Lady Superstar Nayanthara redefined the Tamil movie landscape in 2018, proving with her immense performances in "Kolamavu Kokila" and "Imaikkaa Nodigal" that there is scope and marketability for female-centric commercial films. While the journey thereon have been stop-start in terms of solo hits, the actress has held her own with Direct-to-digital releases like "Mookuthi Amman (2020)" and "Netrikann (2021)", striking a chord with at-home audiences.
Her latest outing is also tailor-made for OTT, with the makers employing a largely single location narrative to make a low-budget but well intentioned story centred around the loving bond between a mother and her child. Nayanthara plays "Parvathy", a devoted mother to "Veera" (played by a splendid Rithvik), a smart child who suffers from cystic fibrosis, which restricts his ability to breathe. Constantly needing the aid of an Oxygen cylinder, the mother and child embark on a bus ride to Kochi from Coimbatore for an operation that might improve his condition.
They are joined by a pair of star-crossed lovers, a corrupt policeman, a disgraced ex-MLA and others in an ill-fated bus journey as they get trapped under the mud and sludge during a massive landslide amidst heavy rains. Trapped underneath the earth with the air running out with each passing minute, how the passengers come to grips with their predicament forms the rest of what was an interesting premise.
Debutant director GS Venkatesh clearly bites off more than he can chew, hitting almost every cinematic trope seen in survival thrillers, straight on the head, offering no unpredictability in his storytelling. Thankfully, the sparkling chemistry between a typically terrific Nayanthara and the precocious Rithvik, make even the cliched mother-son sequences engaging and watchable. The director tries to set up a motley crew of supporting characters but while some like Jaffer Idukki and Barath Neelakantan click, most of the others fail to make any impression, with RNR Manohar's character especially coming across as loud and too over-the-top.
"O2" is one of those movies that you can watch and absorb but will leave no lasting impression or offer you anything new. This is one strictly intended for hardcore Nayanthara fans. The movie is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar and is available in its primary language of Tamil as well as in Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada dubs, alongwith English subtitles.
