Dragon is equivalent to three different characters put together within the first 50 odd minutes of the film. He starts off as Vaibhav (Mayur More) from Kota Factory (2023) being a topper of his school while suffering an early heartbreak within the first few reels of the film. The immediate transformation resembles characters of Maddy (R Madhavan) from Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein (2001) and Chakravarthi (Sivakarthikeyan) from Don (2022) wherein you see him turning into a ‘bad boy’ to lure girls and create chaos with bouts of violence in his engineering college. In a scene, you see him lusting over a body tattoo of his girlfriend Keerthi (Anupama Parameswaran), a trait that doesn’t afford to have any redemption. But because you are familiar with his earlier mindset of being rejected just because he was a ‘good boy’ and a ‘class topper’, you empathize with the character. In other words, you are completely invested in a journey that is consistently backed with humour erupting out of situations in the life of Dragon. The third transformation is also attributed to his extended college personality – you are witness to Dragon with overgrown hair and a beard seen whiling away his time, lying to his parents, being dominating his patient girlfriend and having 48 arrears in his Engineering degree. In short, the phase resembles Arjun Reddy (2017) / Kabir Singh (2019) that soon completes a searing character arc given his breakup.

The writing here is as much plot-driven as it is character-driven. So if you don’t leave the side of Dragon for most parts of the runtime, you are also familiarized with the situations that he lands up in, only to find a way out of them. The entire character arc is deconstructed into smaller arcs, with a common theme being that of opting for a shortcut. In a scene resembling the earlier rejection scene in the life of Dragon, when Keerthi breaks off with him citing a proposal wherein the guy earns an exorbitant amount, it almost becomes an ego issue for Dragon, of wanting to earn a penny more than the guy. And the immediate shortcut that he opts for is applying for a job at an MNC but not before creating a fake degree certificate. The addressal isn’t to the root of the problem but a mere shortcut that instantly makes him a success, and landing up with the opportunity to find love again. This, until he meets with a sudden change of fate.

The writing here often keeps the viewers on its toes. There is a quick transition from one scene to another which in a way works wonderfully in the films favour. And much of it had to do with its tonal consistencies with regards to the humour in the drama often fuelled by some wonderfully written characters. The theme within its writing wasn’t to suddenly bring the protagonist on the path of realisation, in fact it was the opposite – of delaying the inevitable. And this delay was one of the reasons for the humour to erupt wonderfully in the screenplay. The sudden twist of fate at the halfway that eventually pushes the protagonist on the path of recovery was just the start, with a lot more surprises reserved for the second hour.

I liked how the writers raised the stakes in the drama at every instance in the second hour. Be it the past of the protagonist catching up with respect to a character, or a character from the past re-entering his life at an unusual juncture, or even a character modelling himself on the protagonist, the writing remains brave while never losing sight of the light and frothy tone. You are also accustomed to the accumulating frustration of the protagonist who by then has been pushed to the wall, and the only way remains to punch his way up. And yet, the path of realisation is not a simple one but filled with twists and turns.

There are a few far-fetched sequences including a quick 6 hour trip from Vellore to Chennai and back by the protagonist just before his exam that is a little hard to fully invest in. Yet, the emotions accompanying the journey almost don’t allow you to dwell much into this fact. I was also expecting a certain twist in what I thought was the climax involving the protagonist’s obstacle-filled journey to his eventual ‘exam’. But credit to the writers for NOT opting for the low hanging fruit and instead taking the drama a notch higher with a late sub-plot that eventually pivots itself in the journey of realisation for the protagonist (and laced with a social commentary). I was so moved by the amount of emotions in play in the final act that never really resorted to convenience or melodrama, while underlying a heartfelt lesson on morality. And if the climax does work then much of it has to do with the conviction of the writers that did show nerves of steel while adding layers to the final act. The ending was brave and if anything, I would have left the epilogue at the editing table while wishing to leave the hall with a bittersweet feeling. The epilogue was designed to evoke a sense of nostalgia which slightly deviated from the grain of the film. Yet, the screenplay overall does tie all the loose ends together while also wonderfully investing in some of the other characters (like the Owner or Dragon’s Father) that play vital cogs in the narrative. And I was mighty impressed, I must say!