Dhanush who recently tasted success with 'Thodari' is now back with 'Kodi' (a) 'Dharma Yogi' in Telugu. This is the first time Dhanush is doing dual roles and this is the first time he also pairs with Trisha. Dhanush essays role of 'Kodi', a politician and 'Rishi', a professor. Director has taken the social message of bringing down Koodankulam nuclear plant. What happens when the politician tries to do good and save farmers is narrated in commercial format. Dhanush as professor Rishi helps Kodi for this good cause. Now he too gets trapped into problems and how he walks out of the mess is narrated with lots of interesting twists.
For National Award winner like Dhanush, this movie is just a cake walk. He clearly shows difference between his dual roles. However, the Politician 'Kodi' scores more than Professor character. Dhanush excels in action scenes too. Trisha as Rudhra excels in her meaty role. After a long time, it is good to see her in a powerful role. However her dubbing is too bad. Dubbing artist should have been changed or Trisha herself should have taken care of dubbing portions. Anupama Parameswaran who recently stole our hearts in 'Premam' and 'A..Aa..' is making her debut in Tamil and she is perfect in role of Malathy. SA Chandrasekaran who is also father of actor Vijay is back as antagonist and he is the show stealer. Kaali Venkat has done a good job in climax. Rest of the cast have done what they were asked to do.
Santosh Narayanan who impressed everyone with his music in 'Kabali' has scored for Dhanush for the first time. 'Ei Suzhali' song alone is impressive. Rest of them are below par. Venkatesh's cinematography brings the rural area into spotlight. Prakash Mabbu has done a neat job with editing. The first half of the movie moves at a slow pace ut the screenplay was engaging. Second half mostly dealt with a social issue and the political games was narrated to perfection. Kudos to Director Durai Senthilkumar for not allowing commercial compromises inside the story.
'Kodi' has solid performances, earnest writing, fast screenplay and crispy editing. It also has right ingredients of a commercial masala. Dhanush carries the movie for most part and he gets major support from Trisha and SA Chandrasekar.
