In Sindhubaadh, Vijay Sethupathi plays a role that is closer to that of a mass hero but stops just short of being one. His character Thiru is a thief who picks pockets and steals from the affluent, with help from his sidekick Super (Surya Vijay Sethupathi, who makes a confident debut in an enjoyable role of a sidekick). He is a little hard of hearing, a quirk that Arun Kumar employs to good comic effect. The scenes between them are entertaining but it adds little to the film’s narrative.

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A chance encounter with Venba (Anjali), a contract laborer in Malaysia, who had come to her native on leave, makes Thiru fall in love with her. He starts wooing her, and seeing that he is good at heart, she starts reciprocating much against the wishes of her family. But soon, she leaves for Malaysia, and the next time Thiru hears her, she is pleading with him to come and rescue her from Thailand where she is trapped in skin trading mafia. Thiru with his sidekick goes off to Thailand to rescue her.

The first half of Sindhubaadh is easily its finest, bearing the stamp of Arun Kumar, who fills it with enjoyable humor, cutesy romance, and Vijay Sethupathi-isms. The scene transitions are smooth, Yuvan Shankar Raja’s songs foot-tapping and Vijay Kartik Kannan’s painterly visuals appealing.

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But the film somewhat falls short in the second half, due to its predictability. The problem is with the protagonist Ling, despite the build-up to his character, Ling doesn’t come across as a powerful antagonist.  

We get one too many scenes of Thiru and Super evading Ling’s endless henchmen that things get tiresome after a point. Arun Kumar also stretches plausibility after a point.

The scene which involves the operations of the skin trade syndicate is disturbing to watch but lacks the finesse that we see elsewhere in the craft. But if the film manages to hold our interest, it is mainly because we have come to care about these characters.

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Vijay Sethupathi’s portrayal of Thiru as a hero with vulnerabilities also infuses some tension into these portions. This is the massiest character in his entire film career. But this film isn’t satisfying as Arun Kumar’s previous films, Pannaiyarum Padminiyum and Sethupathi. Sindhubaadh tries too hard to be intriguing but falls short.