Pradeep Ranganathan and Mamitha Baiju are in top form in a relationship story that is chaotic in a good way. I can’t reveal much, but the film is sweet and silly and entertaining enough to make you overlook its flaws. That is the short take. A longer review follows and it may contain spoilers.
The opening stretch of Dude sets up the tone of the film, and also the type of content that’s in store. It involves a wedding, an ex, a thaali, a bit of creepiness, and a whole lot of chaos. The film that follows is about modern-day relationships and it’s told in a funny manner that makes the shortcomings easy to ignore. What I really liked about Dude is that it speaks about things that are sacred in Tamil cinema (like that thaali, for instance) in such an irreverent way. Yes, sure, Alaipaayuthey told us that parents were not necessary to have a wedding, and Pizza and O Kadhal Kanmani and Dada told us that sex was not a by-product of marriage. But these films wove these ideas into a bigger, more serious narrative. But in Dude, the entire narrative is light-hearted. Even something like honour killing becomes a potential joke generator.
When a girl kneels to propose to a boy, he remarks that she is in a pose like someone in a porn flick. A man is comfortable being friends with his wife’s ex. We get a love triangle where no one has to choose, and there is no competition. A mother tells her son that he should stop being a mama’s boy and treat his wife with respect. A man slaps a woman. At the right moment, she slaps him back. Writer-director Keerthiswaran’s biggest achievement is that he keeps throwing new things at us, and we cannot really predict what’s coming next and what tone it’s going to be in. The scenes don’t always land, especially the emotional ones. I liked it when a girl tells a guy that he’s a cool dude and he can easily move on, but she needs time “like normal people” to handle a heartbreak. But some of the other serious scenes are shaky. And yet, the sheer unpredictability keeps us watching.
Pradeep Ranganathan plays the dude. His name is Agan. He plays the character with a mix of mannerisms ranging from Rajinikanth to Jim Carrey to Vijay to Dhanush in the early Selvaraghavan movies. This actor is an interesting work in progress. Mamitha Baiju plays Kural. When she remarks that Agan cannot beat up even ten people with his skinny body, he replies, “Nooru peru vandhaalum adi vaanga mudiyum.” Agan is talking about getting beaten up, and it appears that Pradeep knows where his sweet spot is. And it’s definitely not the traditional mass-hero zone. Pradeep’s timing is pitch-perfect, and it’s only in the sentimental scenes that we get a sense of “cringe” (to use a word that Agan uses). Agan is very much an extension of the Pradeep Ranganathan persona. He’s too cool to do normal things, like a desk job. He says, “En Bible la jolly ah pannaa dhan velai… illena sumai.”
And this IDGAF-ness meshes beautifully with Mamitha Baiju’s utter sincerity. She plays every moment (the serious ones, the silly ones) like her life depended on it, and she’s brilliant. If Pradeep is Dude’s freak flag, Mamitha is its emotional anchor. Their story goes through the ups and downs of love and marriage and parenthood, and none of this happens in a way you expect. In an earlier generation, you can imagine a hero turning down this role because it is not heroic enough or because it is emasculating. Dude, that way, is a very progressive film. It brings up genuine questions like this: Sometimes, do we fall in love just because the heart has been hurt and this new person is mending it? And the way this question is answered, with the Hridhu Haroon character, is fantastic.
Even with that spoiler warning, I cannot reveal too much about the plot. Let me just say that this is a film where a skipping rope becomes a noose and a noose becomes a skipping rope. Dude is not “logical”, and it is not a one-joke comedy like Love Today. The film isn’t perfect. But I was always interested in it, invested in it, and when the laughs land (like the oosi-nool one), they are glorious. I wish Sai Abhyankkar’s ‘Oorum blood’, one of my favourite songs in recent times, had been shot better. I wish Sarath Kumar’s character had been written with more nuttiness. I wish the climax had not been so dragged-out. But all said, the film gives you a good time, and it shows signs of a solid new talent in Keerthiswaran. He is not thinking about whether “the Tamil audience will accept this”, and that is hopefully a good sign of things to come.
