Posted on October 9, 2021
Spoilers ahead…
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Baradwaj Rangan 
brangan
October 11, 2021
Seriously? The biggest hit of the season and no comments? 🙂
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Yogi B
October 11, 2021
haha surprised by the lack of comments. In all honesty, whilst I enjoyed CoCo in bits and bobs, the ending fell completely flat for me. It was way too contrived with all the men taking turns to go into the room so I never took Nelson too seriously. However, Doctor was a hugely pleasant surprised. I haven’t laughed out this loud continuously in a long-time at the cinema for a Tamil film since perhaps Aathavan/Boss Engira Baskaran days. This is a much-needed comedy film and have booked my second viewing already. Yogi Babu is an absolute gem!
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Berlin
October 11, 2021
BR: Oh I thought you were offline and hence weren’t available to moderate/approve the comments and wanted to see how others felt.
Nelson is indeed a very logical writer if nothing else. The very first scene about Varun’s military background is short and then never revisited.
I get that the character is unemotional but the way SK portrayed it felt a bit off. He was literally like Superstar as Enthiran in Enthiran. SKs character doesn’t seem all too human when he literally acts like a robot.
This does not go well in scenes when he gives a speech of 100 girls vs 1 girl or something along those lines. It lacks conviction of any sort. When in the climax he goes to rescue the last girl, I was reminded of how superstar rescues the last girl from the burning building, devoid of any emotions. And as such all such scenes lacked punch and played very mechanically.
Tamil cinema has “loosu ponnu” trait/cliche and I just wished Nelson flipped that cliche on its head rather than present that cliche in a new avatar.
The supporting cast was fantastic. The casting director needs to be lauded for some of the new finds. The dining scene where the girl is presented to her family sounds terrific on paper but it lacks the punch and tension it needs.
Personally I kind of felt Chellamma fell flat on its face. Even the lyrical video with Aniruth and Jonita Gandhi singing was way too energetic and feel-good and after a sobering 2 hours, I’d have wanted a rousing end to the film but it looked like an after thought 😦
Priyanka Mohan is beautiful! ❤ She didn’t have much part to play and even when she spoke, it was all monotonous. Excited about how she would handle meaty roles where she actually has to act.
Overall a great film that could have been better. Nelson’s Beast will now be hyped like hell and it would be well deserved.
@BR: When you say staging makes it not energetic, I am not fully able to comprehend it. Can you point me to similar scenes/tropes with different staging by different directors as an example?
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Yajiv
October 11, 2021
I would comment on this if this had released near me and I were able to watch it. Alas, I’ll have to wait for OTT. Looking forward tho! I really enjoyed Kolamavu Kokila
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Vivek
October 12, 2021
Baddy – one thought: not having your text review is tricky for someone like me who is here mainly for your writing. As you can imagine, viewing a video vs reading your review are vastly different propositions when one has maybe limited time scattered through the day. Is it an FC policy that only videos come first and transcripts come days later? I can imagine the data scientists at FC want to increase the viewership.. 🙂
Also, does this mean no more of your legendary written-first reviews like “Aap ka suroor”? 🙂
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Aman Basha
October 12, 2021
@Berlin: About Priyanka, she had a nice role in Nani’s Gang Leader and did quite well.
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doctorhari
October 12, 2021
Nelson seems to have a knack for taking up outrageously inventive ideas for his films. It was such a relief to see SK play a role miles away from his usual mould. And also to see a Tamil cinema protagonist who is not a Boss engira Baskaran-type wastrel or a Jayam Ravi-kind of high-minded social reformer, the two predominant types our directors seem to fall back on.
However when I look back, the film doesn’t leave as deep an impact as it could have. First let down, for me, were the flat dialogues. In many instances, the scenarios portrayed are so novel and the background tension is so great that even a half-comic dialogue acts as a great pressure valve. We end up laughing more than what the line deserves. Made me wonder what an apt and punchy line could have done.
Secondly, the lack of depth in the characters. For Nelson, quirks alone seem to be enough to define most of his characters. Many emotional scenes, too, fall flat due to this. (Deepa Shankar’s was the character I eagerly looked forward to in the second half. And the only transformation she undergoes is in the length of her hair.)
Still, the novel premise manages to make this a decent and entertaining mainstream Tamil cinema experience in a long time. Wish Nelson collaborates in the future with people who could complement his not-so-strong parts.
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Q
October 12, 2021
https://www.opindia.com/2020/10/bollywood-jism-ki-garmi-normalising-rape-disregard-consent-molestation/
Apologies for posting in an unrelated thread. But came across this today, and had to share.
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Anu P
October 12, 2021
No comments because I don’t view your reviews. The biggest draw was your writing. Reading something is much easier than watching something – at least for me. Pls let’s have a return of your written reviews.
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K
October 12, 2021
https://www.filmcompanion.in/reviews/tamil-review/doctor-movie-review-sivakarthikeyan-a-true-original-though-it-could-have-used-a-little-more-energy-yogi-babu-baradwaj-rangan/amp/
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K
October 12, 2021
Text review available
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Jallikattu lover
October 17, 2021
Reluctantly watched this with family. ..Raving about it.
