DD Next Level ending explained: Will Santhanam's Kissa 47 be able to save his family before the end credits roll?

Hindustan Times

14-06-2025

The Santhanam-starrer DD Next Level made its OTT debut on ZEE5 and OTTplay Premium recently. The fourth part in the Dhilluku Dhuddu franchise, DD Next Level is a standalone film with a quirky premise. Directed by Prem Anand, the film revolves around a film critic, Kissa 47, who gets invited for a special screening along with his family. But a series of events makes him realise that he has gotten pulled into the film, which is directed by a ghost and failed director Hitchcock Iruthyaraj, who warns him that he only has time till the end credits to save himself and his family, who are now characters in the screenplay. Will Kissa 47 be able to save his family and come out of the big screen horror into reality? (Spoilers ahead)
Watch DD Next Level and more Tamil horror comedies such as Ghosty, Hostel and all parts of Dhilluku Dhuddu on OTTplay Premium right now
In each of the Dhilluku Dhuddu films, the protagonist gets stuck in a space that is haunted, with the rest of the film playing out to be an escape room format. With DD Next Level too, Santhanam's Kissa 47 is stuck, but here it's the screenplay of a film he is pulled into, setting the quirky tone. Further taking it to a meta-level, DD Next Level takes a dig at the film review culture while also questioning the tropes attached to the commercial cinema.
When Kissa 47 and a fellow yellow journalist get mysteriously transported to a cruise, he meets his family members who do not seem to recognise him. His father is the cruise's captain, while his mother and sister have adopted a much more glamorous lifestyle and appearance as opposed to their real lives. But when a serial killer is on the loose, Kissa manages to ward him off, only for them to end up on a secluded island haunted by man-eaters. After a series of events and fantasy interventions, Kissa seems to be winning and the director's card also comes up, hinting that all seems to be going towards a happy climax. But it is at this time, the man-eaters come out once again, given Kissa 47 had saved his girlfriend from getting killed, thus overturning the fates of the man-eaters also.
Towards the actual climax, with Kissa's family captured by the man-eaters, he must now kill them before the end credits roll, and for that, the only way is to defeat the villains. After a tough physical combat with the man-eaters, Kissa 47 races against time and the end credits to plot several traps to kill the antagonists. But with his smart choices and the typical heroism, Kissa 47 shoots the hero of the sequel, DSP Ragavan (Gautham Vasudev Menon spoofing Kamal Haasan's character from his Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu), thus putting an end to the film and breaking off the possibility of a sequel. He also, on a meta-level, talks to Iruthyaraj, that no matter whether the review is good or bad, it cannot determine a film's outcome and that good films will get celebrated no matter what. This convinces Hitchcock Iruthyaraj that Kissa 47 is the best reviewer to watch cinema and transports him out of the film, where he reunites with his family members who are unaware of what has happened.
DD Next Level ends with Kissa 47 and his family coming out of the theatre, where he is surrounded by other reviewers who question him about how he got to watch the film. As he asks them to get to see the film themselves and be the first ones to review, Santhanam walks out of the theatre.