Dorothy movie review: Karthik Subbaraj’s bold film explores gender, masculinity and identity through powerful performances, striking visuals and Ilaiyaraaja’s music.
Some films tell you what they want to say. Others allow their ideas to slowly reveal themselves through the characters, images and emotions. Dorothy, directed by Karthik Subbaraj, belongs somewhere in between. It is a film packed with emotion, social commentary and visual metaphors, yet it still attempts to function within the framework of a commercial film. That balance does not always work perfectly, but when it does, Dorothy becomes something genuinely fascinating.
Starring Keerthy Suresh in the titular role alongside Sananth and Rishikanth, the film explores gender, identity, masculinity and relationships through a story that begins with two boys and gradually becomes something much larger.
At its core, Dorothy begins with Karthi and Subbu, two friends whose relationship starts after an incident of school bullying. What initially appears to be a simple friendship slowly becomes the foundation for the film’s larger exploration of identity. The film establishes its world through something as ordinary as the ideas we grow up hearing: “men don’t cry” and “it’s a woman’s job.”
What makes these ideas more interesting is the irony surrounding them. At the beginning, these beliefs are held by a woman herself. The film isn’t merely pointing fingers at men or presenting patriarchy as something external. Instead, it shows how deeply these ideas can become embedded within society, to the point where they are accepted and repeated by the very people they restrict.
In that sense, Dorothy feels like a story about a woman trying to understand herself in a male-dominated world while initially existing as a man.
Dorothy Movie Review: The Irony of Identity
The film’s most interesting ideas emerge through its treatment of gender, identity and masculinity…
One of the most interesting aspects of Dorothy is the way it uses irony and seemingly small details to reinforce its larger ideas. Even the name “Subbu” feels deliberately chosen. It can comfortably belong to either a man or a woman, subtly blurring the gender distinction before the film begins to challenge it more directly.
The film is filled with details like this. Its metaphors are not always loud or immediately explained. Instead, they exist within the characters, their surroundings and the way the film frames them.
This is where the technical department becomes crucial. A concept this ambitious could easily have become overly dependent on dialogue, but Dorothy frequently attempts to communicate its ideas visually.
Tirru's Cinematography
Tirru’s cinematography is one of the film’s biggest strengths. The visuals do not simply make Dorothy look good; they actively contribute to the experience of the story.
The opening immediately establishes a sense of chaos, and as the film progresses, the transition into black-and-white creates a strange anticipation. When colour eventually returns, you don’t merely notice the change—you feel it.
That is what makes the visual language of Dorothy so effective at its best. Colour becomes more than production design. It becomes an emotional device.
The film’s 1990s setting and visual texture are also beautifully realised. There is a sense of period without the film feeling like it is desperately trying to announce that it is set in the past. Tirru’s work gives the world an identity of its own.
There are moments where the framing becomes particularly significant, especially when Subbu begins to understand their identity. A frame-within-a-frame composition and an image of Subbu being blessed by Jesus are not merely beautiful shots; they carry thematic weight. The film consistently attempts to turn its ideas into images.
When the commentary overtakes the emotion
But Dorothy is not without its flaws.
The film’s biggest weakness, for me, is that it gradually loses some of the emotional connection it establishes in its earlier portions. As the second half progresses, the film increasingly moves towards social commentary, and at times the ideas begin to take precedence over the experience of the characters.
The problem is not that the film has something to say. In fact, its social commentary is one of its most important strengths. The issue is that the emotional intimacy that initially pulls us into the characters becomes slightly diluted when the film starts explaining and emphasising its larger ideas.
There is a point where I wanted to experience the characters more and understand the commentary less.
And yet, even when the writing becomes slightly heavy-handed, the film continues to find ways to hold the viewer through its technical craft.
Dorothy Movie Review: Ilaiyaraaja's Emotional Impact
The music by Ilaiyaraaja is an entirely different discussion.
His score becomes especially important in moments where the film needs to reconnect emotionally with the audience. The use of music from How to Name It?, particularly “Do Anything,” adds another emotional dimension to the film.
When “How to Name It?” plays, it isn’t merely the quality of the scene that increases. The emotion and the feeling of the scene increase with it.
That is what makes Ilaiyaraaja’s contribution so important. His music doesn’t feel like something placed over the film after the scene has been constructed. It feels integrated into the emotional architecture of the film.
The climax is perhaps the clearest example of this.
The use of “Muthumani” becomes a Show stealer not simply because of the song itself but because of what it brings to the moment. The lyrics, music and situation come together in a way that gives the climax an emotional weight that stays with you.
There are films where the background score tells you how to feel. Here, Ilaiyaraaja often makes you feel more than the scene itself initially gives you.
Keerthy Suresh and the strength of the performances
A concept this unusual needs actors who are willing to completely surrender themselves to it, and the performances are one of Dorothy’s strongest foundations.
Keerthy Suresh carries the titular character with considerable conviction, while Sananth and Rishikanth provide the emotional grounding required for the relationship at the centre of the story.
The strength of the performances allows the film to move between friendship, emotion, identity and social commentary while losing its human core.
Dorothy Movie Review:
A film worth discussing despite its flaws
Dorothy is far from a flawless film. Its second half can feel more interested in making a statement than creating an experience, and some of its emotional impact gets lost beneath the weight of its social commentary.
But perhaps that is also why the film is worth discussing.
It is attempting something that Indian cinema does not often attempt within a commercial framework. It takes questions of gender and masculinity and places them inside a story that still wants to entertain, move and visually engage its audience.
It is a film filled with irony, metaphors, strong performances, striking cinematography and music that understands the emotional language of cinema.
Dorothy feels like the kind of film that Indian cinema rarely attempts: imperfect, occasionally over-written, but deeply ambitious in what it wants to explore.
And perhaps its greatest achievement is that even when it stumbles, it gives us something worth talking about.
Because Dorothy isn’t simply asking what it means to be a man or a woman.
It is asking something far more uncomfortable:
How much of the person we become is actually ours,and how much of it was taught to us?
