Penguin (film)

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Penguin
Penguin film poster.jpg
Official release poster
Directed byEashvar Karthic
Written byEashvar Karthic
Produced by
StarringKeerthy Suresh
CinematographyKharthik Palani
Edited byAnil Krish
Music bySanthosh Narayanan
Production
companies
Stone Bench Films
Passion Studios
Distributed byAmazon Prime Video
Release date
  • 19 June 2020 (2020-06-19)
Running time
132 minutes[1][2]
CountryIndia
LanguagesTamil
Telugu

Penguin is a 2020 Indian mystery thriller film written and directed by Eashvar Karthic in his directorial debut. The film was produced by Kaarthekeyen Santhanam, Sudhan Sundaram and Jayaram, under Stone Bench Films, backed by Karthik Subbaraj, and Passion Studios respectively. It stars Keerthy Suresh as a pregnant woman who is traumatised by nightmares about the unsolved kidnapping of her first child, and later embarks on a mission to solve the mystery of his disappearance.

The project was announced in August 2019. Eashvar Karthic wrote the script within 18 days, and shooting was completed within 36 days between September and November 2019 at Kodaikanal. The film features cinematography by Kharthik Palani and editing was done by Anil Krish; the film has music scored by Santhosh Narayanan.

Filmed simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu, Penguin was released directly through Amazon Prime Video on 19 June 2020, after a theatrical release failed to happen due to the COVID-19 lockdown in India. The film received mixed reviews from critics, praising the performance of Keerthy Suresh and the cinematography whereas the writing received criticism.

Plot[]

Rhythm, a young woman who resides in Kodaikanal, is happily married to her husband Gautham and is eight months pregnant. Despite living a life of happiness, she is traumatised by frequent nightmares of a child being harmed by a man wearing a Charlie Chaplin mask. A series of flashbacks reveal her sorrowful past – six years ago, Rhythm was earlier married to another person named Raghu, with whom she bore his son, Ajay. Rhythm loved Ajay whole-heartedly and couldn't bear to be without him. However, one day after school, Ajay's playmate informs her that Ajay was kidnapped by an unknown person wearing a Chaplin mask. Devastated, she informs the police, who launch a massive search hunt to find him, but in vain. They find his clothes, stained in blood and a flower bouquet containing a human's intestines with the words -'Rest in Peace'. Unable to find Ajay, Rhythm slips into depression and Raghu's abusive behaviour towards her forces the couple to divorce. Gautham witnesses Rhythm's plight, sympathises, and later marries her, which brings the film back to the present.

Rhythm frequently travels to the lake where Ajay was last seen, reminiscing her happy memories with him. On one such day, she witnesses an injured man being chased by a masked person. The man tells her to escape to avoid being killed. He also tells her that she saw the masked person with a lost child. She escapes, but not before watching the killer slay the man. The killer notices her, but seemingly allows her to escape. A frantic Rhythm approaches the police and requests them to search the lake. Convinced that the lost child was Ajay – she calls the police inspector (who is also her friend) and narrates her ordeal. The inspector brushes off her claims, explaining that another child – a girl named Anjana, has also gone missing recently. Undeterred, she drives back to the lake, but is suddenly ambushed by a child emerging from the nearby forest. On inspecting him, Rhythm is shocked to discover that the child is Ajay.

DNA tests confirm that the boy is indeed Ajay, much to Rhythm's happiness. A shocked Raghu arrives and is pained at Ajay's dilapidated condition. Rhythm's friend, Dr. Mathi informs that her Ajay had been probably tortured by his kidnapper; his body had been severely bruised, he refuses to speak to anyone and has almost no behaviour pattern. Rhythm takes Ajay to live with her and Gautham, with Raghu's consent. Rhythm tries to communicate with Ajay, but to no avail. One night, she hears Ajay singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and also notices his drawings – which indicates that the kidnapper might still be following him. One day, while out at a restaurant for a meeting with Raghu, Rhythm notices the kidnapper but fails to trail behind. She briefly loses Ajay, but Raghu manages to find him.

On another night, the kidnapper directly comes into Rhythm's house and communicates with Ajay in sign-language. Rhythm wrestles with the kidnapper, but the kidnapper manages to overpower her and escapes. Security is posted around Rhythm's house and her movements are constantly monitored. Though Doctor David knows the kidnapper talks with Ajay through Sign language it seems something different from normal as a way of keeping it secret conversation. So David suggests a Vocal therapist to consult. On way to therapist the car breaks down which leads to some unexpected findings for Rhythm. Cyrus, Rhythm's dog, takes her to a house which happens to be of David. Suspecting David, Rhythm manages to send him out and searches his house only to find a hidden door that takes her to David's den where she finds Anjana. With the help of Cyrus, Rhythm manages to save Anjana and Ajay and gets David arrested, who kills children for their organs. However, he inconspicuously tells her that he did not kidnap Ajay as Ajay would have been long dead if kidnapped by him.

