Unlike the vigilantes of mainstream Tamil cinema, Cheran’s hero does not use a gun or a machete. He uses a VPN, a voice modulator, and a deep understanding of human psychology. This intellectual heroism is rare and welcome.
Cinema has evolved in the decade Cheran was away from directing. Bakasuran has a television-drama aesthetic—flat lighting, static shots, and a background score that tells you exactly when to feel sad or angry. For a film about the slick, fast-paced world of cybercrime, the visual language feels dated. Younger audiences, accustomed to the stylish thrillers of Lokesh Kanagaraj or Sudha Kongara, found the pacing sluggish. cheran recent movie
The greatest strength of Autograph or Thavamai Thavamirundhu was that the message was embedded in the drama. You cried for the characters first, and then understood the moral. In Bakasuran , the reverse happens. The second half devolves into an extended lecture. Characters stop behaving like real people and start behaving like audience surrogates waiting for the next sermon. The subtlety that defined Cheran’s earlier work is largely absent here. Unlike the vigilantes of mainstream Tamil cinema, Cheran’s
However, there is also a counter-argument that Cheran is maturing into a more refined filmmaker. Thammam proved that he is not interested in chasing trends. He refuses to insert item numbers or forced comedy tracks. He remains committed to "pure" cinema, even if that means his audience shrinks to a niche. Cinema has evolved in the decade Cheran was
Cheran plays Sathya Moorthy, a retired, principled college professor living a quiet life in a hillside town. When his niece becomes the victim of a deepfake pornography ring and the police prove helpless against anonymous digital predators, Sathya takes matters into his own hands. What follows is not a typical action thriller but a cat-and-mouse game rooted in psychological warfare, legal loopholes, and moral lectures. The film contrasts the vile anonymity of the internet with the grounded, physical world of family honor and personal responsibility.
The film stars Cheran himself alongside Prudhvi Rajan and Samvrutha Sunil. It explores themes of guilt, redemption, and the cyclical nature of life, using the metaphor of a tree. The narrative is slower, devoid of the typical commercial "masala" elements. Critics noted that while the film possessed Cheran’s signature visual beauty and emotional depth, it felt designed for the intimacy of a small screen rather than the collective experience of a cinema hall.
After a significant hiatus from directing (his last directorial was Pokkisham in 2009, followed by a long gap as an actor in other projects), Cheran returned to the director’s chair with (2019) and more recently the highly discussed "Bakasuran" (2023). But the question on every discerning film lover’s mind is: Has Cheran’s recent movie recaptured the nuanced magic of his golden era, or has it become a victim of the very loud, message-driven cinema he once subtly mastered?