‘Saakini Daakini’ film evaluate: Nivetha Thomas and Regina Cassandra energy by way of a enjoyable, taut adaptation of ‘Midnight Runners’

The 2017 Korean action-comedy entertainer Midnight Runners is a coming-of-age story of two younger male police trainee officers who, pushed by a way of duty and empathy, attempt to save a kidnapped woman and within the course of, unearth a medical racket. Saakini Daakini, starring Regina Cassandra and Nivetha Thomas, adapts this story in Telugu with a gender swap and succeeds in making it a sufficiently entertaining and thrilling journey.

One of many highlights of the movie is a stunt sequence in a small restaurant within the Outdated Metropolis of Hyderabad. Shalini (Nivetha Thomas) and Damini (Regina Cassandra) are on the path of a gang that traffics ladies and facilitates the unlawful sale of oocytes. The 2 need to punch means past their weight to tackle the imposing males. The stunt choreography, music, cinematography, enhancing and sound design all make this sequence a deal with to observe, and plausible. Shalini and Damini make use of issues obtainable within the restaurant to overpower the lads. There are somersaults, mid-air slow-motion photographs in addition to fast strikes to indicate their agility. You root for them when they’re amid the daunting activity. It’s this agency reference to the lead characters that makes this underdog movie worthwhile.

The 2-hour movie is crisply narrated and doesn’t waste time in constructing the milieu of the police academy trainees. Shalini and Damini are a research in distinction. One likes to eat and conceal meals packets in her cabinet whereas the opposite is further finicky about cleanliness. One doesn’t know why she joined the academy whereas the opposite has a degree to show to her mother and father. At one level when Damini asks Shalini if she at all times shared an in depth bond along with her household and Shalini responds with, “Is there an alternative choice?”, it contrasts the worlds of the 2 ladies.

The primary hour has transient appearances by a number of actors identified for his or her comedy roles, taking key positions within the academy as buddies and tutors. Some jokes work whereas others look pressured. However that is the time we heat as much as the 2 protagonists and take a look at them as younger ladies, past their star picture. 

An evening out at a pub turns into a turning level within the lives of the duo, who realise the merciless irony of not with the ability to put the educational theoretical coaching into observe resulting from inflexible protocols. With the cops busy with a high-profile case, Shalini and Damini take issues into their very own palms.

There’s a scene through which Damini breaks down when she realises the gravity of the medical racket that exploits ladies for his or her oocytes for the fertility clinics. The realisation provides the 2 trainees a larger sense of goal and that’s when the ladies flip into ladies. This scene exhibits why the gender swap makes the variation extra empathetic.

A bunch of comedian scenes involving Shalini’s love for meals within the preliminary parts get a deeper that means when she makes use of her sense of style to search out clues. The chutney-hopping scene is enjoyable to observe and it additionally doesn’t take away the urgency of their mission.

Saakini Daakini’s largest strengths are its two feminine leads. Nivetha Thomas is endearing as a fun-loving woman who discovers that she can also be fabricated from sterner stuff. She performs Shalini like a child-woman with numerous verve. Regina performs the extra severe half between the 2 and elegantly strikes from presenting her steely persona to an assured and empathetic younger officer within the making.

How typically do you get a racy enjoyable movie with two feminine leads? Saakini Daakini stands out from the gang.