Later it is revealed that Bhavana, Rhythm's childhood friend kidnapped Ajay out of jealousy and locked him up in an underground compartment. She kills herself after injecting Rhythm and Ajay with poison, without telling Ajay's location. Rhythm with Cyrus's help rescues Ajay. Rhythm is hospitalised due to the poison but both she and the baby are saved. Ajay returns to normalcy and all ends well.

Cast[]

  • Keerthy Suresh as Rhythm aka Ritu[3]
    • Riya Manoj as Young Rhythm
  • Linga as Raghu[4]
  • Madhampatty Rangaraj as Gautham Siddharth[4]
  • Advaith Vinod as Ajay[4]
    • Umar as young Ajay
  • as Dr. David
  • Muthazhagan as Charlie Chaplin[5]
  • Nithya Kriupa as Bhavana[6]
    • Sai Jivitha as young Bhavana
    • Shakthi as teenage Bhavana
  • Harini Rameshkrishnan as Abhi[6]
  • Thejank as Kathir
  • Maddy as Cyrus
  • Murali as Bhavana's father
  • Aishwarya Ramani as Anjana
  • Uma Shankar as Bhavana's mother
  • Tharini Suresh as Anjana's mother
  • Thilak Rammohan as an inspector
  • Vadivel as a cab driver

Production[]

Development[]

In August 2019, it was announced that Keerthy Suresh had signed on an untitled "mystery thriller" film to be produced by Karthik Subbaraj under his banner Stone Bench Films,[7] and directed by debutant Eashvar Karthic.[8][9] The film, which was Stone Bench Films' third production venture,[10] was also produced by Kaarthekeyen Santhanam, Sudhan Sundaram and Jayaram under the banner Passion Studios.[11] It was also marked as Keerthy Suresh's second female-centric film, after her performance in Mahanati (2018), which received critical acclaim.[12] Eashvar wrote the script of the film within a span of 18 days.[13]

The film's technical crew members included Santhosh Narayanan as the film's composer, Kharthik Palani was chosen to handle the cinematography, whereas Anil Krish took in charge of editing the film.[14][15] Kharthik Palani assisted Tirru, before making his debut as the cinematographer in the film, he stated the preparation work took around three months, further adding that the fairly limited time allotted for shooting, did help in a cause, despite the unpredictable weather.[16] He also experimented with camera angles which he stated that no recent Tamil film has had as many wide shots.[16]

On 17 October 2019, the makers unveiled the first look of the film, revealing the title as Penguin.[17][18] The first look features Keerthy Suresh playing a pregnant woman in the film.[19] Keerthy Suresh, in an interview with Scroll.in, described the film as "an emotional thriller, which is mostly about motherhood and the bond between mother and son. It's about the trauma she experiences when she loses her son. The whole story is set over four days, during which she tries to find her son."[20] Apart from Keerthy Suresh, the film features Linga and Madhampatty Rangaraj in pivotal roles in addition to several newcomers.[21]

I was glued by the narration of Eashvar. I'm not only playing a mother in the film, but she is also pregnant so the role was even more challenging. Though Mahanati was a proper female-centric film, it wasn't a direct Tamil film so when I was looking for the right project in Tamil, Eashvar came up with this script and I completely loved it. Only during interviews, I realised that playing a pregnant woman is a big deal

— Keerthy Suresh about her role in Penguin, in an interview with Firstpost.[22]

Filming[]

Principal photography began on 12 September 2019 at Kodaikanal.[23][24] Keerthy Suresh had experienced about the film's shooting in cold destinations such as Kodaikkanal, and also about the challenges faced during early starts and long days.[20] During the shooting in Kodaikanal, the shooting lights fell on a beehive and disturbed the bees, which stung many crew members including Keerthy Suresh, and it was after treatment that Keerthy and the team resumed shooting.[25] Principal photography wrapped on 3 November 2019.[26][27]

Soundtrack[]

Penguin
Soundtrack album by
Santhosh Narayanan
Released19 June 2020
Recorded2020
StudioFuture Tense Recording Studio
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length23:55
LanguageTamil
LabelThink Music
ProducerSanthosh Narayanan
Santhosh Narayanan chronology
Gypsy
(2020) 		Penguin
(2020) 		Parris Jeyaraj
(2021)

