Director - Shanmugam Muthusamy 
Cast - Harish Kalyan, Athulya Ravi, Vinay Rai, P. Sai Kumar, Ananya, Karunas, Ramesh Thilak, Kaali Venkat, Vivek Prasanna, Sachin Khedekar, Zakir Hussain, Thangadurai, KPY Dheena 
Duration – 144 Minutes

Let’s start with the facts: Diesel is a movie about stolen oil, stolen lives, and a lot of wasted potential. But more than that, it's a film that wants to be both a massy entertainer and a well-oiled political drama — only it can’t seem to decide which gear to stick to.
 
Directed by Shanmugam Muthusamy, Diesel begins with the unmistakable voice of Vetri Maaran, setting the tone like a rallying cry for revolution. For a few precious minutes, you feel like you’ve strapped into something special — something that will explore real issues like environmental damage, caste-class conflict, and the systemic exploitation of coastal communities. You sit up. You lean in. You say, “Okay Diesel, let’s go.”
 
But then... the wheels start wobbling.
 
At the centre of the chaos is Vasudevan aka Diesel Vasu (played by a surprisingly intense Harish Kalyan) — a man raised by a righteous-smuggler-with-a-heart-of-gold (Sai Kumar) in the fishing neighborhoods of Royapuram. The duo, in full Robin Hood mode, steal oil from the government pipeline and sell it on the black market — not for luxury, but to keep the fishermen alive and the community afloat. It’s a great setup. There’s tension. There’s moral ambiguity. There’s even a legitimate reason to root for the criminals.
 
But instead of pressing the pedal, Diesel detours into...romance.
 
Enter Athulya Ravi as a lawyer, because, of course, the revolution must pause for love. What follows are painfully stretched scenes where Harish Kalyan tries to flirt, cry, and flash smiles in a way that feels like deleted reels from a music video audition. There’s even a song that went viral (Beer Song), but in the movie, it looks like someone forgot to turn on the camera lights or hire a choreographer. You can practically hear the script yelling, “We’ll fix it in post!” Spoiler: they didn’t.
 
And just when you're about to give up, the second half slams into action — not gracefully, but like a bus that woke up late. Suddenly, the politics return. The stakes rise. There's blood, betrayal, and very suspiciously placed oil drums. It's uneven, but the pacing improves, and so does Harish Kalyan’s performance. It's like someone finally told him, “Okay, now ACT like the hero,” and he does — and it's not bad at all.
 
There are echoes of Vada Chennai and even Kaththi in how Diesel builds its David-vs-Goliath plotlines. The difference is, those films trusted the audience. Diesel, however, keeps explaining itself to you like a nervous student trying to impress a strict professor. "Did you get the metaphor? Look, the oil = power! And this guy = evil government!" Yes, Diesel. We get it.
 
What keeps the film from completely stalling is its sincerity. Despite the clumsy structure, Muthusamy has clearly done his homework. There’s real anger under the surface — about sea erosion, contaminated water, and what it means to be invisible in a city that pretends to care. These are not just plot points; they feel lived-in. Even if they’re not explored fully, their presence adds depth to an otherwise flat terrain.
 
The supporting cast holds up well — Vinay Rai and Sachin Khedekar are reliably shady. Ananya and Athulya, unfortunately, are written like afterthoughts. There’s one pre-climactic scene where they get to stretch — and it’s lovely — but too little, too late.
 
The irony? For a film called Diesel, it feels electric when it talks politics, but completely stalls when it tries to be... cute.
 
Diesel has something important to say, and sometimes it even says it well. But too often, it gets distracted by detours that no one asked for. If it had trusted its own voice a bit more — and trimmed at least 30 minutes of romance fluff — this could have been a searing, standout film. Instead, we get a well-researched political actioner awkwardly cosplaying as a commercial blockbuster.