Dhilukku Dhuddu 2 movie review: A horror-comedy where the jokes work, thrills don’t

Dhilukku Dhuddu 2, starring Santhanam and Rajendran, suffers from all the tropes routinely associated with horror flicks. However, what works are its comic moments. Rating: 2.5/5

Film: Dhilukku Dhuddu 2
Director: Rambala
Cast: Santhanam, Shritha Sivadas, ‘Mottai’ Rajendran and Urvashi
Rating: 2.5/5

The high point of Dhilukku Dhuddu 2, starring Santhanam and Rajendran, are its comic scenes.

 

Dhilukku Dhuddu 2 is cut from the same cloth as most horror-comedy flicks and it suffers from the same tropes — a ghost with a past, a possessed character, a haunted mansion and more — that are usually associated with the genre. However, what really work in the film’s favour are the jokes — or trolls on some occasions — and they really do the trick. Santhanam and his battalion of comedians join hands for the second time to deliver a horror-comedy where the jokes work more than the thrills.

 

Viji (Santhanam) and his uncle (Rajendran), give sleepless nights to their neighbours, thanks to their irritating drinking habits. Karthik, one of their neighbours, a doctor, hatches a plan to teach them a lesson with the help of a few others. Karthik learns something shocking about his colleague Maya (Shritha) when he expresses his love to her. Karthik realizes there’s something sinister about Maya and he tries to make Viji fall for her. Viji meets Maya by accident and he immediately falls for her. To seek permission from Maya’s family to marry her, he goes to Kerala and what follows forms the crux of the story.

Santhanam, who has started his career as a comedian and recently graduated to a hero, hasn’t given up on his strengths which are his style of comedy with inimitable one-liners. Even though he’s the hero of Dhilukku Dhuddu 2, you still see him making a stronger impact with his comic timing more than anything. As a hero, he gets to fight, dance and even woo a heroine, but it’s when he gets into the comic mode, do we really find his character appealing and entertaining. It’s precisely why the first 20-odd minutes of the film are an ordeal to sit through, as we see Santhanam needlessly justify his ‘hero’ image.

Santhanam works wonders in the comic scenes, not when he is expected to act like a hero.

Santhanam and Rajendran bring the roof down with their chemistry and some scenes between them are terrific. The pre-interval sequence where Santhanam meets Maya’s father is one of the best comic stretches of the film. Santhanam’s comedy, at times, gets quite personal and he resorts to body shaming to make his jokes work. In a regular film, this style of comedy might come across as offensive, but they work wonders in a horror premise. There is a scene where a character when surrounded by a group of ghosts, jokes about how he wishes they bathe on a regular basis.

As a horror film, Dhilukku Dhuddu 2 is quite predictable and if not for the well-written comedy scenes, it would’ve been a boring watch. Just like the first film, the sequel also ends with a bang. The last 20 minutes of the film really standout, thanks to the excellent comic stretch inside a haunted mansion. If only all horror-comedies end on such a high, we’d have better films coming out of this genre more often.

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