​Sinam Review: Arun Vijay's dreary revenge thriller is a complete misfire that tests your patience and intelligence

1.5/5

​Review: Arun Vijay's Sinam is what you call a complete misfire on many levels! Right from the introduction scene of the no-nonsense police officer Paari Venkat (Arun Vijay), who takes on goons accused of murder, against the wishes of his corrupt seniors (obviously!), the film seems to have been made with a template of sorts. Paari is an orphan who marries his ladylove Madhangi aka Madhu (Pallak Lalwani, who is also a do-gooder in the film!) against the wishes of her parents and starts a family. But things go awry after Madhu is sexually assaulted and killed and Paari goes on a revenge-seeking spree.

The revenge saga has been done to death and this time around, it only gets more ap​p​al​l​ing. As Paari tries to process the death of his wife and is later assigned the task of finding his own wife's killers, it makes the audience think, "what were the makers thinking?" It doesn't matter that Paari Venkat is still grieving and is emotionally unstable to take any sound or rational decision. Let alone investigate a double homicide case. And the reason given for assigning the case to him is that it needs an emotional connection. Really?

The investigation begins and we hope things get a tad interesting from here, but no! Paari seems clueless right from the beginning and he doesn't even bother to check the CCTV cameras in the vicinity of the crime, which he does much later into the investigation. Also, how does such a so-called smart police officer like him or any other cops in his team didn't figure out that Madhu was sexually assaulted and learnt about it only after the autopsy report came in? But at the same time, when you realise that Paari didn't even think of seeking the help of other cops when his wife went missing, you realise that nothing makes sense in the film.

The investigation turns out to be quite botchy and unengaging and by the time Paari zeroes in on the culprits and finds out the reason for Madhu's murder, you stop caring about her and the film. As if the ineffective story wasn't enough, the flashback romantic portions, too, come and go as they please, unnecessarily further delaying the lousy investigation.

Arun Vijay, who has taken to cop dramas like a fish to water,  is earnest as Paari, but the badly written screenplay means that even he cannot salvage the stalemate. The problem with Sinam is that it tries to come across as a film that cares for sexual assault victims and speak up for them. But the film is anything but that. In fact, Sinam masquerades as a film made with good intentions, but right from the portrayal of sexual abuse to Paari's take on what should be done to sexual predators, it's a farrago of distortions. Further, the scenes are odiosuly peppered with 'heroic' dialogues about how it's important to instill fear in the minds of sexual predators. The jarring music by Shabir tests your patience and the film as a package, tests your intelligence.

Verdict: An uninspiring film that makes for a punishing watch. Avoid!