Doctor - Laughter therapy

Director Nelson Dilipkumar who delivered the blockbuster hit dark comedy  'Colamavu Cokila' starring Nayanthara has joined hands with his long time friend Sivakarthikeyan for 'Doctor'.  The already high expectations for this combo has more than doubled now thanks to the 'Beast' effect.  Whether the film justifies the hype remains to be seen.

'Doctor' begins with Padmini (Priyanka Arul Mohan) rejecting the marriage proposal to her boyfriend Dr. Varun (Sivakarthikeyan) as she is not satisfied with him as a person, especially his expressionless face and attitude. A disappointed Varun waits opposite Padmini's house unable to come to terms with the split.  Padmini's niece Chinnu (Zara), is abducted from her school and all hell breaks out in the family.  In steps Varun who offers to help find the girl using some of the most criminal methods and what happened to the girl, who her kidnappers are and whether the 'Doctor' rescues her is what the rest of the screenplay is all about.

Kudos to Sivakarthikeyan for breaking the stereotype and play a character that is a complete departure from his usual ones.  He wins big with the expressionless acting conveying his character's brilliance with his body language instead.   He has gone many notches higher in executing the action sequence and 'Doctor' would surely raise his career graph to the next level.  Priyanka Arul Mohan has made a solid debut and is an absolute delight as the one serious person in the cast with many laughs coming at her expense.   The scene in which she asks Yogi Babu to send Siva to her at an inappropriate moment is a scream.  Yogi Babu as Prathap, a kidnapper turned victim of Dr. Varun provides many a laugh out loud instance none better than his palm slapping game that is a treat to watch.  Ilavarasu, Archana, Alex, Sunil Reddy and Siva all have scope in the screenplay and have delivered big.  However the star of the show is undoubtedly Redin Kingsley as the cop turned accomplice  who brings down the house with his unique mix of dialogue delivery and slapstick.  The biggest applause in the theater is for him when he does his rescue act in the climax.  Similarly Deepa has also excelled in comedy timing as the maid of the family.   Vinay is shown as a deadly villain but no scope has been given to him to either terrify or tickle the funny bone and it has turned out to be a major setback for the film as a whole.  Compared to him the twins Raghuram and Rajiv Lakshmanan as the bald villains are more intriguing.

What works best in 'Doctor' are the laugh out loud moments that are sprinkled throughout the screenplay.  Many of them land when you least expect it making it that much more enjoyable.  There is a freshness to the way the story moves forward that is a big plus.  The action sequence on the metro train is choreographed in a novel way balancing comedy and the thrills.  The audience is won over when the hero looks beyond love and family and goes to rescue the girls which is a powerful plot point that saves the day for the film.  

On the other side of the coin as mentioned above the cardboard main villain is a major letdown.  The screenplay loses its energy in the second half and meanders for a long time before arriving at a rather unconvincing climax.  For a long time the villain is fooled by the doctor but the director does not succeed in doing the same to the audience.  Female fans will not enjoy the branding of the heroine as a beautiful dumbo and some of the insults thrown at women.  Cross dressing a villain who loses to Yogi Babu is also not in good taste.  The film deals with girl child trafficking and the director has handled that rather insensitively and the humour around it falls flat.   The family seem too plastic in their emotions when the girl goes missing as well as when they are tracking her down.

Anirudh has yet again elevated another film to a different level through his energetic background score.  During the first half he plays a comedic symphony while later switching to a Spanish flavor as the mood gets darker.  Vijay Karthik Kannan captures the busy nature of Chennai and the beauty of Goa with equal aplomb . Nirmal's editing style adds to the humour while he could have cut down the lags in the second half.   Writer director Nelson has stuck to his strength and has churned out a delightful dark comedy that hits the bullseye most of the time.  Sivakarthikeyan Productions and KJR Studios have jointly produced this offbeat film that may well turn out to be a game changer in the post COVID 19 era.

Verdict : Go for this laugh out loud delightful dark comedy with quirky characters galore.