Sandakozhi 2 review: Disappointing film used as promotional vehicle for Vishal's political career

When Sanda Kozhi released almost 13 years ago, it set the box office on fire. The film, which was hailed as the perfect commercial entertainer, delighted audiences to the core and established Vishal as a bankable star. However, sadly, 13 years later, its sequel, Sanda Kozhi2 fails miserably in its mission of providing entertainment and comes across as nothing but a boring flick with nothing substantial to offer to audiences.

The film begins with the elders of seven villages, led by Durai Ayya(Raj Kiran) getting together to discuss the possibility of holding the temple festival, which has been stalled for the last seven years. The reason why the temple festival has been put on hold is that during the last festival seven years ago, a group of people from a particular village would have felt insulted at not having been served as much meat as the others in the temple feast. The group, led by Pechi (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar) and her husband, would have been infuriated by the insult and would have hacked the poor man who served them at the feast. The killing would have resulted in a backlash and Pechi's husband too would have been killed in it. 

A furious Pechi would have then vowed to avenge her husband. She would have vowed not to rest until all the offspring of the man who killed her husband are killed at the temple festival. Soon, a killing spree begins. Everybody in his lineage are killed until finally, there is just one person left - a boy, who is now grown up and is on the verge of becoming a collector.

With so many deaths occuring, the government would have intervened to stop the festival from taking place.Seven years would have passed but Pechi and her supporters wouldn't have given up their mission and would be waiting for the next temple festival to happen as it would give them an opportunity to kill the last individual and thereby fulfill her vow. 

It is under these circumstances that the village heads meet. Durai Ayya is intent on conducting the temple festival this year as the villagers feel that all their blessings have been stopped because of the festival not being held. He gives an assurance to the government and the court that there will be no trouble this time around and that he will ensure the festival is conducted in a peaceful manner. As a precautionary measure, he asks all village heads, including Pechi's village head, to promise that they will not cause any trouble during the festival. They do. However, Pechi and her villagers have no interest in keeping their promise and are eager to hunt the remaining one person down. It is at this time that Balu (Vishal) who has gone abroad returns to his village. How Balu helps his dad keep his word to the government and the court and keep the boy safe through the temple festival is what the film is about.

The film has problems in two major departments, casting and story telling. The biggest drawback of SandaKozhi2 is that while Meera Jasmine played the female lead in Sandakozhi 1, Keerthy Suresh plays the female lead in Sandakozhi2. She completely looks out of place in the role. Keerthy is only half of Vishal's height and that does not make them an ideal pair. Moreover, the mature look on Vishal's face makes him look like her elder brother. As a result it is difficult to look at them as a couple in love. In other words, the chemistry between the lead pair takes a severe beating. Moreover, Meera Jasmine owned the character in part 1. Keerthy Suresh is nowhere near understanding its nature. As a result, the portions involving both Vishal and Keerthy come across as being either exaggerated or funny.

Another actor who was not a part of the original star cast of Sandakozhi and who has joined the team in the sequel is Munishkanth. He does a reasonably good job but is not impressive enough to stand out. 

The most important difference between both parts is that while the first part had Lal as the villain, the second part has Varalaxmi Sarathkumar as Pechi playing that role. She looks menacing as Pechi but one gets the impression that she is unnecessarily too loud and brash in the film. Initially, her screaming strikes fear in the hearts of audiences. But as she keeps doing it every time she appears in the film, it loses its impact. It does not induce fear after a point but only gives you a headache.

The story also has been told in such a way that it keeps glorifying Vishal more than his character. It is evident that the film has been used as a promotional vehicle for Vishal's political career. 

Rajkiran as always looks majestic in this film too. In fact, if at all, one is able to sit through for the most part, it is because of Raj Kiran's performance in the film. 

Yuvan Shankar Raja's music is another big plus for this film. However, Lingusamy hasn't fully capitalised on even this factor. Sakthivel's cinematography is decent. 

On the whole, Lingusamy fails to come up with a sequel that is truly on par with the first part of Sanda Kozhi. Sanda Kozhi 2 is bound to leave fans of the actor and the franchise deeply disappointed.