Saindhav

Saindhav is a 2024 Telugu action thriller directed by Sailesh Kolanu and produced by Venkat Boyanapalli for Niharika Entertainment, marking Venkatesh‘s 75th film. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Arya, Shraddha Srinath, Ruhani Sharma and Andrea Jeremiah co-star, with music by Santhosh Narayanan. Released for Sankranti on 13 January 2024, alongside Hindi and Tamil dubbed versions, it drew mixed-to-negative reviews and was a box-office bomb.

What the story is about

In the fictional port city of Chandraprastha, Saindhav Koneru, “SaiKo”, has left a dark past behind and lives quietly with his young daughter Gayathri and her caretaker Manogya. When Gayathri is diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy and needs an injection of Zolgensma that costs ₹17 crore, Saindhav goes back to the world of crime to find the money, and runs into the drug lord Vikas Malik.

Cast and crew

• Venkatesh as Saindhav Koneru “SaiKo”
• Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Vikas Malik
• Arya as Manas
• Shraddha Srinath as Manogya
• Ruhani Sharma as Dr. Renu and Andrea Jeremiah as Jasmine
• Ssara Palekar as Gayatri
• Mukesh Rishi as Mithra, Jisshu Sengupta as Michael and Tanikella Bharani as Vinayak Afsar

Director: Sailesh Kolanu. Producer: Venkat Boyanapalli (Niharika Entertainment). Music: Santhosh Narayanan. Cinematography: S. Manikandan. Editing: Garry BH. Runtime: 138 minutes.

Making the film

Venkatesh and Kolanu announced the project as #Venky75 on 23 January 2023 and revealed the title two days later. It was first dated for 22 December 2023. Filming began in Hyderabad, moved to Visakhapatnam in April, and included portions in Kakinada and Sri Lanka.

Reviews

Most critics praised the cast and action but faulted the script. Neeshita Nyayapati of Hindustan Times saw an attempt at “a desi John Wick” in which Nawazuddin’s “psychotic shenanigans” are what engage. Raghu Bandi of The Indian Express called it “John Wick-meets-Drushyam with a touch of medical thriller”. OTTplay (two and a half out of five) called it Venkatesh’s one-man show. The Times of India was the most positive at three out of five, calling it “an intriguing attempt at blending emotional depth with action”, while The Hindu found the family drama earnest but wished the thriller had been smarter.

Where to watch Saindhav

According to Wikipedia, Saindhav began streaming on Amazon Prime Video on 3 February 2024, with satellite rights sold to ETV. We have not checked the current Prime Video listing, so availability in your region may differ.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Saindhav and the reviews it cites, linked above; our own cast and crew records.