# Satyam (2008 film)

Satyam (transl. Truth) is an Indian 2008 Tamil-language action film written and directed by debutante A. Rajasekhar (an associate of Suresh Krissna) in his directorial debut. The film stars Vishal, Upendra and Nayanthara. It was produced by Vikram Krishna, Vishal's brother.
The film was simultaneously shot in Telugu as Salute, with a slightly different supporting cast. The score and soundtrack were composed by Harris Jayaraj. The film released on 14 August 2008, and failed at the box office.

## Plot

The plot opens with Sathyam, an Assistant Police Commissioner rescuing a hooligan from encounter thirsty cops around the Napier Bridge in Chennai (Hussain Sagar at Hyderabad in Telugu version), only to arrest him later. He reminds his fellow cops that a cop's duty is to kill crime not criminals. Sathyam meets his first challenge in tracking a mysterious killer of three ministers. In the process, he finds the culprit named Manicka Vel, only to receive a rude shock to know his identity. The murderer is none other than a former police officer based in Madurai (Pulivendula in Telugu version), who inspired Sathyam to become an honest police officer. Revealing the reason behind his change of mind, the ex-cop says that he is on a killing spree as he failed to set right things in khakhi uniform.
Sathyam, who throws a challenge at his mentor that he would use the power of law to put the wrongdoers behind the bars, vows to throw light on the illegal activities of the Home minister Kondal Dasan (Kondal Rao in Telugu version), who aims for the Tamil Nadu's/Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister post.
In the meantime, he also has a romantic episode with Deivanayaki alias Deiva (Divya in Telugu version), a TV journalist. This begins with Deivanayaki suing the locality's children through their parents. The children swear vengeance through a 'gangleader' who happens to be none other than Sathyam himself. The 'gang' succeeds by making their rival a laughing stock with multiple pranks. Annoyance turns to love as Deiva and Sathyam get to know each other better.
During his attempts to establish the truth, Sathyam faces various troubles. The Minister's proxies give him various troubles by killing children by offering them ice creams laced with drugs to eat and killing his mother. When Sathyam arrests Acharya, the Minister's proxy, and takes him to court, the Minister's henchmen attack him while driving and Sathyam is stabbed. Thillanayagam (Dilli Babu in Telugu version), the other proxy, shoots Acharya and blames Sathyam. Sathyam performs his mother's funeral rites and is suspended from the force and jailed. Manicka Vel, to be released the next day, feels sad for Sathyam and laments his loss in the jail. Thillanayagam runs for MLA with the Minister's support so that he cannot be harmed by Sathyam. He gloats to Sathyam at the jail about his newfound power and challenges Sathyam's honour and dignity.
At a public rally for Thillanayagam's candidature, the Kondal Dasan openly challenges and insults Sathyam, who is released from jail by a sympathetic officer and coming to disrupt the public rally. Manicka Vel stands in the corner aiming to kill Thillanayagam and the Dasan. Sathyam arrives and exposes the Minister and Thillanayagam by shooting them and forcing them to confess the truth about the Minister's intentions and the death of the proxy. Thillanayagam reveals everything about himself, Acharya, and Dasan. While lamenting the situation he is in and calling for reform, Sathyam is shot by the Minister's henchman and questions the honesty and trust his people and fellow officers have in him. Manicka Vel arrives on the scene and salutes Sathyam, with other officers following suit. A newscast is shown with Kondal Dasan and Thillanayagam being arrested and Sathyam is reinstated in the police force. Sathyam is promoted to Deputy Commissioner by the Chief Minister and marries Deivanayaki, and the credits roll.

