The 2024 film Saindhav is an example of how forced the plot twists in some movies have to be to keep the viewers interested. Such films have a target audience that likes to just sit back and be bombarded with mindless action and a little bit of sentimental drama, usually revolving around a father and his child. There is nothing inherently bad about this kind of chaotic storytelling, but it is just not my cup of tea. The story revolves around a man named Saindhav, who has to return to his roots of crime and violence so that his daughter can survive. Saindhav, written and directed by Sailesh Kolanu, is made to provide fast-paced but simplistic action with no real depth at all, which is something that has taken over cinema screens in recent times.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
Vishwamitra, a cartel boss in the fictional country of Chandraprastha, had started to radicalize naive young men into becoming terrorists. He had a consignment coming in, and it was being handled by his longtime worker, Vikas Malik. The consignment had drugs, guns, and money stored in containers that were to land at Vikas’ port. One of the radicalized kids was caught by the police, and he told them that an attack of monumental proportions was being organized. The cartel had other members, such as Michael, who didn’t want Vishwamitra to associate with the terrorists, but the plan was set in motion. The terrorists were waiting for the guns to arrive, but no one, not even Vishwamitra, was aware that Saindhav Koneru, better known as Saiko, was standing in his way.
Why Did Saindhav Kill Vishwamitra?
Saindhav now lives a relatively isolated life. He had his daughter Gayatri to care for, and thanks to his neighbor Mano, his task was made a lot easier. The reason he worked at the ports was that Gayatri’s maternal grandfather was his superior there. The poor fellow had lost his daughter and wasn’t even aware of it. Saindhav had taken her away during his cartel days, and she had died of an unknown disease. Whether Saindhav ever had plans to let Gayatri meet her grandfather is not clear, but Saindhav definitely wanted to be near him. But his happy, sans-violence life ended the day he discovered that Gayatri has spinal muscular atrophy (SPA), which needed a special medicine for its treatment. The medicine came in vials, each one of which cost 170 million rupees. There was no other treatment. Saindhav approached Michael and asked for one final job for which he needed the critical amount and nothing more. Michael had been disregarded by Vishwamitra and Vikas in almost all matters regarding the deal with the terrorists. Hence, he gave Saindhav one final job: to kill Vishwamitra and Vikas. Michael was kind enough to give him the money immediately, and Saindhav got the vial to Gayatri’s doctor, Renu. Saindhav killed Vishwamitra and his revenge-seeking son, but had to face the maniacal Vikas in the end.
How Did Vikas Get Leverage Over Saindhav?
Saindhav wasn’t the kind of man who left his job undone. He had been given the task of killing Vikas as well, but Vikas was an insane individual who lived in the moment but thought two steps ahead of the enemy. Vikas was happy that Vishwamitra had been killed, as he had slapped Vikas in front of his men, even after he had toiled hard to be his aide. The reason was that Vikas had failed to get the consignment, and it had been confiscated by none other than Gayatri’s maternal grandfather. Vikas had sent his men to get him to release all his containers, but Saindhav was there to protect him. He figured that Vikas and his men would come to get their guns and drugs. Vikas was now responsible for the deal going down smoothly, but first he had to deal with Saindhav, who had come out of the blue after so many years.
Saindhav would have had no problem killing Vikas, but the moment he learned that Vikas had sent his trophy girlfriend Jasmine to steal the vial from Renu, he couldn’t. Jasmine had succeeded in her mission and so had Vikas in killing Michael. Michael was the one who had snitched to the port authority to look into the incoming containers in Vikas’ port. Saindhav had lost the one person who could have given him enough money for another vial. He became dependent on Vikas’ whimsy to save his daughter. Saindahv even tried to barge into the only building of the pharma company that made the vials in the country, but the vials were missing. The pharma company was owned by Vikas, and it looked like he had finally made Saindhav bend according to his will.
How Did Saindhav Save All The Kids?
All the vials had been transported to an unknown location, and Vikas had kidnapped Gayatri’s grandfather and hidden him with the vials for leverage. All Vikas wanted was for Saindhav to get him his containers. He had tactfully replaced them with dummy containers, which is why Vikas was unable to find them at the port. Saindhav had no choice but to contact Manas, an old friend in Vishwamitra’s factory. But he needed Manas to look after Mano and Gayatri, as he knew that Vikas would try to get them as well.
If Vikas was two steps ahead of everyone, he had now met his match in Saindhav, who was three steps ahead, if not more. He had seen a guard working at Vikas’s pharma company who needed the vial for his own child. But he had enough integrity that he never went against the company, had worked there for years, and never once thought of stealing the vials. The same guard had asked Saindhav for help when he had paid the amount for his vial, and now Saindhav had come to ask for his help, and he obliged. As nobody suspected the guard, he was able to put GPS trackers on Vikas’ men’s cars. This is how Saindhav managed to find the location of the vials and save Gayatri’s grandfather. Manas ensured that Gayatri and Mano reached the hospital, where all the kids with SPA had been called in by Renu. He had asked Vikas to come to the port, only to make him see his containers go up in flames. He had planted detonators on each one of them, and Vikas saw his empire crumbling before his eyes.
During Saindhav’s ending, we find out that Gayatri had died long before he could get her the vial. He knew about it, and yet he put his life on the line for the other kids who were suffering from SPA. If he could help them live, he could live with himself. Vikas, now having nothing to gain from Saindhav, came to the hospital to blow it to smithereens, but Manas and Saindhav were ready to fight him and his gang. Saindhav killed Vikas and surrendered to the police. The case became a sensation as he confessed to the court that he had wiped out the cartel. He served a reduced jail term, as his lawyers must have fought against harsh punishment given that he had helped hundreds of kids by providing them the costly vials. When Saindhav got out, Mano made him see all the ‘Gayatris’ he had saved. He could see his child in all of them. It is suggested that there will be a sequel because Jasmine is still alive and so is Saindhav. Manas has survived as well and he might end up killing her, but the last shot was of a bomb having been planted both on Jasmine’s and Saindhav’s cars. Jasmine might have been the one who planted one in Saindhav’s car, and Manas may have been the one to plant one in Jasmine’s. But it could be that there is another player who has joined the party.
