Dude movie review: For far too long in South cinema, we have had men on-screen who feel entitled to love – be it from their lovers, friends or family. And when said men do not get what they want, they’re prone to throw 3-hour-long tantrums on-screen, packaged as cinema. Pradeep Ranganathan’s Agan in director Keerthiswaran’s debut film, Dude, is the exact opposite of that. So much so that in one scene, Mamitha Baiju’s Kural even asks him why he would go to such lengths for her… But I digress.
Dude movie review: Mamitha Baiju and Pradeep Ranganathan play the leads in Keerthiswaran’s film. Dude movie story
Agan (Pradeep) and Kural (Mamitha) have known each other since childhood. They have the kind of ease with each other that only comes from when you’ve known a person intimately all your life. Agan’s mother, Parvathy (Rohini), has been miffed at her brother, Kural’s father, politician Athiyamaan Azhagappan (Sarathkumar), for many years now, for unknown reasons. But the brother and sister don’t stop these two from having their own equation. The happy bubble that Agan and Kural happily live in is burst when she proposes marriage to him. What follows is something the makers have done a good job of keeping under wraps.
Dude movie review
Nothing from the trailer to the interviews by the cast gave away what the central conflict of Dude could be, so kudos to them for that. When a wrench is thrown in the idyllic life Agan and Kural lead by someone close to them, it’s not a trope you haven’t seen before. You just don’t expect it to exist in what you go in believing in a saccharine sweet tale. And the way Keerthiswaran lets it all unfold, aptly supported by Sai Abhyankar’s immersive music, the hilarious and borderline insane choices Agan and Kural make, and the slow lead-up to the ultimate resolution are definitely fresh.
When a film begins with a male character turning up at his ex-girlfriend’s wedding and demanding to know why she dumped him, you are quick to judge the character. You are also quick to think another male character in the film, who seems sweet on the surface, is anything but that, even if there are hints everywhere that he is otherwise. Keethiswaran does a stellar job of using tried-and-tested tropes where needed but also flipping stereotypes on their head when it comes down to it. The best part about Dude is that you think you know where it’s all heading, but your thought process is often challenged as the film goes along.
Movie Review
Dude
3/5
Agan and Kural have known each other all their lives. The happy bubble they live in bursts when she proposes marriage to him.
Cast
Pradeep Ranganathan, Mamitha Baiju, Sarathkumar, Hridhu Haroon, Neha Shetty
Verdict
Pradeep Ranganathan and Mamitha Baiju share crackling chemistry in Dude, supported by Sarathkumar’s able performance.
What works and doesn’t work in Dude
Dude could’ve been an easy breezy love story that could’ve helped Agan win the day in more ways than one. But then, it wouldn’t be a Pradeep-coded story. It also could’ve been easier to vilify or villainise Kural’s character. Instead, Keerthiswaran puts both his leads through the wringer. He is not subtle about pointing out the many ways in which society is casteist and patriarchal, but doesn’t hammer the message home with long speeches. Pradeep and Mamitha truly hold their own in the film, with the latter shining in emotional scenes. But it’s Sarathkumar who steals the show with the way his character wavers in tonality.
But the drawback, Dude suffers from, is when the first half quickly unpacks everything there is to be, and you wonder what other curveballs are left to tackle. Without giving much away, the lead characters confront a very timely and real-world issue that has been addressed differently in other films. And while Keerthiswaran eventually finds a way to tackle it, the lead-up to it gets repetitive and begins to feel like a pile-on after a while. He excels at comedy but struggles with emotion, which can sometimes border on melodrama. The final twist of the film, too, doesn’t land as intended.
In conclusion
If you liked Pradeep’s previous films Love Today (2022) and Dragon (2025), or Mamitha’s Premalu (2024), it’s more than likely that you will like Dude. The two actors seem tailor-made for love stories like these, where everything that can go wrong most definitely does. It doesn’t hurt that their chemistry crackles when they’re together on-screen. Dude might not top any of the previously mentioned work of these actors when it comes to the writing, but it’s definitely a good addition to their filmography.