Dhoomakethu review: Time loop comedy shines in parts but stumbles
Dhoomakethu, starring Sajin Gopu and Nikhila Vimal, uses a time loop to comic effect but loses steam in its middle portions.
The time loop, once a novelty in cinema, has become a familiar device. Sudhi Maddison's new Malayalam film Dhoomakethu (comet) is the latest to adopt it, and there is a certain irony in naming a movie after a rare celestial event when the concept itself is now commonplace. For a stretch, the film manages to blend this well-worn trope with humour, but the effort eventually falters due to weak writing in the background story.
The concept gained mainstream traction with Bill Murray's Groundhog Day (1993), and Indian cinema has since reworked it in films such as Maanaadu (2021) and Bhool Chuk Maaf (2025). In Dhoomakethu, Kuttan (Sajin Gopu) finds himself trapped in endless repetitions of his wedding day with Sharmila (Nikhila Vimal).
Writers Sonny and Madhu replace the recurring blizzard of Groundhog Day with a comet bearing a green streak, signalling a reliance on the tried and tested. Yet with Sajin in fine form and a rollicking Ganapathy alongside him, the repeating loops become a source of comedy, drawing on slight variations in each iteration. Voyeuristic online channels and judgemental relatives both come in for satire.
The central challenge lies in explaining the time loop itself. The backstory the writers settle on feels weak and commonplace, dragging the film down considerably, though an Azhakiya Ravanan spoof provides an interesting touch. The film recovers some of its earlier zany energy only in the closing stages, when the screen lights up with a well-choreographed explosion of fire and sound.
Maddison, who debuted with Neymar (2023), appears at ease giving light treatment to weighty situations. A sequence that would normally receive a darker treatment instead draws laughter each time it repeats, purely because of the film's approach. But the inability to sustain this tone across the entire runtime works against it, particularly in the meandering middle portions.
Dhoomakethu's humorous handling of the time loop works only to a certain extent, making it an average fare.