PENGUIN

The film opens up with a person dressed up as Charlie Chaplin slaying a kid with an axe, while whistling the rhyme 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'. The scene creates a high shock value, and the director manages to sustain the suspense throughout the runtime. The film is titled Penguin, based on the short story of how a penguin goes to any extent to save the life of its offspring.

It is a thriller film written and directed by Eashvar Karthic and produced by Karthik Subbaraj's banner Stone Bench Films, and Passion Studios. It's a female centric film that has Keerthy Suresh in the lead role while Linga, Madhampatty Rangaraj and others play crucial supporting roles. The movie has cinematography by Kharthik Palani and music by Santhosh Narayanan.

There is a scene where Rhythm (Keerthy Suresh) narrates the short story to her child Ajay, played by a natural, Master Advaith, but leaves it hanging midway. This is a smart decision by the director, because it gives the audience a lot of information about the proceedings, yet he holds back the most crucial ones. The rhyme mentioned above also becomes an aural cue of sorts, because that's when the director chooses to offer more information. Although the writing is very strong, the dialogues had a tinge of amateurishness.

The film deals with the story of a woman named Rhythm, who loves her child unconditionally. One day he goes missing and her life turns upside down. Her husband Raghu (Linga) leaves her, and a few years later she marries Gautham (Madhampatty Rangaraj). She is affected by PTSD while pregnant with Gautham's child. A series of strange incidents take place and how she handles them is what forms the rest of the plot. The director places a climactic fight around 40 minutes before the end of the film, but then manages to pull the carpet under our feet with a classic 'Karthik Subbaraj' kind of twist (Who is also the producer). What follows is another series of few twists and turns, with very few landing off the mark.

Keerthy Suresh marks her return to Kollywood with a fantastic performance that reminds us of the wonderful actress she is. Her performance in the melodramatic scenes plays a huge role in moving the audience, and her character arc has also been sketched beautifully. The director takes time to show how much she is attached to her child and once that is strongly established, he proceeds with the story.

For instance, Rhythm and Raghu (her husband) go to a funeral along with Ajay, but then he goes missing for five minutes. That specific scene plays a very important role in establishing the bond between the mother and the child. In the same scene, when it takes time to find Ajay, we see Raghu scolding Rhythm and doesn't take responsibility. This serves as a justification for Raghu leaving Rhythm later, which makes the decisions sound natural. Among the other actors, Madhampatty Rangaraj carries his mild eccentricity well, but the mannerisms look force-fitted so that we doubt if he's the killer. This looks like a very small flaw, but when the rest of the film has a certain quality, these flaws stick out.

Kharthik Palani's cinematography is magnificent and the way he covers the scenery of the Nilgiris are a delight to watch, with the frames breathing so much of life, just like the green trees in it. Nilgiris translates to Blue Mountains in English, and the camerawork seems to be inspired from it, as almost every frame bluish tone to it. It would take another essay to explain what Santhosh Narayanan adds to this film through his music, which is mostly filled with acoustic instruments. Although it seems like the music is overpowering the narrative in the initial portions, it blends beautifully as the film progresses.

The final revealing of the actual psychotic villain and the real motivation behind the crime done, feels weak. But overall, Eashvar Karthic's Penguin is a compelling enough thriller that has minute novelties in it, in terms of screenplay and filmmaking.