Run Baby Run (2023 film)

Run Baby Run is an 2023 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Jiyen Krishnakumar. The film stars RJ Balaji, Isha Talwar and Aishwarya Rajesh. The film was released theatrically on 3 February 2023. The film received positive reviews from critics and became a commercial success.

Run Baby Run
First look poster
Directed byJiyen Krishnakumar
Written byJiyen Krishnakumar
Produced byS. Lakshman Kumar
StarringRJ Balaji
Isha Talwar
Aishwarya Rajesh
CinematographyS. Yuva
Edited byG. Madan
Music bySam C. S.
Production
company
Prince Pictures
Release date
3 February 2023
Running time
132 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot edit

The film starts with the death of a medical college student named Sophie after she falls from a building.

The story flashes back to seven days later. A banker called Sathya, who recently got engaged, visits a jewellery store, looking to surprise his fiancée with earrings. After buying the jewellery, he picks up his fiance and looks forward to impressing her with the costly gift when he suddenly notices another young woman hiding in his car's back seat.

Sathya gets caught in a catch-22 situation. He cannot continue to drive without knowing who the woman hiding in his car is. At the same time, Sathya cannot stop the vehicle and question the woman, lest his future wife gets the wrong impression. He waits for the opportune moment, which takes quite a while, and finally, when he does get the opportunity, he questions her. He discovers that the woman hiding in his car is Thara, a medical college student, and her life is in danger. She begs him to allow her to stay in his flat until her guardian, Father Vincent, comes and picks her up in an hour or two. Sathya initially refuses and is adamant about throwing her out. But eventually, he gives in, moved by her plight. He lets her into a guest room and tells her she does not have to let him know when she leaves with her guardian. However, that turned out to be a horrible mistake.

The following morning, his future father-in-law visits him, and he only then notices that Tara's dupatta and handbag are still where she left them in his living room. He looks into the room where he left her and sees Thara unconscious, presumably dead, on the floor. Just then, the police arrive at his flat to investigate a disturbance in the building, but they don't discover anything in Sathya's flat.

Then, he visits his friend, Jai Ganesh, a police officer, in a quiet field. He advises disposing of the body so Sathya will not get into trouble.

He prepares to dispose of the body, and his car breaks down en route. After a few incidents, he leaves the body in a van, where the driver finds it and decides to burn it. The next day, police arrived at the scene. The driver kills himself by hanging himself, afraid of being caught. Sathya receives a call from a private number, saying that if you become a detective looking into Thara's murder, he will be the next to hang.

Officers close the case by saying the victim is unidentified and the accused killed himself. The DSP decided to inquire, and the driver's mother told him about five people climbing into the vehicle. The DSP's further inquiry leads him to find Sathya, so Sathya visits the police station and subsequently leaves. However, a truck tries to kill him on the carriageway. The police issue a transfer order to Jai Ganesh, and he informs Sathya. In addition, his fiance's family cancelled his wedding after leaked photos showed Sathya lying down with a girl. Sathya contemplates suicide. However, his mother convinces him not to do anything fatal. After multiple incidents, Sathya investigates Thara's murder by questioning various people, such as Father Vincent's assistant, Sophie's lover, and the hostel watchman. He even gets attacked by several people. However, he discovers the medical college dean is the devious mastermind behind Sophie and Thara's deaths. Sathya fights with him, and he reveals what happened.

The dean raped Sophie and threw her out of the window. Thara saw photos of Sophie's post-mortem within a file and said someone murdered her. So the dean sends goons to get her. She left the file in Sathya's car. However, the dean killed Father Vincent after he had to go to visit Sathya. He went to Sathya's apartment, destroyed the server room, strangled Thara, and took a picture of Thara and Sathya lying together. The dean planned to kill orphaned postgraduate students and give the seats to wealthy students to gain money. Eventually, Sathya leaves Sophie's lover and his gang to kill the dean, and Sathya hands the evidence of the dean's involvement to the DSP.

Cast edit

Production edit

On 15 December 2022, it was announced that RJ Balaji and Jiyen Krishnakumar would team up for a film. The film was titled as Run Baby Run and is the first action thriller film of RJ Balaji and the first look poster of the film also was released on the same day.[1] The makers released the glimpse of the film on 11 January 2023 coinciding with the Pongal festival.[2]

Music edit

The music of the film is composed by Sam C. S.[3]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Run Baby Run-Theme Music"Sam C. S., Lavita LoboSam C. S., Lavita Lobo1:30
2."Aval Oru Varam"VivekaKapil Kapilan3:22
Total length:4:52

Release edit

Theatrical edit

The film released theatrically on 3 February 2023.[4] The trailer of the film was released on 19 January 2023.[5] Run Baby Run was released in UK and Europe by Ahimsa Entertainment.[6]

Home media edit

The digital streaming rights of the film were acquired by Disney+ Hotstar, while the satellite rights were sold to Star Vijay.[7] The film is scheduled for its digital premiere on the streaming platform from 10 March 2023.[8]

