Satham Indri Mutham Tha Movie Review: An invested Srikanth can’t salvage this amateurish thriller 

In Satham Indri Mutham Tha, Srikanth is introduced as ‘Anonymous’, a contract killer who always finds a way to escape from the clutches of the police. He murders with suave as he neatly slashes throats with his knife, even in crowded places like a bar. Adding to the intrigue, he leaves no traces and his identity remains a secret to all but one determined officer. Until here, Satham Indri Mutham Tha seemed like a concept with potential. But its subsequent shift of focus on love, lust and a lot more things, over the cop and culprit chase, makes it an amateurish thriller with loopholes aplenty.

Director: Rajdev

Cast: Srikanth, Priyanka Timmesh, Hareesh Peradi

Satham Indri Mutham Tha starts with an accident involving Sandhya (Priyanka Timmesh), who is rescued by Srikanth’s character. An amnesiac post-accident, Sandhya is told by Srikanth that he is her husband, Raghu. The film then tries to find answers to why he, a contract killer, abducts her and what are his intentions with her.

Satham Indri Mutham Tha has very few characters, and the third most important character next to the two leads is Hareesh Peradi’s Inspector Edward, who has a long history with Anonymous and is determined to catch him. The cat-and-mouse conflict between Srikanth and Hareesh seemed to be potent enough to be an entire film on its own. However, as the title suggests, the core concept of the film lies in a sexual fantasy, and a committed Hareesh is reduced to a mere supporting character in the film.

At crucial points in the film Hareesh, Priyanka, and even Srikanth resort to conversing in English, over Tamil. While Hareesh’s character repeats goes a notch higher and translates his English dialogues to Tamil, reminding us of Major Sundarrajan from the 60s. Though the film makes us accustomed to such juvenile issues within a while, things get way too bizarre when it goes on to call BDSM as ‘pervertedness’.

A voyeuristic ‘item song’ in the middle of nowhere, and the director’s approach towards justifying a title that adds absolutely no value to the film’s plot itself, are probably the actual problematic portions of the thriller.

Additionally, it doesn't help that the film’s female lead character, Sandhya, who is the victim all throughout, does not even try to think on her feet. Having experienced a terrifying attempt to murder, and an abduction, Sandhya can still not think of calling the Police when her life is in danger. Instead, she chooses to confront the antagonist and run around to save herself.

To give credit where it is due, Srikanth is sincere and convincing in his portrayal of the anonymous contract killer, who operates with a level of crypticity until the final twist. But even an invested Srikanth cannot salvage this thriller that eventually treads into a space of unintentional humour. Despite a decent enough twist at its end, Satham Indri Mutham Tha squanders its potential. Well, is it too much to ask for a focussed thriller sans the distractions, or should I say, 'Distractions Indri Thrillers Tha'?