They got me with the trailer, which paints SK as an organ trafficker.. and put me off from watching the film. The fact that the family audience has showed up in droves is proof that they are not social-media savvy. I wouldn’t have taken my daughter to watch this based on only the trailer.
All the characters were magnificent. Esp. the smaller ones like the Uncle and Aunty who kidnap at the Bus Stop with a suitcase, and the local gangsters, one of whom fall for…not the hot heroine but Archana! Very nicely done..
What the fuck was that stupid hand-slapping game subplot? It was too inane..I kinda forgave it and said, ” This is a quirky film” to myself to calm down.
I didnt think this was howlarious. Maybe, in parts esp. wisecracks by Yogi Babu and his crucifixion. But, this is Black Comedy done right! I love it when a director knows what he is doing. Kudos Nelson!!
Not like Vignesh Shivan with his “Pinaala pee” jokes” and “Ungala podanum” type humour that are more afterthoughts to make the material more palatable.
Also, props to romantic director GVM, who has dealt this organ as well as human trafficking angle in two films! Vaaranam Ayiram and Ennai Arinthal
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Sudarshan Raman
November 8, 2021
Watched the movie just yesterday and not sure if BR raised my expectations but somehow the movie felt wrong to me. SK character tried to came across as unemotional but it felt robotic and as if he was trying too hard. I dint find it as funny and thought Koko was a better movie. Even the fight scene in train was not as funny as it could have been, the dialogues were flat and boring. The nakkal from yogi babu was not there. For the first time I don’t find myself agreeing to BR review.
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kaizokukeshav
November 8, 2021
Wonderful movie. The train fight was awkwardly hilarious. The bland expressions and slow motions have exactly showed what the story wanted to show. Incredible directing.. take a bow.
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JPhil
November 9, 2021
Wicked stuff and full of cheeky surprises -wasn’t perfect but kept me imagining if the lead was Kamal instead (sans the potential romance ). SK was trying his best clearly, but somewhat lacks the star-wattage.
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Manikandan V
November 11, 2021
just a small thought on subtext of a movie i enjoyed a lot, for moment can we stretch and link the girls rescue by Doctor , equivalent of India s freedom struggle from the British, a stretch to imagine but few things add up, Method of rescue is completely dialogue oriented ofcourse military rescue in the end akin of world war ii, as the rescue ops start it is no longer about one particular family or girl akin to transfer of elite power and but about more and more in the need to be rescued including the final girl who got some how missed out, terry s business ambitions akin to imperialist endeavours of english, twins intriguing gives us the two faced British ,again war and imperialistic ambitions not favorably viewed back in england as it benefitted only the business A moment to spare for seeing who is at the cross in climax who gets in the way of seeing Doctor favourably, Final apology scene of the girl comes in broadly with this theme of non violent self effacing struggle, Bhagat the name says it all relevant to the Indian Independence Movement
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krishikari
November 20, 2021
This was a terrible because of bad casting. A more charismatic lead actor who did not take unemotional to mean wooden might have made this more engaging. The comments above mostly seem to agree with this view. An outwardly unemotional and logical character should have unexpressed internal emotions and a good actor’s job is to make those deep feelings visible to the audience while going around being cold and rational.
The female lead was drawn as just plain dumb (surprise!) and the film gave absolutely no reason other than good looks for the supposedly intelligent male lead to be still interested in her. If it was Nivin Pauly, he would have waited for the younger sister to grow up.
There were lots of amusing bits and the over the top villains lair could have been fun, but all this was not enough to make up for the completely unattractive hero.
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Yajiv
November 20, 2021
@krishikari: “If it was Nivin Pauly, he would have waited for the younger sister to grow up.” Gold! 😂
Finally caught it on OTT and I really disliked this movie too. I thought the writing got progressively worse as the film went on. So many plot holes and convenient contrivances. But I’m in the clear minority with this opinion, obviously.
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Prat
November 20, 2021
This movie had a flavour that’s been missing in recent movies so I was grateful for that. Like Koko the second half fell flat here too. But it’s an enjoyable watch overall and it had great music!
They had no reason for actually dumb blonding the heroine and I was surprised they ended up together despite sk insulting her multiple times for her lack of intelligence.They are gonna half an awful life together. Why are we so clueless about how relationships work? I guess Nelson has a misogynistic streak that was also evident in Koko’s rape joke (when they are all outside and they say engala paakavaachum vidunga ulla) which had me horrified and which nobody was bothered by.
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Satya
November 20, 2021
An outwardly unemotional and logical character should have unexpressed internal emotions and a good actor’s job is to make those deep feelings visible to the audience while going around being cold and rational.
Yes. Sivakarthikeyan is a very expressive actor and this part in hindsight kind of made him a stranded tourist on a lonely island. I might sound off, but the way Vijay played JD in Master’s first half would have been the more suitable way for this character.
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