In the crowded Telugu cinema space where emotional family dramas can tug at your heartstrings with ease, Idli Kottu is like an half baked idli – soft on the outside but lacks the flavor that makes the dish memorable. Directed by and starring Dhanush, this 2hr 27 minutes ‘U’ certified film feels like a dragged out 2/5 movie. It promises redemption and family bonds but delivers mostly forced melodrama with outdated tropes.
At the core of Idli Kottu is a wayward son, played by Dhanush, who squanders his father’s dreams and comes back to his roots after a wake up call. He returns to his village, to his father’s old idli shop and tries to mend what’s broken. Enter the complications: a romance with a rich fiancée whose family looks down upon his humble origins, leading to a series of conflicts between class and family. The story has parallel tracks of rich characters, but they feel like added on, disrupting the village vibe the film sets up initially.
What could have been a powerful exploration of regret and redemption ends up being contrived. The emotions are staged like a school play – too obvious and begging for tears that never come naturally. Dhanush’s direction goes full on melodrama in the first half, where every conflict is magnified with wide shots and background score that screams “feel something” instead of earning it through subtle storytelling. The interval fight sequence, a staple of commercial cinema, clashes with the film’s supposed emotional depth and what should have been a heartfelt moment turns into a predictable fight. By the second half the solutions are generic, rehashing old rich vs poor tropes without adding any new insights or tension.
Dhanush, an actor and director himself, falls into his old habits here. He is good—earnest in vulnerable moments and charismatic in action scenes—but it’s all too predictable, rehashing his old mannerisms without any newness. Shalini Pandey as the snooty fiancée is decent as the rich brat, but is hampered by a script that doesn’t give her any scope to shine or screen time. Arun Vijay overacts as the villain, delivering a good performance in a thankless role that’s more caricature than character. Rajkiran and Sathyaraj as the veterans lend their weight to the supporting roles and anchor the family dynamics with warmth but even they can’t lift the routine writing that puts them in a box.
The Nithya Menen-Samuthirakani track is meant to be an emotional side dish but ends up as an unwelcome interruption—sweet in theory but clashes with the main course like two incompatible spices. It’s a missed opportunity to explore generational gaps and comes off as a forced detour that dilutes the film.
Behind the camera, G.V. Prakash’s music and background score goes for nostalgia but fails miserably, especially for the Telugu audience who are used to more vibrant compositions. The songs are forgettable earworms at best and don’t linger or enhance the mood. Kiran Koushik’s cinematography captures the rustic charm of the village idli kadai decently and frames the chaos well. But G.K. Prasanna’s editing needed to be tighter; scenes drag with unnecessary padding and the already long runtime feels endless. Dawn Pictures and Wunderbar Films keeps things functional but there’s no technical finesse to speak of.
Among the misfires, a few genuine moments of heart show up—small, quiet scenes of reconciliation that remind us why these stories work in the first place. Dhanush gets a couple of introspective scenes right and the idli shop itself becomes a lovely metaphor for simplicity found and lost. But these are crumbs in a feast of flaws: stale treatment, underwritten characters and sentiment over substance.
Idli Kottu had all the ingredients for an emotional nourishment—a relatable premise based on everyday struggles—but the execution leaves it cold and unappealing. It’s a film that tries to stir the soul and ends up leaving you with a sense of emptiness. Skip the kottu if you’re looking for something substantial; this one’s best left on the plate.