Dheeram Movie 2025 Filmyzilla Review Details

Dheeram Review – Jothish Shankar Ka Vision Ekdum Next Level!

In my 18 years of critiquing films, you watch a director’s career like a long-running series. With Dheeram, Jothish Shankar steps into the gritty investigative thriller space, a shift from his past work. Does his vision for this dark tale of revenge and privilege hit the mark, or does ambition create a messy canvas? Buckle up, let’s dissect the director’s chair.

Directorial Choices: Building Tension, Managing Chaos

Jothish Shankar’s primary choice is clear: prioritize atmosphere and procedure over sentimentality. The interrogation scenes are claustrophobic, lit with harsh fluorescents that make every sweat bead visible. He uses flashbacks not just as info-dumps but as ghostly echoes, haunting the present. His handling of the violent sequences is unflinching—they are sudden, graphic, and meant to disturb. However, the choice to pack the second half with relentless twists is where his control slips. The narrative becomes a sprint through reveals, sacrificing the grounded, procedural feel he so carefully built initially. It’s a bold but uneven hand on the steering wheel.

Insight: Shankar excels in crafting a palpable sense of dread but falters in the final lap, overwhelmed by his own plot machinery.

Signature Style & Influences

Shankar’s signature here is a brooding, rain-slicked neo-noir aesthetic for modern Kerala. You see touches of classic investigative thrillers and the moral ambiguity of the “vigilante justice” genre. There’s a clear influence of tightly-wound police procedurals, but with a Malayali sensibility—focusing on societal hierarchies and local backdrops. Easter eggs are fewer, but watch for the visual motifs: school uniforms contrasted with police uniforms, both representing different kinds of authority and failure. The film feels like his attempt to plant a flag in the trend of socially-conscious thrillers dominating 2025 Malayalam cinema.

Takeaway: A director consciously evolving his style, grafting Hollywood thriller tropes onto very Indian social tensions.

Comparison: Shankar’s Past Work vs. Dheeram

How does this dark thriller stack up against his earlier films? Let’s break it down.

Film	Genre	Directorial Focus	Pacing & Outcome
Dheeram (2025)	Investigative Thriller	Atmosphere, Procedural detail, Social critique	Strong start, convoluted finish
Adventures of Omanakkuttan (2017)	Romantic Comedy	Whimsy, Character quirks, Lighthearted charm	Easy-going, Niche appeal
Various Short Films & Earlier Work	Varied	Concept-driven, Emotional core	Often concise and impactful

The jump is massive. It shows a director hungry to tackle heavier, more complex material, even if he doesn’t stick the landing perfectly.

Cast Chemistry Under Direction

Shankar extracts a career-best serious performance from Indrajith Sukumaran. The direction lets Indrajith’s eyes do the talking—the frustration, the calculative pauses, the simmering rage. The chemistry between the ACP and his team feels functional, not familial, which works for the film’s cold tone. Where the direction slightly misses is in managing the killer’s persona. The performance leans into the enigmatic, but the script’s later demands make it feel more like a plot device than a person, a pitfall the director couldn’t avoid. The victims’ circle, however, is effectively cast and directed to exude a specific brand of entitled menace.

Insight: The director-actor sync with Indrajith is the film’s backbone. It’s a partnership that delivers genuine tension.

Future Potential & Final Vision Verdict

Dheeram proves Jothish Shankar has the chops for high-tension, atmospheric cinema. He understands mood and can command a powerful lead performance. The film’s weaknesses are largely script and editing issues, but a director must own the final cut. His future potential in this genre is immense if he pairs his visual skill with a more disciplined, focused script. Imagine this director with a watertight screenplay—dil jeet le yaar. For now, Dheeram remains a fascinating, flawed showcase of a director leveling up, learning that a great vision needs an equally strong narrative container.

It’s a solid 3-star direction for me: clear promise, evident skill, but room to master pacing and narrative economy.

Aspect of Direction	Grade	Reason
Building Suspense	A	First half is masterclass in slow-burn tension.
Handling Lead Performance	A	Extracts nuance and gravity from Indrajith.
Managing Plot Complexity	C	Loses grip, leading to a confusing climax.
Visual Cohesion & Tone	B+	Consistently dark, rainy, and oppressive atmosphere.

Your Dheeram Director Questions, Answered

Q → Is this Jothish Shankar’s best film?
A> In terms of technical ambition and scale, absolutely. In terms of flawless execution, it’s a bold step that stumbles slightly, making it his most ambitious but not necessarily his “best” work yet.

Q → What is the director’s main message in Dheeram?
A> Shankar seems focused on the cycle of trauma and the blurred line between justice and revenge. He’s critiquing a system—and a privileged class—that often evades accountability, asking “what happens when the victim decides to be the judge?”

Q → Does the director’s style overshadow the story?
A> Not quite. In the first half, his style perfectly serves the story. In the second half, the overcomplicated story overshadows everything, including his directorial strengths, leading to a clash.

Ratings are purely my take after multiple watches — aapka experience alag ho sakta hai!