Diesel is an action drama starring Harish Kalyan and Athulya Ravi in the lead roles. The film is directed by Shanmugam Muthusamy who earlier made Adangathey with GV Prakash, but is still unreleased due to censor issues. The music is scored by Dhibu Ninan Thomas.

Premise: Set in North Madras, Harish Kalyan is part of a syndicate, he smuggles crude oil and the profits are used for the needy. The ideological differences and conflicts between the syndicate members form the crux of the story.

Writing/ Direction: Begins interestingly establishing the crime world in Vetri Maaran’s voiceover. The crude oil smuggling and the usage behind it is well researched, the entire business module is showcased with enough clarity for us to grasp the story. How a syndicate as such will operate has also been brought to picture with a couple of potential plot-points. . However, the narrative gradually leans toward familiar commercial territory, relying more on a conventional structure than fresh developments. The romantic portions follow a tried-and-tested formula and could have used more depth. Vinay and Vivek Prasanna play the main antagonists but their portions don’t generate enough intensity. Basics are not set right with respect to the friendship angle, Ramesh Thilak, KPY Dheena and Vijay TV Thangadurai appear as they wish with no structure in writing. The interval block shows promise, though the following sequences could have been more tightly woven. The entire second half moves to this Kaththi zone, right from the scratch till the solution has been approached in the same way as the above mentioned AR Murugadoss’ film. There is also a Shankar style segment where we are made to listen to random public opinions about social issues . While the ambition is commendable, the execution feels somewhat larger-than-life without grounding in realism. First of all there is no clarity in the purpose and want for the people in the story to struggle with mass crowd gathering, replicating the sterilite issue riot shows how conveniently the director has worked. There are flaws even in the core arc, crude oil is an essential resource and the whole fight is happening to stop the private harbour plan, the link between these two factors could have been knitted in a better way.

Performances:  Harish Kalyan carries himself sincerely on screen as an energetic socially responsible hero material. Athulya Ravi appears in a template commercial heroine role who has nothing much to contribute to the story, plus her portions are presented in an age-old manner with cringe expressions. Vinay and Vivek Prasanna are the major antagonists of the film, their overacting, look-set and artificial dialogue delivery felt they were complete miscasts. Also, many serious scenes involving them land as unintentional jokes.

Verdict: Diesel explores an interesting and relatively untapped crime backdrop set in North Madras. While the premise is promising and technically sound in parts, the film leans toward familiar commercial storytelling. A tighter narrative and stronger emotional connect could have made it more engaging.