Savi Movie Review: This Prison Escape Will Make You Escape Theatres

Savi, starring  Divya Khosla Kumar and Harshvardhan Rane, directed by Abhinay Deo, is story of a housewife who life is completely turned around when her husband is suddenly convicted of murder. She crosses all the boundaries to rescue her husband, and in the process commits crimes.

The movie is a remake of a 2008 French film POUR ELLE. The overall direction and storyline of the movie is good, the pace is slow but the storyline keeps you gripped, but as a thriller the movie just isn't thrilling enough to capture audience's attention.

Talking about the cast of the film, Divya Khosla Kumar  surprises everyone with her acting skills. Since her last movie, she has improved in portraying emotions, and these days, due to the acting in certain OTT shows, the bar for acting skills is quite low. Though Divya was good in the film, she lacked the intensity and depth of the character who could commit crimes. Harshvardhan Rane, as always was spectacular, though we see him for a short time in the film, he definitely deserved more screen time. The best aspect of the film has to be Anil Kapoor’s character of an ex-convict named Joydeep Paul. His character is displayed as a carefree person who helps Savi in prison break. Audiences are charmed by Anil Kapoor’s charisma and his jokes land making the scenes less intense.

The first half of the film is quite slow, and not much is happening which leaves the audiences feeling bored. The second half picks up the pace and the chase sequences and prison break will keep you on your seat’s edge. The film focuses more on the planning of the escape plan rather than the execution. The cops are portrayed as someone who can’t solve simple cases and are easily swayed by the main characters. In one scene, the entire police force is trying to catch the culprits, but could not because of their foolishness.

There was no strong backstory to any of the characters, failing to connect with the audience. The film tried to show how the family, as a whole, suffered because of the arrest, but we are not given many scenes or moments before the arrest, showcasing the happy family. The initial crime, that drives the story further, is forgotten. The questions regarding the motives, the culprit and the actual killing are left unanswered. The characters in the film were portrayed as morally grey, but there is no character development and the portrayal is just bland. As the film is produced by T-series, it is obvious that the background score works well. The songs are good and the background music at certain scenes adds to the intensity of the scenes.

The film had potential to do better, but did not tap into it, maybe a stronger female lead would have added more intensity and depth. Not to take away from the efforts put in by Divya Khosla Kumar, she definitely did a better job than Sharmin Segal in Heermandi.

Rating- 2.5/5