Saaradhi makes an effort to be different but ends up being a run-of-the-mill affair, writes Paresh C Palicha.
Gopalan Manoj's Malayalam film Saaradhi unfolds in 24 hours.
Christy (Sunny Wayne) is a carefree ambulance driver who is not affected by the depressing nature of his job and believes in enjoying life to the hilt.
This is established by showing him enjoying an item number in the first few minutes of the film, while an emergency call is pending.
Christy has to deliver a corpse in some hilly region of the state. The corpse is accompanied by an elderly uncle (Nedumudi Venu) and other relatives.
The relatives begin to behave strangely once they set out on the trip. Christy gets a shock when they suggest that they would like to cremate the body before reaching their destination. When he protests, he is threatened with a pistol by the uncle.
This story has a few parallel tracks; one is about an honest police officer (Sreenivasan) and the other is about a corrupt politician (Madhupal).
The second half of the film shows how these threads are interwoven to reach a satisfactory climax.
There is also a widow (Vinutha Lal) with a daughter.
Sunny Wayne, who has made a name for himself playing the funny sidekick of leading men, is cast here with an eye to cash in on this image. So in the first half, we get to see the funny side of this character.
Sreenivasan as the honest cop uses self-deprecatory humour, something he has done repeatedly in earlier films.
Saaradhi makes an effort to be different but ends up being a run-of-the-mill affair.
Rediff Rating: 
