Diesel Movie Review: Diesel by Shanmugam Muthusamy kicks off with a bold script-an unflinching tale set against crude oil smuggling and the suffering of a fishing community. The film promises big action and social ingredients with Harish Kalyan, Vinay Rai, and Athulya Ravi in the lead. However, what starts off as a potentially interesting socio-political drama soon fizzles away to mundane storytelling and mediocre execution.
Vasu (Harish Kalyan) is a chemical engineer who illegally trades in crude oil with his father Manohar (Sai Kumar) in the pretentious name of supporting their impoverished fishing community. Their illegal dealings come under the scrutiny of an immoral police officer named Mayavel (Vinay Rai), resulting in bloody confrontations. On paper, Diesel carries impressive credentials for a riveting social drama that deals with desperation driving the oppressed to murkier moral territories. The screenplay never rises above any of it, though.
Neither Vetri Maaran’s dominant voiceover at the onset (which gives you a Vada Chennai feel) nor any of his promises saves the film from a sinking ship into regular mass-movie cliches. To make matters worse is a forced romantic track involving Athulya Ravi, which turns her character into an emotional prop rather than a presence that means something.
Diesel continues to teeter uneasily between a social statement and a mass entertainer. Harish Kalyan, so impressive in Parking and Lubber Pandhu, doesn’t shine here. His performance is all too apparently lacking the raw authenticity thats clearly demanded of the North-Chennai milieu. Although Vinay Rai was supposed to play the antagonist, he is not filled up-and-down the lines as usual. Athulya Ravi, despite being able, is completely wasted in a poorly developed role that does not kick up the film, nor does it take the film forward.
On the technical side, the film is not up to the mark-the camera is not gritty but rocky; editing is choppy; and lip sync issues cause discomfort for watching the movie. The songs were all forced and did nothing to elevate the ethos emotional core of the story.
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The strong premise
Vetri Maaran’s impactful voice-over
Sai Kumar performance.
Well-written emotional scenes
Weak screenplay and inconsistent tone
Harish Kalyan action-heavy role.
Very poor character-development
Distracting lip-sync
Unoriginal
Diesel brings all the ingredients for a powerful drama-a theme relevant, a strong cast, and fuel in a socially addicted environment. Yet, mid-way, it stalls and leaves much ado between inept writing and direction.
Rating: 1.5/5 A flat ride that promised fire but delivered fumes only.
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