## Cast

| Actor | Actor | Role | Role |
| Tamil | Telugu | Tamil | Telugu |
| Vishal | Vishal | ACP K. Sathyam IPS | ACP K. Sathyam IPS |
| Upendra | Upendra | Inspector Manicka Vel | Inspector Prathap Rudhra |
| Nayanthara | Nayanthara | Deivanayaki alias Deiva | Divya |
| Kota Srinivasa Rao | Kota Srinivasa Rao | Kondal Dhasan | Kondal Rao |
| Senthil | Senthil | N. Paneerselvam | N. Paneerselvam |
| Brahmanandam | Brahmanandam | Transport Office Broker | Transport Office Broker |
| Premgi Amaren | Ali | Bora | Bora |
| Sudha Chandran | Sudha Chandran | Sathyam's mother | Sathyam's mother |
| Tanikella Bharani | Tanikella Bharani | Deiva's father | Divya's father |
| Ravi Kale | Ravi Kale | Dilli (Thillainayagam/Dilli Babu) | Dilli (Thillainayagam/Dilli Babu) |
| Prabhu Nepaul | Prabhu Nepaul | Acharya | Acharya |
| Jeeva | Jeeva | Punniyakodi | Punniyakoti |
| Hema | Hema | Deiva's mother | Divya's mother |
| Livingston | Livingston | Politician | Politician |
| Santhana Bharathi | Santhana Bharathi | Minister Malarmannan | Minister Mahadevaya |
| Devan | Devan | Police Inspector | Police Inspector |
| Vinod Raj | Vinod Raj | DGP | DGP |
| Apoorva | Apoorva | Chandramathi | Chandramathi |
| Cheranraj | Cheranraj | Police officer | Police officer |
| Krishna Kumar | Krishna Kumar | Mohammed | Mohammed |
| Avinash | Avinash | Sathyam's father | Sathyam's father |
| Naren | Naren | Muthupandi | Muthupandi |
| Meera Krishnan | Meera Krishnan | Muthupandi's wife | Muthupandi's wife |
| Scissor Manohar | Scissor Manohar | Politician's PA | Politician's PA |
| Baby Varsha | Baby Varsha | Varsha | Varsha |
| Uncredited ||||
| Cast (Tamil) | Cast (Telugu) | Role (Tamil) | Role (Telugu) |
| Venba | Venba | Venba | Venba |
| — | Ambati Srinu | Troublesome politician | Troublesome politician |

### Dubbing artists

* Savitha Reddy for Nayanthara (both Tamil and Telugu versions)
* P. Ravi Shankar for Upendra (both Tamil and Telugu versions)
* Kathiravan Balu for Ravi Kale (Tamil version)
* M. S. Bhaskar for both Brahmanandam and Tanikella Bharani (Tamil version)
* Sudhakar for Livingston (Telugu version)
* Mallikarjuna Rao for Senthil (Telugu version)

## Production

Satyam is the directorial debut of A. Rajasekhar, previously an associate of Suresh Krissna. Vishal trained hard for this role, pumping iron and sported a six pack. He has also sported a short-cropped hairstyle to look like a serious law-abiding police official. The film was touted to be a bilingual with the Telugu version titled Salute. Each scene was shot twice as Vishal had to wear a Tamil Nadu police uniform for the Tamil version and an Andhra Pradesh police uniform for the Telugu version. Trisha Krishnan was originally selected to do the female lead role in Sathyam. Later she was replaced with Nayanthara. The film marked the debut of Kannada actor Upendra in Tamil cinema. Flight scenes were shot in Chennai and Dubai. For the climax speech scene, Vishal sported a bald look for the first time to suit the scene. The visual effects were provided by Prasad EFX, and supervised by Craig Mumma, known for his work on numerous American films. The film has over 425 visual effects shots.

## Soundtrack

The film has five songs composed by Harris Jayaraj, Satyam was his 25th film as music director, and the album was released on 14 March 2008 in Chennai, while the Telugu version's album was released on 4 June 2008 at Hyderabad.

## Critical reception

Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com wrote, "The movie is technically and visually well polished -- and that, in itself is a pity, as, without a good screenplay and execution, it falls flat". Sify wrote, "Debutant director A.Rajasekhar tackles the film half heartedly as he dilutes it with a lot of mass masala, which shifts the focus from the plot. The problem is that, story is wafer thin and the end product looks like a B-grade Telugu action movie". Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote, "Interesting in bits and pieces and gripping in fits and starts, GK Film Corporation’s Satyam (U/A), is a dampener of sorts. And if you walk out of the cinemas with a sense of disappointment, it’s because of A. Rajasekar’s inept screenplay".