Karuppu - Movie Review

In a hard-hitting dialogue, one of the characters in the movie says outside the Court premises, “People come to Courts assuming the guilty would be punished; little do they know that coming to the Court itself is a punishment”. 

Very strong words there by Director RJ Balaji, whose much awaited film Karuppu released in theatres on 15 May 2026, a few days after Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay took oath. The movie was ready for release several months ago and was mired in various controversies.  

The Director has taken the Indian legal system head-on, showcasing the unholy nexus of certain lawyers and judges outside the Courtroom and Chambers, much to the chagrin of the stakeholders.

He could have also done well with including recent real life instances, such as stashes of cash that was found at a Supreme Court Judge’s home in the national capital. Nevertheless, glad that someone had the guts to showcase the glut in the system. Kudos to his bravery.

The film is reminiscent of the 80s hit film Uruvangal Maralam (1983), which the Millennials and GenZ wouldn’t have even heard off.

In this theatrical, Director RJ Balaji appears as Advocate Baby Kannan and pretty much controls the happenings and outcomes of Seven Wells Court in Chennai. 

When a father-daughter duo reach the Court premises to take possession of their lost-and-found jewels, Baby Kannan takes over the case, only to make them spend lakhs of rupees by ensuring the case is adjourned every time it is called for. 

40 mins in to the film, protagonist Saravanan (Suriya) appears in the form of Lord Karuppusamy, the protector deity in village folklore (rather the Lord appears as Saravanan), to teach a lesson to Baby Kannan at a rave party. 

The scenes involving the introduction of “Karuppu” seem to be deeply inspired from scenes and sequences of the highly successful Kannada language fantasy franchise “Kantara”, though Director Balaji seamlessly confuses the audience with God-appearing-in-human-form in the impending scenes.

Karuppu wins the case from District Magistrate Judge Rajanayagam (Natty Natraj) and ensures that the ordeal of the father-duo is over. However, the girl, who is now in a critical stage at the hospital due to a critical illness, dies.

While Karuppu takes responsibility for her death, Advocate Preethi (Trisha Krishnan) suggests that God should create a system where the guilty lawyers cannot utter lies inside the courtroom and that evil should be crushed by the good.

Karuppu dons the “God Mode” and showcases his powers within and outside the court room.

The post-interval masala extends to mediocre comic sequences at the courtroom (a la MASK feat. Jim Carrey). unbelievable and borderline cringe fight sequences, to Preethi undertaking a drag race with the villains on a 4-lane highway. 

So much so, that a character quips if she is an advocate or Ajith Kumar (with reference to the namesake actor’s recent car racing pursuits).

Karupu - the movie and the character, in essence is as fictional as it is real. 

The Director tries to push the message “as you sow, so you reap” with instances of the bad-doers being punished eventually, if not instantly by the Creator. As the saying in Tamil goes, “Deivam Nindru kollum.” While the messaging is well taken, the story-telling is extremely complicated and confusing.

Balaji has, as he speaks the RJ lingo as well as a Cricket commentator at the Box, has packed too many dialogues, intrinsic messages and ideals within the 140-min window. 

The script could have done well for a web-series such as “Suzhal”, with each episode throwing up interesting actions and outcomes between mortals and the immortal, respectively.

If music director Rockstar Aniridh is touted as a prodigy of the Legendary Deva, then Sai Abhayankkar could easily be read as the rightful successor to Ani. Most songs have a “kuthu-element” while none of them remain in memory even after the song is over. 

On screen, the soundtracks are medleys or at best montage versions, save for the most popular number “God mode” which has been a chartbuster for several months.

Despite its lame story, the movie has set a record of being the highest grosser for actor Suriya in his 2.5 decade presence in the Indian film industry, with INR 250 Cr collected worldwide in three weeks at Box Office. 

Summer holidays, coupled with a deficit of theatrical releases are pushing the family audience to theatres all through May, coupled with the divinity element as the crux of the story.

Strange are the ways the audience appreciate a movie – for Suriya’s previous outing, the ambitious and much touted Kanguva, produced over a budge of INR 300 Cr was a box office disaster and disappointment, with empty theatres on the first Monday after release.

The 50-year old actor continues to draw audiences, especially families and kids to theatres with Karuppu, though his core fan base seem to have moved on, due to his inconsistency of choosing commercial vs artistic scripts.