Comali

Pradeep Ranganathan's 2019 Tamil film is about a man who wakes after sixteen years in a coma. Ravi went into the coma after an accident in 2000 and wakes in his thirties; his memory has stayed in his school years and the world he meets is far from the one he knew. The film uses this in two directions, drawing comedy from changes in technology and city life while showing where his classmates have arrived and what he has lost. In the second half it turns into a personal reckoning and the tone hardens. An argument about the origins of the screenplay followed its release. Yogi Babu's comic sections carry its commercial weight. Who it's for: viewers who like Tamil comedy and stories built on a jump in time. Who it's not for: anyone expecting consistent logic; the film pays it no attention.