CSI Sanatan Review: The Aadi Saikumar thriller is routine and has a strict few passable thrills

2.5/5

Story

The plot of CSI Sanatan is quite simple. and is about Vikram Chakravarthi(Tarak Ponnappa), the CEO of VC Finance Company. He gives loans for lesser interest and accumulates loads of money. One fine day, he gets killed in mysterious circumstances and to solve the murder mystery, a special officer Sanatan(Aadi Saikumar) from the  Crime Scene Investigation department is brought in. The rest of the story is as to how Sanatan cracks the case and solves the murder mystery.

Review

CSI Sanatan is a murder mystery which has a familiar premise with a few decent twists and turns that director Shivashanker Dev has created. The manner in which he executes the investigation scenes form the main crux of the film. The few twists that are showcased create decent excitement for the audience and give this film an edge.

But storywise, CSI Sanatan has nothing new to showcase. Though there was so much scope to create drama and tension, the director did not make use of it. The characters of Vasanthi and Khayyum have no use in the plot and are there just for the sake of it. CSI Sanatan has so many scenes that act as speed breakers in the narrative. Just to create a suspense angle, the director has added these characters and scenes.

But director Shivashanker Dev has extracted good performances from his cast. Aadi Sai Kumar is doing great with each film of his, With age, he is now at more ease as an actor. If his performance in the web series Puli Meka was mature, here in CSI Sanatan, it was more witty and in command with his craft and is the mainstay of this film. After a long time, Ali Reza gets a meaty role of a cop and does well. Nandani Rai plays her supporting role to perfection and the other supporting cast was also fine.

As CSI Sanatan is a thriller, one would expect some gritty action which is missing in the film. A few fight scenes and decnet thrills would have made a world of difference to the film. The screenplay is the biggest villain of CSI as it does nor arrest you with eagerness to see what is going to happen next. Sadly, the female lead, Misha Narang has nothing much to do in the film and gets sidelined.

Anish Solomon has composed the music. His background is not that great as Anish should have worked more on the sounding of the film. The camera work is great as Sekhat gives the film a crisp effect of a thriller. The production design and dialogues are decent but the editing needed to be crisp in many areas but that does not happen and what we get to see are repeated scenes just to elevate the suspense and make the film a routine thriller with some basic twists that are just passable.

Verdict

More often than not, crime investigation thrillers need solid scenes that elevate the suspense. But here in CSI Sanatan, the much-needed scenes are dragged and used only to generate suspense and this is where the narration goes for a toss. A few twists are executed well and Aadi Sai Kumar is superb but the film ends as a routine thriller that has nothing new to showcase.