Penguin Review: A Compelling Take on the Psycho-Thriller Genre!

Debutant director Eashvar Karthic’s ‘Penguin,’ starring Keerthy Suresh in the lead role, is the latest title to release on a streaming platform without a theatrical release. And with people accepting their fate, and considering the recent changes in their way of living as the “new normal.” Quite a few movie studios and producers are coming forward to release their movies directly on OTT platforms starting from Ponmagal Vandhal with Jyothika in the lead role. On an interesting note, both the Kollywood films which debuted on Amazon Prime Video have a female protagonist leading the charge. Penguin Amazon Prime

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Penguin also has Linga, Madhampathy Rangaraj, Master Advaith as the supporting cast. The plot of the film is about Rhythm (Keerthy Suresh), who is pregnant, anticipating with confidence that her son Ajay (Master Advaith), who got kidnapped six years ago, would eventually return by some means. However, her unsurmountable hope do not go in vain, as Ajay mysteriously reappears. But, he seems to be disturbed, physically, and mentally abused, that he refuses to utter a word, or socialize. And after being puzzled and frustrated by the state of her son, the remainder of the film details whether she succeeds in spotting her boy’s kidnapper.

Kollywood had delivered three notable films in the thriller genre in the recent past. From Raatchasan, directed by Ram Kumar, Kollywood auteur – Mysskin’s Pyscho, and Eashvar Karthic’s Penguin. All these films have an antagonist suffering from past trauma and lack of empathy, that set them apart from regular human beings. But the way these directors handled the screenplay, character development, and the individuality of every person in handling their scripts made these three films separate from each other, with my favorite being Raatchasan back in 2018.

Debutant Eashvar Karthic is prolific in handling the subject, skilfully. Initially, the narrative is slow-paced and takes time to lay the groundwork before taking off. Halfway through the movie, it begins to pick up the pace, and the narration advances to the climax with quite a few unexpected twists. The thriller aspect of the film is satisfying. Without any additional jump scares, the haunting visuals and the suspenseful music gives us a quick adrenaline rush.

Performance-wise, Keerthy Suresh does her best to carry the movie on her shoulders. But during certain scenes, she seems slightly off the track and gave me the impression of thinking about what to do next or express. Others, in their minimal screen time, portray their roles decently. A special mention to the Labrador named Maddy, who also had a crucial role to play throughout the film, and is the best boi ever.

Kharthik Phalani’s camera work also deserves a special mention. Shot elegantly in the city of Kodaikanal, the entire film had a shade of blue that helped in setting a dim and gloomy outlook. Santhosh Narayanan, who is notorious for composing high-intense background music (take Kabali and Vada Chennai as an example) did not deliver his best, yet, he contributed to creating the tension the movie required.

Going through the storyline and the negatives of the movie. A few illogical scenes were not an issue, but when you sit back and watch any film, you tend to question the decisions made by the lead actor and whine about the bad ones. Subsequently, while watching Penguin, I cringed several times and thought about a better option inside my head. As I mentioned earlier, the pacing of the narrative is slow and sporadic, and with under 120 minutes of runtime, you could feel the movie taking longer than usual to wrap things up.

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Nevertheless, Penguin personally gave me the satisfaction of watching a well-made thriller. Since I am not a fan of this genre, I lack knowledge of the stories of other films and do not know if this movie stands in the same ballpark when compared to others. However, despite a few problems, the Penguin managed to keep me engrossed till the end, thanks to the decent amount of twists and turns. Avoid getting annoyed through the beginning glitches, and you will be in for a satisfactory thrilling ride. Watch ‘Penguin’ on Amazon Prime here.

Rating – 3/5 | Grade – B

Images via Amazon Prime Video