Penguin's original soundtrack album features only one song composed by Santhosh Narayanan.[27] Titled "Kolame", it was composed by Santhosh at his Future Tense Recording Studio located in Chennai, and he composed the songs and background score of the film, during the period of the COVID-19 lockdown in India,[28] after when the Tamil Nadu government granted permission for post-production works of the film.[29] According to a source report, it stated that Penguin’s music album is one of the first albums to have been completely created during this ongoing period.[30]

"Kolame" was released as a single on 16 June 2020,[31] by composer Anirudh Ravichander,[32] who also released its Telugu version "Praname",[33] and Malayalam version "Omale",[34] simultaneously on the same day. Susha lent the vocals for the song in both the versions, which had lyrics written by Vivek for the Tamil and Malayalam version, while Vennelekanti wrote its Telugu version. A review from Republic World stated that the song is "intense yet melodic, it is a tune that perfectly defines every mother's love. The song is soothing and its sweet lyrics tug at the listener's heartstrings."[35]

The film's soundtrack album features seven instrumental tracks, along with the song "Kolame" which was released by Think Music, on 10 August 2020.[36] The album also features an additional track "Thaai" (only for the Tamil version), which had lyrics written by Vivek and sung by Anand Aravindakshan. It was not included in the soundtrack album, as well as in the film, but released separately on 2 September 2020.[37]

No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Kolame"Subiksha Rangarajan5:01
2."Chase" (Instrumental) 0:52
3."Killer Found" (Instrumental) 2:27
4."Nee Venum Theme" (Instrumental) 2:26
5."Penguin Theme" (Instrumental) 1:06
6."Ruthless Monster" (Instrumental) 1:18
7."Through the Hills" (Instrumental) 2:58
8."Umbrella Man" (Instrumental) 2:19
9."Thaai"Anand Aravindakshan5:28

Release[]

Penguin was originally scheduled for a theatrical release,[38] however on 15 May 2020,[39] the over-the-top media service (OTT) platform Amazon Prime Video announced that the film would be made available directly on the streaming platform from 19 June 2020,[40] as a result of theatres being closed due to the COVID-19 lockdown. It became the second Tamil film to be released directly on an OTT platform during the lockdown, after Ponmagal Vandhal which released that year.[41] The film was released simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu with a Malayalam-dubbed version.[42]

Reception[]

Penguin received mixed reviews from critics.[43] S. Srivatsan of The Hindu wrote, "Penguin is not a bad film but Eashvar's idea of writing suspense gets clumsier as the story progresses, the film is inconsistent for the most part, despite some brilliantly-imagined sequences."[44] Shubra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film 1.5 out of 5 stars stating "Keerthy Suresh tries to make the best of a bad job, and is quite a sight when squaring up to monsters, but the proceedings let her down."[45] M. Suganth of The Times of India gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Eashvar Karthic provides us the answers in this emotional thriller that might be underwhelming compared to recent serial killer thrillers, but isn't a total letdown, especially for a first film. Part of its success is due to the convincing performance of Keerthy Suresh, which brings out the vulnerability and the strength in this character."[4]

Gauthaman Bhaskaran of the News18 gave 1.5 out of 5 stating "A thriller that loses its way not long after it begins to roll."[46] Nandini Ramanath of Scroll stated that "Eashvar Karthic's 132-minute film stumbles along on the strength of its visuals and Keerthy Suresh's suitably fraught performance."[47] Karthik Keramalu from The Quint gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated "Keerthy Suresh gave a good performance but the thriller itself was lazy".[48] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion stated "Even the title has no motivation, unless you consider that the penguin is a bird that cannot fly. This is a film that never takes off."[49]

In a positive note, Ranjani Krishnakumar of Firstpost gave 3 out of 5 stating "Penguin draws a clear line – this is a story about a mother. Rhythm is only that. For her, and for the film, that is enough."[50] Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute gave 3.5 out of 5 stating "Penguin has its moments and Keerthy Suresh indeed makes the film very watchable. But it is probably time to ask if this pressure to include 'twists' isn't killing a good story only because it seems too simple."[51] Karthik Kumar of Hindustan Times stated "Keerthy Suresh proves yet again she's an artist with a lot of potential. If not for her commendable performance, the film would’ve struggled to make an impact with its convoluted writing. She owns the film from the first frame to the last, and she delivers one of her career-best performances."[52]

References[]

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  2. ^ "PENGUIN [Tamil]". British Board of Film Classification.
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