Satyam (2008 film)

Sathyam
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	A. Rajasekhar
Produced by	Vikram Krishna
Written by	A. Rajasekhar
Starring	Vishal Nayantara Upendra Brahmanandam Kota Srinivasa Rao Ali Ravi Kale Premji Amaren Livingston Senthil Sudha Chandran
Music by	Harris Jayaraj
Cinematography	R. D. Rajasekhar
Editing by	Anthony
Release dates	15 August 2008
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Sathyam is a Tamil action film, simultaneously shot in Telugu as Salute, directed by debutante A. Rajasekhar, an associate of Suresh Krishna.^[1] The film stars Vishal in the role of a cop for the first time. Nayantara plays the female lead role, while Kannada actor Upendra plays the role of the antagonist. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by Harris Jayaraj. The film released on 15 August 2008 coinciding with Independence Day to negative reviews.^[2][3] The film is produced by Vikram Krishna, Vishal's brother.

Plot

Sathyam begins with Sathyam (Vishal), an assistant police commissioner rescuing a hooligan from encounter thirsty cops, only to arrest him later. He reminds his fellow cops that a cop's duty is to kill crime not criminals. Sathyam meets his first challenge in tracking a mysterious killer of three ministers. In the process, he finds the culprit Manickvel (Upendra), only to receive a rude shock to know his identity.

For, the murderer is none other than a former police officer, who inspired Sathyam to take the cop job. Revealing the reason behind his change of mind, the ex-cop says that he is on a killing spree as he failed to set right things in khakhi uniform.

Sathyam, who throws a challenge at his mentor that he would use the power of law to put the wrongdoers behind the bars, vows to throw light on the illegal activities of the Home minister (Kota Srinivasa Rao), who aims at the Chief Minister post.

In the meantime, the protagonist also has a romantic episode with Deivanayaki (Nayantara), a TV journalist. This begins with Deivanayaki suing the locality's children through their parents. The children swear vengeance through a 'gangleader' who happens to be none other than Sathyam himself. The 'gang' succeeds by making their rival a laughing stock with multiple pranks. Nevertheless the female does recognize Sathyam's tenderness at heart and falls for him. Sathyam too falls in love thereafter.

During his attempts to establish truth, Sathyam faces various troubles. He realises power may come as a hindrance in a successful cop's path to victory. However, he proves that truth alone will triumph always.

Cast

• Vishal as Sathyam I.P.S
• Upendra as Manickvel
• Nayantara as Deivanayaki
• Sudha Chandran
• Premji Amaren
• Kota Srinivasa Rao
• Senthil as Paneerselvam
• Krishna Kumar as Mohammed
• Brahmanandam
• Ali
• Hema

Production

Development

Vishal Krishna has been training hard for this role, pumping iron. He has also sported a neat short-cropped hairstyle to look like a serious law-abiding police official. This is the first time he is undergoing image makeover for a film in order not to be stereotyped as an action hero.^[4] Vishal's brother, Vikram Krishna Reddy, the film's producer, has revealed that the film is about police encounters, a very prominent issue regarding the laws of India.^[5] Hence, the protagonist's role runs parallel to that of Surya Sivakumar's in Kaaka Kaaka.^[6]

Casting

Trisha Krishnan was originally selected to do the lead role in Sathyam.^[7] Later she was removed and the selection was then between Nayantara and Shriya Saran. At last, Nayantara was selected to play the female lead.^[8] The film marked the debut of Kannada actor Upendra in Tamil cinema.

Music

The film has five songs composed by Harris Jayaraj, "Sathyam" was his 25th film as music director. Lyrics are penned by Pa. Vijay, Kabilan & Yugabharathi. The soundtrack received generally positive reviews from critics.^[9]IndiaGlitz stated that "Sathyam came across as a catchy album and Harris has given his heart out to package it with the right mix of songs. With good vocals and perfect rhythms, Sathyam songs would be remembered by music-lovers for a long time to come.Sathyam is one more jewel in Harris's crown".^[10] Behindwoods mentioned that "Harris Jayaraj has not disappointed us here. But at the same time there’s nothing that sweeps us off our feet too."^[11]

Tamil

Telugu

Lyrics are written by Chandrabose, Sirivennela Sitaramasastri, Sahiti G.

Release

Box office

• The film grossed $2 million at the box office which was a flop as its budget was $3 million.

References

External links

• Satyam at the Internet Movie Database