Sathyavan Savithri: Keerthy Suresh, Mysskin face off in robes

Sathyavan Savithri has shown its second look. The Z Studios and Drumsticks Productions co-production, headlined by Keerthy Suresh and Mysskin, dropped the new poster on Friday after the first-look reveal on Thursday: Keerthy in a red sari turning back amidst a sea of black-robed male lawyers, Mysskin set up as the senior on the other side of the case. The genre framing, the makers say, is courtroom thriller built for commercial release rather than festival pacing.

The film puts Keerthy as a junior advocate whose senior counsel is arguing on the wrong side of a single case. When she tries to make him course-correct, the senior’s real face surfaces, and the case turns into the inflection point of her own life. Whether and how she comes through it is the spine of the script.

Praveen S Vijay is making his directorial debut, and the case at the centre of Sathyavan Savithri came to him from another file altogether. Praveen worked as an associate director on Kaargil and has said the legal material he ran into during that film’s research was the seed for his own. The casting is the other unusually-direct doorway: Aishwarya Rajesh introduced Praveen to Keerthy and persuaded her to hear the script, after which the project moved quickly. Praveen has trained under Daas Ramasamy, Vignesh Sivan and Gautham Ramachandran.

The supporting ensemble is wide: Heartbeat Charuhasan, Balasaravanan, Madhusudhan, R Sundarrajan, Shilpa Manjunath, Brigida, Mala Parvathy, Deepa, A Venkatesh and Raja Rani Pandian. Sam CS scores. Arul Vincent shoots. Prasanna GK cuts. Prem Karunthamalai and AM Anandharaj are on art; Kwoachay handles costumes; Shruthi Manjari styles Keerthy’s looks.

Shooting wrapped across Chennai and surrounding locations. Post-production is in progress, with a teaser and trailer to follow.