DD Next Level Movie Review: Surface-level storytelling helped by next-level jokes
DD Next Level Movie Review(3 / 5)
Usually seen as an escape and haven from real-world problems, the choice to turn theatres into a site of torment is a compelling idea that DD Next Level boldly flirts with. The latest Santhanam film operates on the premise that real-life people are trapped in a movie as the characters, and that film within the film has multiple references to popular films. Sounds convoluted? Well, they manage to iron most of them out in this neatly packaged horror comedy that tries. Interestingly, Santhanam's horror comedy works for its snides at the horror tropes throughout the film. Initially, when YouTube film critics Krishnamoorthy AKA Kissa 47 (Santhanam) and Veen Pechu Babu (Naan Kadavul Rajendran) enter a new dimension, they anticipate the challenges thrown at them by recollecting their own memories of those references made throughout this film. This is the case because they don't play the characters in the film that they are trapped in. It is both fun and cathartic to see Santhanam and Rajendran play our proxies in mocking such done-to-death tropes. Thankfully, this goes on till the very end.
As a prelude to what will happen to Kissa 47, YouTube film critic Prashanth Rangasamy, who plays himself, is invited to a press show at a dingy theatre that turns well-lit and decorated only for victims like him. It is run by the ghost of movie buff Hitchcock Irudhayaraj (Selvaraghavan), who, when alive, used it as a place to kill those who bash films in the name of reviewing. He continues it even after his death, and next in his invitee list are rap film critic Kissa 47 and film gossiper Veen Pechu Babu. Sensing a trap when he reaches before time to scout the location, he dashes back home to realise that his father (Nizhalgal Ravi), mother (Kasthuri Shankar), sister (Yashika Anand), and girlfriend (Geetika Tiwary) have already left for the theatre. Since they have already entered the theatre, they are turned into the characters in the film, while Kissa and Babu are still themselves and stuck in the horror-cum-slasher film Devil's Double Next Level (meta). Does Kissa manage to rescue his family before the film ends? This forms the core of DD Next Level.
Self-awareness is the biggest strength of DD Next Level and it is also a risk taken by the director. The horror and murders in this film have to not just hit the right note of caricature and kalaai, but also engage the various Kissas in the audience. The director pulls this off for most of the runtime. Before I find myself walking into such a trap, I have to confess that though I have held the dearth of unique characterisation against films, I have always wanted films to be indulgent, and have characters that can do anything and be anyone. DD Next Level has only such characters, which is far better than ones having cookie-cutter traits.
Cast: Santhanam, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Kasthuri Shankar, Nizhalgal Ravi, Rajendran
Director: Prem Anand
The screenplay is largely breezing through one humour trope after the other. There are well-written, enjoyable and elaborate sequences that effectively overshadow the wafer-thin plotline of the story. The narration sags every time the director attempts to tell something serious about breaking the curse of the haunted island and surviving the man-eating killers. Our patience waiting for the next joke or a slapstick sequence grows thin whenever Kissa gets emotional after Hitchcock says he will do terrible things to his family.
To the film's advantage, the premise is inherently built on a joke goldmine. Reliefs such as Kissa and Babu's gibberish and diary fight scenes, bid to make Inspector Raghavan and his sidekick believe they are Gautam Vasudev Menon and Redin Kingsley, with their real-life references being dispatched regularly. As a noteworthy addition, the scatological jokes involving Nizhalgal Ravi in the flashback transition were hilarious and inventive. Having the wacky idea of transporting people into a movie, which is directed by a ghost, is enough to discard all logic, and discard every creative inhibition.
One of the prime pre-release selling points of the film was that the ghost and paranormal activities in DD Next Level would not be set in an abandoned bungalow. But the haunted resort in this film doesn't really do away with this trope. Nonetheless, it was fun. And to see them stick to the rules of their world was quite a pleasant surprise in a film that could have gotten away with a lot more, considering it throws caution to the wind right from the first frame. We were in just for the laughs, and we are bowled over by the adherence to logic.
One sore point of DD Next Level is that the screenplay tries to push the envelope to keep us equally invested in the serious parts. Like I said before, the diary fight scene was side-splitting. But it feels a stretch to believe that the possession of the diary is crucial for the central characters of the film to stay alive and to combat the forces that wish otherwise for them. The diary doesn't have earth-shattering revelations justifying the chase and fight. But yeah, when Kissa says, "indha diary ezhudhi vechitu saavura pei kadha idhoda pogattum,' evoking laughter all around, reminds us of our primary purpose of watching the film. Similarly, the climax stretch is a tad too long, and no one really knows where the film is going. The dilemma of whether to have a sequel is the best of the meta concepts of DD Next Level, with the resolution being satisfactory to both the critics (Kissa and me). I think it is fair enough to call DD Next Level as a 'Critics kondaadum vettri.'