Priyamani only saving grace in 'Saadhyam'

By V.S. Rajapur, Film: "Saadhyam"; Cast: Jagapathi Babu, Priyamani, Keerthi Chawla, Kota Sreenivasa Rao, Thanikella Bharani; Director: Karthikeya Gopalakrishna; Producer: Kumar Brothers; Music: Chinni Charan; Camera: Maro Palini; Rating; * 1/2

Jagapathi Babu and Priyamani gelled well in their two previous films - "Pellaina Kothalo" and "Pravarakyudu" and showed good screen chemistry. Since both the films had good story and handled by an experienced technical team, they were successful in enticing the audience.

But the pair utterly failed in their third film together because the new director Karthikeya Gopalakrishna depended on a shallow script and was not competent enough to present it well on the screen.

The pre-release publicity of the film focused on Priyamani's glamour quotient.

The expectations were high from the film because of the lead pair had delivered two hits earlier. But the audiences will be upset to see an experienced actor like Jagapathi Babu and a talented artist like Priyamani getting lost in the hackneyed script, which is full of loopholes. Even other experienced artists look like a part of an aimless journey called "Saadhyam".

Though the film starts off decently, but all hopes disappear when the confused director takes on to an erratic route. Nothing looks convincing on screen and the performance of experienced artists look ordinary and amateurish.

The viewers will lose interest halfway through the film and it seems that the director didn't bother to make the proceedings interesting. The songs are decently composed, but the director did not know how to place them in the narrative.

Priyamani plays an extremely feeble girl Suhani who fears for everything. Her timidness is connected to her past and she wants to kill the person responsible for it.

Priyamani's oomph factor is the only saving grace in the film, but it is sad to see this actress losing her stature by doing such weak roles. Jagapthi Babu looks good on screen, but does little to save the film. All the character artists like Bharani and Kota are wasted in the film.

Music is okay, but the camera work could have been better.

"Saadhyam" fails to meet the expectations.