Cheran has always been ahead of his time. Bakasuran landed in 2023, right as India was waking up to the horrors of deepfake technology and digital arrests. The film’s first half, where anonymous callers harass women using morphed videos, is genuinely unsettling because it is not fiction—it is news. Cheran deserves credit for turning the camera on a modern demon that law enforcement is still struggling to cage.
For over two decades, Cheran has occupied a unique space in Tamil cinema. In an industry often dominated by mass heroism, larger-than-life action, and star-driven vehicles, Cheran has been the soft-spoken chronicler of the common man. His films— Autograph (2004), Thavamai Thavamirundhu (2005), Mayakannadi (2007)—didn't just tell stories; they held up a mirror to middle-class morality, family fractures, and societal hypocrisy.
Cheran’s recent movie proves that his heart is in the right place, but his craft hasn’t adapted to the rhythm of the 2020s. He is still making middle-class television plays for a multiplex, OTT-native audience. Bakasuran is not a great film, but it is an important one. It will make you angry at the state of digital safety. It will make you nod your head at several profound observations about modern parenting and online shame. But it will also make you check your watch during the long courtroom sequences and the repetitive moral sermons.
However, his methodology—the slow-burn, didactic, melodramatic style—feels like it belongs to 2005. Modern audiences, even those who love “content-driven cinema,” have been trained by international OTT series and films like Jai Bhim or Soorarai Pottru to expect realism wrapped in tight storytelling, not monologues.
Unlike the vigilantes of mainstream Tamil cinema, Cheran’s hero does not use a gun or a machete. He uses a VPN, a voice modulator, and a deep understanding of human psychology. This intellectual heroism is rare and welcome. The Criticism: Where Bakasuran Stumbles Despite the noble intentions, Bakasuran received mixed reviews and underwhelming box office returns. Why?