Dude Movie Review: A Breezy Romance That Falters But Still Entertains

After the success of Love Today, expectations were naturally high for Pradeep Ranganathan’s next outing in front of the camera. Dude, a Tamil-Telugu bilingual helmed by Keerthi Swaran starts off as a breezy campus romance between Agan (Pradeep) and Kural (Mamitha Baiju), childhood friends whose easy chemistry is the film’s biggest strength. The light-hearted first half, peppered with humor and clever one-liners, keeps the audience invested, especially thanks to Pradeep’s effortless screen presence and Sai Abhyankar’s lively background score.

However, once the film moves into its emotional territory post-interval, Dude begins to lose focus. The writing turns clumsy, the screenplay drags, and the tonal shift from romance to melodrama feels forced. What could have been a layered exploration of love and ego turns instead into a generic, sometimes illogical stretch of scenes that test the viewer’s patience.

Mamitha Baiju delivers a delightful performance, adding charm and depth even when the material doesn’t fully support her character. Sarath Kumar lends gravitas, but his arc fizzles out towards the end. Director Keerthi Swaran shows flashes of promise behind the camera—the staging, music, and youthful mood work—but his writing struggles to find emotional coherence.

While some fans may find the film’s humor and sentiment engaging, others are likely to be frustrated by its lack of logic and repetitiveness, especially with Pradeep once again playing the “sympathy hero” archetype he’s known for.

Verdict:

Dude is a film of two halves—fun, witty, and full of spark at first, but disappointingly shallow and inconsistent later on. It’s a watchable one-time entertainer for the youth, carried mostly by its leads and music, but it never evolves beyond its surface-level charm.