DD Returns review: Santhanam and gang deliver their best in this film that offers only sporadic laughs

2.5/5

Story: Three gangs of robbers in Pondicherry who are strangers to each other lock horns with an influential, dangerous businessman. One of the gangs manages to rob a huge sum of the latter for their personal needs. After a few negotiations, all of them assemble at an old building that is possessed by spirits who urge the guests to play a unique game. The winner gets an unheard amount of money while those who lose will have to surrender to death. How are they going to deal with the unavoidable scenario?

Review: DD Returns, the third installment in the Dhilluku Dhuddu horror-comedy franchise, was released without any expectations. After all, most of the movies being made in Tamil in this genre for the last few years do not offer any new experiences. The plot and climactic portions become too predictable that it is indeed a risk to invest time to watch a horror-comedy flick.

The trailer of DD Returns hinted at the film being another regular outing that has nothing new to offer in terms of performances or the backdrop against which its story is set. However, the movie surprises you with a few entertaining aspects.

It begins with a gang of robbers in Pondicherry hatching a plan to steal the money of another dreaded gang. It turns out that there is a third gang led by Sathish (Santhanam), an event manager who successfully manages to give Francis Anbarasan (Fefsi Vijayan), a dangerous businessman, sleepless nights after the latter loses a huge sum.

The three gangs, along with the businessman's gang, land at an old building where they end up playing unique games with dangerous spirits. Little did they realize that they have to pay a huge price while indulging in the deadly games with the deceased.

Though director Prem Anand sets up the wacky plot in the beginning, it is only towards the interval point that he exploits the possibilities of the bizarre horror-comedy element. The ensemble cast, including Rajendran, Thangadurai, Munishkanth, Redin Kingsley, Vijayan and Maaran engage the viewers until then with funny one-liners and witty sequences.

The portions involving Pradeep Rawat and Masoom Shankar generate adequate entertainment required for a horror-comedy. However, those who are familiar with the Dhilluku Dhuddu franchise are aware of the fact that the element of horror doesn't have much to offer in its stories as it is the comedy angle that is explored till the end.

Some of the comedies land well while a few of them are underwhelming. What works is the crackling chemistry between all the actors. There are a few hilarious stretches in the latter half that save the movie from joining the long list of horror-comedies which are churned out every year in Kollywood.

One of the prime factors that help the film is its shorter run time. The fast-paced narration also aids in covering up some of the logical loopholes, patchy VFX and weak character designs.  

Verdict: DD Returns is nothing but old wine in a new bottle, but the clever manner in which some of the sequences are staged is likely to entertain the target audience.