Sudhi Koppa Drives a Risky Night Shift: The Ride Review

This The Ride review covers Riteesh Menon's 2025 Malayalam drama with action edges, a compact 100-minute film built around a single cab and a very bad shortcut. It is a small-scale story, and it rises or falls on how well it keeps its passengers under pressure.

Note that this is the Indian film, not the Filipino road-trip movie of the same name.

The Ride Review: The Story So Far (No Spoilers)

The premise is simple. A rideshare driver, Sanju, takes on a late-night fare, and his cab soon carries five passengers. Then a shortcut changes everything, and a chain of events begins that nobody in the car expected.

That is as far as it is fair to go. The film's marketing sells it as a night journey where trust is tested, and the setup is enough to make you curious about who is in the back seat and why. The writing comes from Suhaas Shetty, and the plot leans on confined-space tension rather than big set pieces.

If you like thrillers that live inside a vehicle, you will recognise the shape of it. The Drama movie reviews on this site include plenty of character-led stories, but this one mixes in a harder edge.

What Works in The Ride

The concept is the film's best asset. A single cab on a dark road is an efficient, low-cost way to build unease, and a 100-minute runtime keeps the story from drifting.

• A tight, contained setup: the cab limits the world and sharpens every conversation.

• A grounded hero: Sanju is an ordinary working driver, which makes his predicament easy to buy into.

• A brisk pace: at under two hours, the film does not overstay its welcome.

Riteesh Menon directs with an eye for keeping the audience in the car. Night journeys give a film natural atmosphere, and the premise gives him room to mix suspense with quieter drama.

The Ride Cast and Performances

The cast is led by Sudhi Koppa as Sanju, the driver at the centre of the trouble. He carries the film as the everyman who must keep his head while the situation shifts around him.

Ann Sheetal plays Nithya, and Srikant Murali appears as Anil. Prasant Murali plays Ali, and Harish Uthaman and Maala Parvathi round out the listed ensemble. One user comment I found credits the film with strong performances, though that is audience feedback rather than a critical consensus.

With an ensemble in such close quarters, chemistry matters. The film asks its actors to establish a character quickly and then shift tone, which is a demanding job in a story this compact.

Where The Ride Stumbles

Critical reception is lukewarm so far. Filmibeat's rating is 2 out of 5, with a user score of 2.5 out of 5, and I found no fuller critical write-up to explain the gap. Audience scores on IMDb run far higher, but they come from a small number of ratings and should be read with caution.

That split suggests a film that pleases some viewers more than critics. Confined thrillers often struggle when their twists feel predictable or when their characters stay thin, and those are the risks to watch for here.

There is also a genre question. Billed as drama and action, the film has to balance two moods in a short runtime, and that kind of mix can leave one side underdeveloped. Fans of Action movie reviews who want constant set pieces may find it more restrained than expected.

Is The Ride Worth Watching?

Yes, if you like compact Malayalam thrillers and can accept mixed reviews. The premise is strong, the runtime is short, and the cast is led by Sudhi Koppa, so it is an easy pick for a single evening.

It is not an obvious must-see. Early critical reaction is cool, and the high user scores come from limited data. Go in with measured expectations and you may enjoy a tense, modest night-ride story.

The film was released in India on 5 December 2025. You can check its details on IMDb, and if you want something with a different pace, our Crime movie reviews are a good next stop.

Who Will Enjoy The Ride

• Viewers who like contained, single-location thrillers

• Fans of Malayalam cinema looking for a short, tense watch

• Audiences who prefer character-driven suspense over big action spectacle