Mask - first prize

Mask

This is one of those films where you honestly don’t know what to even call it.

On paper, the cast looks solid. Kavin, Andrea, Charlie, Ruhani, and a few others. But if you’re talking about who dominates the film, it’s clearly Nelson Dilipkumar. Yes, he’s the one doing the voice-over. Credit where it’s due, the voice-over actually works well. It’s effective, engaging, and probably the best-designed asset in the entire package. So let’s break down how “good” this really is.

The story kicks off with Nelson’s narration, telling us that Velu and Bhoomi are stuck in a life-or-death situation. Velu is apparently a CEO, don’t bother asking of which company. He describes himself as an “ethical hacker,” not exactly as a full-time profession, more like a time-pass, freelance, occasionally organized, occasionally chaotic spy-style operation. On his way somewhere, he casually stops at a roadside stall, orders a bajji, hands his phone to a random nerd, asks him to hack something, and then goes off to take a break until his next scene shows up.

What they present as “smart” is actually just Velu blackmailing his own clients, using their private data against them and extorting money from the very people who hired him. This is shown as clever, stylish, almost aspirational.

On the other side, we have Bhoomi, an absolute disgrace of a character. On the surface, she claims to be rescuing orphaned girl children. In reality, she raises them only to supply them to VIPs. That’s it. That’s the character. How this kind of filth was written as a “story,” narrated to actors, filmed, set to background music, color-graded, released in theatres, and then proudly pushed to OTT platforms honestly, it’s baffling. Seriously… just get lost.

This isn’t to say that every film centered around a morally grey or outright criminal protagonist has this problem. They don’t. This one does. The issue here is the sheer ugliness of the character writing. Writing a villain like this is one thing, that’s fine. You can ignore it and move on. But here’s the real question, is it enough if the hero simply defeats the villain? If someone asks, “Why is he the hero?” the only defense the director has is, “Who asked you to see him as a hero?” That’s not a narrative strategy. That’s an escape clause.

On top of that, there’s the obvious Money Heist hangover. If M. R. Radha were around, he would’ve ripped this apart without mercy.

Then there’s Ruhani, positioned as the heroine. Very popular on Instagram, already acted in a web series where she played a cop. Here, she’s cast as a married woman. Her husband conveniently disappears whenever needed, and she calls Velu over saying, “My husband isn’t home, come, let’s shoot reels.” Velu, of course, behaves like the Mohan from the “Rajaraja Chozhan” song. Very nice. How progressive.

Kavin, at the very least, start selecting stories with some conscience. You’re at a growth stage in your career. Why dilute your trajectory with this kind of unnecessary baggage?

There’s honestly nothing more to say about this. While watching, it felt… okay. But the moment I sat down to write, I genuinely couldn’t bring myself to say anything good. I simply couldn’t write against my conscience. The character designs are that disgusting. Tamil cinema has rarely sunk to this level of moral bankruptcy in character construction. And if there were awards for this... well, who else would they even give it to?

Just get lost.

I honestly tried to pick out at least something positive and make a post out of it. But there has to be something to pick in the first place. :/