Doctor (Tamil, Action,comedy,Thriller) released on 9th October

The first time we see the Army Doctor, Varun (Sivakarthikeyan), he is at the battle front treating an injured terrorist. A superior questions why he has chosen to save the terrorist over an Indian soldier, and he coolly retorts that the latter's injury is fatal, so saving the terrorist would help in intelligence gathering. He is unemotional that way.

This is certainly a different role for Sivakarthikeyan, who, unlike in other films, is made to be less expressive and less talkative. In the initial scenes, seeing the actor this way does seem jarring. We wonder why he has to be absolutely expressionless and robotic, but as the story develops, you see how this very trait comes in handy for this character to do the things that he does.

Sivakarthikeyan sportingly lets the other actors — especially comedians — take the limelight. Among the bunch of comic performers, Redin Kingsly almost walks away with the film. His style is distinct among comedians who can deadpan. While most of them go subtle, he goes to the other extreme - loud and so over-the-top. Nelson seems to realise that this shtick could quickly become tiresome, and uses him effectively by pitting him against Yogi Babu, who is also in terrific form. Then, there is Deepa Shankar, who gets some of the film’s funniest lines, and is great with physical comedy. We also get a couple of bumbling criminals, Sunil Reddy and Shiva, who do a fab job in the second half of the film, when Varun and the family of Padmini (Priyankaa Mohan) embark on a mission to Goa to save Chinnu (Zaara Vineet), the school-going daughter of her elder brother (the late Arun Alexander) and sister-in-law Sumathi (Archana).

Interestingly, Padmini is Varun's fiancé (ex-fiancé, as he corrects another character later in the film). The scene in which she rejects him in the presence of both their families sets the tone for the rest of the film. Nelson doesn't let go of this darkly humorous tone even when things get serious. The humour quotient does dip in the second half, but Nelson manages to inject a funny quip or two to keep the tone from getting too serious. Even the one action set-piece in the film is peppered with comedy and inventiveness in staging. And Anirudh's lively background score, especially in the climax, elevates a moment that is tonally different from the rest of the film.

And all along, the writing remains solid, giving us situations that might have felt implausible in a serious film, but work brilliantly because of the black comedy.