DSP MOVIE REVIEW CLICK TO RATE THE MOVIE

DSP is an action comedy film written and directed by Ponram, and produced by Kaarthekeyen Santhanam under the banner Stone Bench Films. The film has Vijay Sethupathi and Anukreethy Vas in the lead roles while Prabhakar, Pugazh, Singam Puli, Ilavarasu and others play supporting roles. The music is composed by D Imman, and the cinematography is handled by Venkatesh S and Dinesh Krishnan. 

Vasco Da Gama (Vijay Sethupathi) is the son of a flower seller in Dindigul. He falls in love with Annapoorni (Anukreethy Vas) who runs a sweets and savouries business. On the day of his wedding, he runs into a tiff with local don Mutta Ravi (Prabhakar), which forces him into exile. He returns as a DSP while Mutta Ravi has grown to become the MLA of the constituency. How Vasco Da Gama exacts revenge on Mutta Ravi forms the rest of the plot. 

Right from the first frame, DSP is a film that reeks of two things - genericness and cliches. Usually, Ponram's films contain a lot of emotions and thrive on humour and the scenes that show family bonding. DSP is stylishly shot and is technically superior to his previous works, but at what cost? Emotionally, the film doesn't connect anywhere with the audience, and the humour misses the timing more often than not. 

The film has plenty of characters, and there are plenty of relationships possible between them. For instance, we are given a lot of scenes between Vasco Da Gama and his father, he has romantic scenes with Annapoorni, there are scenes with his sister, there are scenes with a friend character... and then there is a small romantic track for the sister with his friend. With so many relationships portrayed in the film, you are not able to empathise or root for even a single character among them. The result is that, when a tragic event happens it does not move you even a bit. 

It is okay for films to be commercialized or follow specific patterns. But DSP decides to follow the template and never leaves it, and does anything to stay inside it. Vijay Sethupathi gets a slick action block as his opening scene. But the film wants another specific opening song which is preceded by a force-fitted scene that has nothing to do with the film's proceedings. Sample this - Vasco Da Gama randomly goes to a cricket ground to fight with a few players. The village panchayat heads come to question and advise them to leave the ground for the younger generation. Vijay Sethupathi breaks into a monologue, which serves no purpose but a cue for the song "Venam Thalaivaa Advice"

Among performances, Prabhakar looks menacing as the villain Mutta Ravi, and Vijay Sethupathi shines well. In their faceoff scenes, the writing gets marginally better, but still has a lot of flab. A few jokes like Prabhakar imitating Vijay Sethupathi from Naanum Rowdy Dhaan and Vijay Sethupathi mimicking Prabhakar's Kalakeya character from Baahubali, in between the climax fight does make you laugh. That is the zone DSP should have aimed to hit. 

Imman's music and the cinematography provide the basic technical support for the film. Overall, DSP and Vijay Sethupathi deserved much more in the story and screenplay. Without this, the film looks spineless, and wanting for more.

DSP VIDEO REVIEW