Director said that this movie glorifies motherhood. Never have I seen such a careless mother who lands in multiple situation where the child can be easily walked away by a kidnapper, but thanks to the brilliant director who had equally dumb story and characters as him. The casting makes one puke. Hope there was no audition or screen-test for this movie. Madhampatty Rangaraj and Linga, both looked liked clowns with no expressions. Casting them as Keerthy's partner tells you that there is a serious problem in the director's vision. Seeing them on screen was abhorrent. Except camera everything is the movie was disgusting including BGM by Santhosh Narayanan. That being said I have one last question to the director. "Bro how did you even manage to get a producer for this rubbish?"

Utterly disappointing story line with needless histronics by Keerthy Suresh. Not sure how she fell prey to this dumb story unless desperation took its toll... it had everything in it ... excepting relevant story substance... the regular drone views of kodaikanal and its beautiful winding roads appear interesting, especially with bluish tinge to the lush greenery... story is spoilt... so not sharing any spoilers :) how can i actually give away to reveal true nature of her friend and a vile doctor ?? Doggie has a fairly good role and acting

Penguin is a badly written, amateurishly crafted thriller, with an earnest performance from Keerthy Suresh. The script is wholly derivative, drawing elements from way too many psychological/serial-killer flicks. Right from the name (fluctuating between "Rhythm" and "Ritu") being a bit of a bother to her penchant for troublesome (often "kid-goes-missing") situations, the writing of the protagonist is lacklustre. It's been sculpted in such a manner as to elevate motherhood - that would have been alright if the efforts were palpable. We mostly get to see Rhythm expounding variations of shock and grief, nothing more; it would have helped to see her showcasing some grit. And to make matters worse, the performances by the male actors (except for Linga),including one of the major antagonists, are all subpar.

Writer-director Eashwar Karthic also enjoys spoonfeeding his viewers, I guess? I don't see what else could have the reason for the director to let us know (in writing) every time the film jumps timelines. Or for a character to mouth lines about the serial killer such as "he's a ruthless monster!". Or that shot where you see Rhythm and her ex-husband with a 'Life is an unsolved puzzle' poster in the middle. Or for the killer to exclaim "think!" innumerable times during "The Silence of the Lambs"-esque showdown to inform us that there's yet another lousy twist coming. And speaking of that twist, jeez, it's the cheapest, most ridiculous piece of writing one can come up with.

The cinematography (by Kharthik Phalani),especially the shot selection in some points (such as the Charlie Chaplin figure mystically appearing out of the fog) is quite good. Santhosh Narayanan, who usually impresses me in the background score department, doesn't work his magic in Penguin. The pacing is off in the second half, and some scenes could have been shortened at the edits table. To conclude, the film fails to fully capitalize on the "mist" and its "mystique". Half a star for sweet Cyrus (the dog) though!