Director – Keerthiswaran
Cast – Pradeep Ranganathan, Mamitha Baiju, R. Sarathkumar, Hridhu Haroon, Rohini, Aishwarya Sharma, Neha Shetty
Duration – 139 Minutes
 
There’s something strangely admirable about a film that bites off more than it can chew — not out of ego, but out of genuine ambition. Dude, directed by debutant Keerthiswaran, is one such film. It wants to be about love, family, societal pressure, patriarchy, caste, self-worth, identity, marriage, mental health, and also prank calls, fast cuts, slapstick, TikTok humour, and meta monologues. It swings big. And sometimes, it swings blindfolded.
 
Let’s start with the premise: Agan (Pradeep Ranganathan) and Kural (Mamitha Baiju) are cousins-turned-friends-turned-lovers-turned-exes-turned... yeah, even they’re not sure. Their relationship is a chaotic spreadsheet of affection, guilt, denial, longing, pressure, and passive-aggressive texts. At some point, one of them is pretending to love the other, while the other is pretending not to care. Meanwhile, Sarath Kumar — having the time of his life — looms large as a potential villain and accidental philosopher.
 
Keerthiswaran clearly wants to push boundaries, and he’s got something to say. The problem is, he says everything, all at once. A serious scene about gender roles cuts to a wacky skit. A breakup leads into a bizarre fight choreography involving brooms. One minute Agan is delivering a heartfelt PSA about respecting women’s choices, the next he’s leading a prank montage that undermines his own growth. It's like the film is made by three different writers, all of whom came to the shoot with wildly different screenplays and just decided to roll with it.
 
And yet, in its most disjointed moments, Dude is also curiously magnetic. You can’t look away. Like a meme that starts off cringe but then hits a little too close to home. It’s trying so hard to be funny, woke, sensitive, and silly — sometimes in the same scene — that you sort of respect its audacity. And somewhere buried in all this is a real story. A real pulse. You can feel it. You just wish the camera would stay still long enough for you to connect.
 
Pradeep Ranganathan does his thing — manic energy, expressive face, a phone flip trick you’ll see too many times. His performance is like a Red Bull-fueled improv set, and to his credit, it mostly works. Mamitha Baiju, on the other hand, is the emotional anchor. She’s given very little consistency in terms of writing, but she salvages scenes through sheer sincerity. There’s something incredibly grounded about her presence, even when the film around her seems to be losing grip. And Sarath Kumar, in a welcome and wild detour from his usual stern roles, is electric. Equal parts charming and threatening, he dances on the edge of parody without tipping over.
 
Sai Abhyankkar’s music deserves its own review. Sometimes the score lifts a moment. Sometimes it strangles it. There are instances where you can almost hear the background music arguing with the scene. And while "Oorum Blood" is catchy in that TikTok-earworm way, the overall audio mix feels like it's trying to make up for narrative clarity with sheer volume.
 
If Dude were a person, it would be that friend who wants to have a deep conversation but also keeps making silly faces mid-sentence. You want to take them seriously, but you’re also a little exhausted. The film wants to discuss big, serious, real things, but is terrified of being boring. So it talks fast, moves faster, and in the end, doesn’t let you feel much at all.
 
But here's the thing — this mess isn't meaningless. Keerthiswaran is clearly a director with ideas and intent. You can tell he cares. And while Dude doesn’t always land, it’s punching way above its weight class. That alone makes it more memorable than many polished but passionless films. If this is him finding his footing, we’re in for something special next time — provided he lets his story breathe.
 
Because when Dude is quiet, when it pauses for just a moment, when it lets its characters be people instead of performers, it almost becomes the film it wants to be.