Saraswathi, produced by Pooja Sarathkumar and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, was released in theatres today. In this section, we are going to review the latest box office release.
Plot:
Lakshmi (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar) is shattered when she discovers that her daughter, Saraswathi, has gone missing on her birthday. Her inquiries at the school where the girl studies only lead to confusion, as everyone begins acting as if Saraswathi never studied at their school. When an upright lawyer named Ramanujam (Prakash Raj) decides to fight for justice, he is shocked to discover that Lakshmi is not who she claims to be.
Post-Mortem:
It’s likely that writer-director Varalaxmi Sarathkumar believes that TV-serial-style melodrama is the only approach to take when dealing with themes like sexual assault, trauma, social isolation, or righteous courtroom endeavors. There is simply no way this film was made for a cinema-going audience in 2026. The pacing is deliberately and painfully slow; worse yet, the music director compounds these woes by pairing that excruciating pace with archaic sounds.
The conversations lack flair—whether between professionals and Lakshmi, among the professionals themselves, or between experts and laymen. A dull energy pervades the entire runtime, yet nothing prepares you for the descent of the second hour. The actors either over-emote or under-perform (particularly Kishore, who plays Priyamani's husband). The visuals are tasteless, compounded by creative choices that feel like they were lifted from a rejected UNESCO documentary.
Themes like search for justice are as old as the hills. Elements like sexual assault have been mined for drama by numerous movies. Powerful men abusing their privilege is a well-explored theme in cinema. Considering how many movies have built plots around these potent themes, it's bizarre that Saraswathi doesn't attempt a contemporary screenplay style.
The film's sole obsession is in making two people converse with each other for extended periods of time. Most of the actors who are engaged in this dated drill are doing so because a nepo kid approached them to. Same story, same dialogues, same screenplay, a different director: many of the actors/technicians would have said no. Thaman, for one. Dialogue writer Sai Madhav Burra, for another. In a scene, Prakash Raj's character explains for two straight minutes something that the viewer is already aware of.
Varalaxmi's performance is over-dramatic and a letdown in the scenes where she cries out. Rao Ramesh plays a judge. Murali Sharma plays a cop who doesn't know that he can take the help of constables. Nassar plays a medical specialist. Thulasi plays a school principal. Sapthagiri is seen as Prakash Raj's assistant who hasn't slept in several years (well, his eyes look like that!). Srikanth Iyengar plays a defense lawyer who thankfully doesn't get to speak much (a huge surprise in a film where all others speak more than they should). Hareesh Peradi plays a District Collector with the energy of a flop movie producer.
Closing Remarks:
Saraswathi is a dull, tasteless slog. No new ideas, no aesthetic, no depth, no nuance, no novelty.
