DNA Movie Review: A chilling investigative drama bogged down by commercial cliches
Director: Nelson Venkatesan
Cast: Atharvaa, Nimisha Sajayan, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub, Balaji Sakthivel
DNA begins with a bar song about love, loss, and loneliness, and it is quite a surprising start to a Nelson film. Nevertheless, this song atleast serves the purpose of condensing Anand's backstory into a few minutes. Soon enough, we understand why Anand is a drunkard and a druggie rolled into one, who is the poster child of infamy in a house filled with professors and researchers. But despite the seemingly educated backgrounds, they are quite regressive, and think the only way their rehabilitated son can get married is to find a girl below their 'class' and someone who has a 'problem.' And bam! We have Divya. She is said to be affected by Borderline Personality Disorder, and her parents do say she has a bunch of tablets and undergoes therapy. However, what's disappointing is the rather one-note exploration of the disorder. And the flippant use of 'loosu ponnu' could have actually been excused if not for a dialogue that comes later, which goes, 'Kalyanathukku apram ellaam normal aaiduchu.' It reinforces the age-old Tamil cinema trope that marriage is the solution for everything, especially mental health issues.
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