#Dude Review

#Dude

2025 - Tamil

Starring : Pradeep Ranganathan, Mamitha Baiju, Sarathkumar, Neha Shetty, Rohini , Hridhu Haroon and Dravid

Directed by Keerthiswaran 

Plot : Agan and Kural, cousins and childhood best friends, run an event management company together. One day, Kural confesses her love to Agan, but he rejects her, saying he never saw her that way. Heartbroken, Kural leaves the city for higher studies. Later, Agan realizes he truly loves her and goes to win her back, only to find that she has fallen for another man, Paari. However, Kural’s father opposes their relationship due to caste differences and even threatens to kill her if she doesn’t marry Agan. Understanding her situation, Agan decides to help Kural unite with Paari going all the way .

Performance wise, PR as Agan carries the whole movie completely. His perfomance has improved a lot, though he can perform a bit better in emotional scenes , it was pretty much good. Mamitha Baiju gets a solid role and has performed really well. Though the character arc feels bit artificial, it works. Sarathkumar is the showstealer of this film ! His humour timing and action sequences are absolutely fantastic and theatre erupts each and everytime he pulls off an antic. Hridhu Haroon gets a the male version of Typical Loosu Ponnu Heroine and tries to do the Loosu Paiyan Hero portrayal. Rohini except for one scene , is wasted. Dravid performance Good. Neha Shetty in a small fun cameo that was adequate.

Technically the film is very strong , thanks to Niketh Bommi's sharp Cinematography and Sai Abhyankar's Music. Though Sai music feels loud at times , it uplifted many scenes to its maximum potential. Good Debut !

Editing by Bharath Vikraman feels very amateurish and could've had a sharper and racier edit pattern , especially in the second half.

The Film opens with the introduction of Agan's Character and how he deals with his heartbreak. And then we are introduced to Agan's Life with Kural and her father Adhiyaman Azhagappan who is Agan's Uncle. While all these scenes feel very regular, Sarathkumar performance in these scenes make it unique. Post Oorum Blood song, the main plot starts with Kural proposing to Agan and from there the conflicts take off. The scene where Agan realises his love for Kural alone feels forced but again works to move the story to the next events. Singari song was hilarious but the end was shocking. While the reveal of Second love track for Kural feels again a bit unnatural, it drives the characters to change tracks. Then the Entire Pre Interval stretch involving Sarathkumar, Garuda Ram, Hridhu Haroon, Dravid , Mamitha and PR is absolutely laugh riot. While the entire scene is actually serious, the staging and performance is what drove the humour of this scenes. The Interval twist is probably a big WTF moment for everyone! But again that WTF in a positive or negative note is completely upon the way audience perceive it.

The Second Half is where the film becomes clueless. The film tries to address a very sensitive topic in a humourous manner but the execution isn't that effective. While the Second half weighs heavily on emotional angle, the film doesn't land quite the punch that it has too. Ofcourse there are some standout sequences in the Second Half like Hospital Scene , Housewarming sequence and the Fight sequence, everything feels stretched beyond a point to finally make a point at the climax. Also the Antagonist's Arc feels very forced and the changeover doesn't feel natural.

Talking about Debutant Writer Director Keerthiswaran, he has taken a very sensitive topic and decided to fit it in a Humourous screenplay and has succeeded partially in that again. While the Second half and few character arc feels forced and few actors have been wasted, he handled major sequence in a very sensitive way. For every toxic or patriarchal sequences, Director immediately gives an sensible answer for it. 

While the entire film working out or not working is upon how you view the entire concept! If you think it's Progressive then you will like it, if you think it's cheap and vulgar then it won't work for you.

Overall: Dude is a satisfactory New Gen Rom Com that has a progressive thought but an amateur execution.. But doesn't make you uncomfortable at any point of time. Watch it for PR one man show !

Rating : 2.5-2.7/5

Television Rights: Zee Network 

Digital Rights: Netflix