Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai Review: Ram's AI Problem

Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai, director Ram's Tamil chamber drama with Nivin Pauly and Soori, got a sharp review from The Hindu. The critic calls it Ram's weakest, most emotionally distant film, and objects to what he describes as extensive use of generative AI in its flashbacks.

The film

Ram directs. Nivin Pauly plays a nameless immortal man who has lived 8,000 years, and Soori plays a mortal passenger he traps in an empty express train. Anjali plays the woman the immortal man believes he is destined to meet in each of her births. The Hindu lists a runtime of 136 minutes and calls the film much-delayed.

What The Hindu said

Reviewer Bhuvanesh Chandar writes that AI-generated shots appear in the frame almost every fifth minute through the first half, running like a parallel narrative. He says the review reads more like a rant than a review, and that the film could have been a unique cinematic experience without them. He sets this against the film's message that all life forms are equally important, and calls the AI use ironic.

He credits the performances. Nivin and Soori, he writes, give their all and keep the viewer glued to the screen, and he calls Anjali as impressive as ever. He also notes that even the film's CGI rat shows so much emotion that it becomes a one-of-a-kind live-action character.

The strongest part, in his view, is the story of the immortal man's search for his soulmate, with a beachside scene of him running with a kerosene lamp. He says the love story ends prematurely and the rest feels emotionally distant. He faults an unnecessary fight sequence, a sudden twist involving a young boy and an ambiguous ending.

He also says Ram tries to commercialise the idea by adding humour, possibly inspired by casting Soori, whom he calls a former comedy actor who has turned serious.

The review ends with a note for Ram's admirers. Chronologically, Ram directed Paranthu Po after this film, so the critic suggests it may be a misstep before a recovery.

Why it matters

Ram is known for earthy, human-scaled films, and the review frames this one as a departure. The review is also a clear example of a critic objecting to the use of generative tools in a feature film.

What we could not confirm

We found only one full review, from The Hindu, so the verdict is one critic's. We have not seen the film and cannot verify how much AI imagery it uses or how it was made. The Hindu spells the title both Malai and Mazhai in its text. We did not find official box office figures.

Sources

*Cover photo: Nivin Times, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nivin_Pauly_latest.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nivin_Pauly_latest.jpg)* (CC BY-SA 4.0).*