Reception edit

Logesh Ramachandran of The Times of India who gave 3 stars out of 5 stars after reviewing the film stated that, "Run Baby Run has all the ingredients that a crime thriller requires but is not powerful enough to linger in our minds".[9] Praveen Sudevan of The Hindu wrote "In the end, we are left with these ‘if onlys’".[10] Janani K of India Today who gave 2.5 stars out of 5 stars after reviewing the film stated that, "Run Baby Run exposes a doctored crime in the climax and one would be able to buy the twists as it comes out of nowhere".[11] Haricharan Pudipeddi of Hindustan Times after reviewing the film stated that,"The supporting cast does a decent job in playing their respective parts fittingly".[12] Navein Darshan of Cinema Express rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "The message Run Baby Run conveys isn't novel either as there have been a couple of films made in the recent past based on the same issue".[13] Kirubhakar Purushothaman of The Indian Express gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "It is time heroes and filmmakers realise they need not always save the world. Sometimes saving a decent film from becoming a mediocre affair is good enough".[14] A critic for India Herald wrote that "It would have been far more effective if the author had forced us to travel with the murderer right away".[15] Dhanushya of ABP Live rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and asked would it have been better if this movie was released directly in OTT instead of watching it in theatres? This is the opinion of the fans who have seen the film.[16] Ranjani Krishnakumar of Film Companion wrote that Run Baby Run was not a bad film: "Far from it. It’s a passable film with handful of thrills to offer".[17] A critic for Cinema Vikatan wrote "Run Baby Run settles for being a conventional thriller with many logic holes and no innovative scenes".[18] A critic from Dinamalar rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars.[19] A critic for News18 wrote "Run Baby Run would have been commendable, had the narrative been carried out in a more vibrant way".[20]

References edit

  1. ^ "RJ Balaji's next titled 'Run Baby Run'; first look revealed". The Times of India. 15 December 2022. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  2. ^ "A glimpse of RJ Balaji & Aishwarya Rajesh's 'Run Baby Run'". The Times of India. 12 January 2023. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  3. ^ "RJ Balaji comes up with a unique promotion again, this time for Run Baby Run, ahead of its theatrical release". OTTPlay. 27 January 2023. Archived from the original on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  4. ^ "Run Baby Run to hit the theatres on this date". Cinema Express. 17 January 2023. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  5. ^ "RJ Balaji & Aishwarya Rajesh's 'Run Baby Run' trailer". The Times of India. 12 January 2023. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  6. ^ "#RunBabyRun in UK cinemas from tomorrow. Get your tickets now 👉 linktr.ee/ahimsaentertainment @SamCSmusic ..." Ahimsa Entertainment. Archived from the original on 4 August 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ "#RunBabyRun First Look👊🏾🔥 Stars : RJ Balaji - Aishwarya Rajesh - Radikaa - Smruthi Venkat". Saloon Kada Shanmugam. Archived from the original on 20 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ "RJ Balaji starrer 'Run Baby Run' gets an OTT release date". The Times of India. 28 February 2023. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  9. ^ Balachandran, Logesh (4 February 2023). "Run Baby Run Movie Review : An effective thriller that engages us in parts". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  10. ^ "'Run Baby Run' movie review: RJ Balaji dons a new avatar in this could-have-been-better suspense thriller". The Hindu. 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  11. ^ "Run Baby Run Movie Review: RJ Balaji, Aishwarya Rajesh's thriller manages to offer little thrill". India Today. 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  12. ^ "Run Baby Run review: RJ Balaji delivers an effective thriller with good twists". Hindustan Times. 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  13. ^ "Run Baby Run Movie Review: Solid making glosses over the loopholes". Cinema Express. 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  14. ^ "Run Baby Run review: RJ Balaji's effective crime mystery loses steam in the second half". The Indian Express. 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  15. ^ "Run Baby Run Tamil Movie Review - A Solid Thriller". India Herald. 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  16. ^ "Run baby Run Movie Review : ஆடியன்ஸை பதறவிட்ட ஆர்.ஜே.பாலாஜி.. எப்படி இருக்கு ரன் பேபி ரன் படம்? - முழு விமர்சனம் இதோ..!". ABP Live (in Tamil). 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  17. ^ Krishnakumar, Ranjani (3 February 2023). "Run Baby Run Review: A Passable Thriller That Unravels Oddly". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  18. ^ "Run Baby Run Review: திருப்பங்கள் நிறைந்த க்ரைம் த்ரில்லர்; ஆர்.ஜே.பாலாஜியின் புது அவதாரம் எப்படி?". Cinema Vikatan (in Tamil). 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  19. ^ "ரன் பேபி ரன் - விமர்சனம்". Dinamalar (in Tamil). 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  20. ^ "Run Baby Run Movie Review: This RJ Balaji-Starrer Keeps You Hooked Till The End". News18. 3 February 2023. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.

External links edit