When it comes to the discussion of which industry has successfully created an epithet of gathering audience en masse, turning single screens into a carnival of emotions and celebration every time a new film releases, almost everyone will concede to the common conclusion only – Telugu industry, or Tollywood. Throughout the years, they have crafted their form of adding the element of “masala” in their films, with mythological references to melodramatic moments of euphoria. With time, they slowly spread their legacy across all regions. Now, they are being held as one of the most celebratory and mammoth industries in this country, in terms of popularity and associating with the actors as a part of their lifestyle, going beyond the usual meaning of fandom.

Amidst the wave of these mega-scaled commercial films, there seems to be a new pattern of coalescing innovative filmmaking elements to these stories, creating more ways to cultivate those similar emotions in a different manner, which has led to the emergence of many upcoming talents. Vivek Athreya is still a freshman in this industry, with his signature traits of tweaking screenplay elements and yet making them attractive and entertaining. His third film, “Saripodhaa Sanivaaram” deals with similar constraints as well, this time deviating from his usual choice of genres of dark comedy and lighthearted emotions.

The story is rather wafer-thin made crispy with a new perspective of storytelling. Dealing with anger issues, the protagonist Surya (Nani), a LIC agent, finds a new coping mechanism, by controlling his anger throughout the week, only to vent it out on Saturdays, as promised by his mother (another unanimous sentiment in Telugu films which works as a money shot), taking revenge for random people who have been wronged, taking their issues personally. On the contrary, the antagonist Dayanand (SJ Suryah), a brute, corrupt police inspector has a different angle of dealing with his anger. Estranged by his brother regarding a land dispute, he finds his coping mechanism in beating up the people of Sokulapalem, a land that used to be the hub of criminals but is not anymore. This leads to a David vs Goliath battle of a messiah and a corrupt officer finding redemption through violence.

A rather feeble plot like this could have been a complete shipwreck but got saved by a hilariously outrageous performance by SJ Suryah, can be considered as the sole bearer of the goodness of this film, followed by Nani’s stern cold nature, which fit perfectly as a Yin & Yan situation, elevating the situations whenever there is a face off between them. Another strong element is the powerful background score by Jakes Bejoy, which gets the blood pumping to every action scenes, rooting for good to win over evil. Perhaps the only thing that looked like a real villain over here is its lengthy nature, and the director being self-indulgent on a lot of storytelling elements, which could have been trimmed, and some of the buildups leading to a rather mediocre payoff, but the constant faceoffs did lead this film to a “paisa wasool” entertainer, opening a lot of opportunities to explore unique narrative aspects in commercial cinema.