica. But unfortunately, the gratifying nature of the Manju Warrier-starrer hasn't been replicated.