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“Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangadhavan”… A tiresome star vehicle with a mind-boggling stance on women
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/article/anbanavan-asaradhavan-adangadhavan-movie-review Most star vehicles give you one hero-introduction scene. Perhaps in acknowledgement of the tripartite nature of the title, Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangadhavan gives us three. The first is the usual fanfare around the reveal of the hero. It’s a prison-escape sequence, rather unexcitingly shot. But […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
The Jayam Ravi interview
June 22, 2017
My video interview with Jayam Ravi, a light-hearted (as in, completely un-serious) Q and A on the eve of the release of Vanamagan. Copyright ©2017 Film Companion.
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil, Interview
A tale of two rejections
June 22, 2017
A flashback to moments from the 2001 Telugu drama ‘Tiladaanam’, the story of a priest who’s fallen on hard times. Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/article/southern-lights-tiladaanam KNT Sastry’s Tiladaanam (The Rite… A Passion) can be seen as a companion piece to Vamsha Vriksha, the Kannada drama discussed in this column last week. […]
Posted in: Cinema: Telugu, Southern Lights
“Maragatha Naanayam”… Better than your average horror-comedy, but could have been much better
June 21, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/article/maragatha-naanayam-movie-review What would you do if your story began with a prologue in the Pallava period, dealing specifically with a supernatural emerald stone (hence the title, Maragatha Naanayam), and came to rest in the present day, with numerous raiders after the lost artefact? One option […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
Talking heads
June 19, 2017
Ramsu, who has commented here in the past, has a post up about my interviews for Film Companion. FC South is just a few months old and we still have a long way to go, but this was a nice shot in the arm. Excerpt: I wonder if Baradwaj Rangan’s training as an engineer has […]
The Amateur’s Art #21- “Kivi Maathu” (Kannada, with English subs)
June 17, 2017
See here for what this series is about. This short has been written and directed by Sandeep Kumar. Short Synopsis: Dayanand, a regular waiter at a bar is thrown into turmoil when he gets a call from his wife informing him that their daughter has eloped. The words of wisdom coming from a un-precedented corner […]
Readers Write In #19: Of bandhs and the VCR boom
June 17, 2017
I was in college in my sophomoron year (sic) and I’d just discovered the joys of binging on Video cassettes. My classmate in college was one of the first families to own a VCR (Video cassette Recorder) and I was a regular at his place, watching the old classics as well as the latest releases […]
“Uru”… A pretty entertaining thriller that asks us to make up our own minds
June 17, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/article/uru-movie-review In Vicky Anand’s Uru (Fear), Kalaiyarasan plays a writer named Jeevan. Early on, we see him waiting outside a publisher’s office, sweat trickling down his forehead. As it turns out, he needn’t have worried. The publisher loves his manuscript. The interaction between Jeevan and […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
“Behen Hogi Teri”… A small-town romance with a few laughs, and that’s not enough
June 16, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Ajay K Pannalal’s Behen Hogi Teri is a riff on that old joke about the school-assembly pledge: All Indians are my brothers and sisters. Say what? Then who is one supposed to marry? Here, it’s the ritual of tying a rakhi and reducing a possible beau to a brother. In an early scene, Gattu […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi
“Peechaankai”… A killer premise that should have resulted in a way-funnier film
June 15, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/article/peechankai-movie-review I seem to be seeing Bresson everywhere. A couple of weeks back, we had Oru Kidayin Karunai Manu, where the donkey from Au Hasard Balthazar appeared to have reincarnated as a goat in southern Tamil Nadu, and now we have Peechankai (Left Hand), a […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
A very big man
June 15, 2017
A flashback to moments from the 1972 Kannada drama ‘Vamsha Vruksha’, the story of a widow who remakes her life. Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/article/southern-lights-vamsha-vriksha Can a man be both traditional and modern? Can a Brahmin believe in rites and rituals and the Hindu way of life (which, sometimes, can be […]
Posted in: Cinema: Kannada, Southern Lights
The Balaji Mohan interview
June 14, 2017
My video interview with Balaji Mohan, on the eve of the release of his web series, As I’m suffering from Kadhal. Copyright ©2017 Film Companion.
“Raabta”… A dreadful love story that fails at just about every level
June 12, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Dinesh Vijan’s Raabta begins with Shiv (Sushant Singh Rajput), an Amritsar lad, leaving for London. His entire clan comes to see him off, all but breaking into the title song of Rang De Basanti. The tiniest shiver ran through my spine. At the airport, Shiv hears of a celestial object about to pass […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi
The Amateur’s Art #20- “Nodiyil Oru Pizhai” (Tamil, with English subs)
June 10, 2017
See here for what this series is about. This short has been written and directed by Ganesh Dhandapani.
Readers Write In #18: The Classic Actor in Tamil Cinema
June 10, 2017
If one were to rethink T S Elliot’s illuminating article with cinema as the pivot and ask “Who is the classic actor” within the realms of Tamil cinema, a couple of names would immediately spring to mind. Following old industry practices, the names in the order of their appearances are Sivaji, Nagesh & Kamalji. The […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil, Readers Write In
“Sathriyan”… A surprisingly decent spin on the love-transforms-a-rowdy sub-genre
June 10, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/article/sathriyan-movie-review At the beginning of Sathriyan (Warrior), a voiceover gives us the lay of the land, that this story takes place in Trichy, that it’s about two warring rowdy gangs, and that’s there’s a love story too. In short, it’s the one-line synopsis of 5000 […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
In the pages of Mint Lounge
June 10, 2017
In which I give gyaan and get to pose for a Vanity Fair style portrait with eminences on the cover of Mint Lounge. With Smriti Kiran, Meenakshi Shedde, Radhika Apte, Vikramaditya Motwane, Amit Masurkar.(Photo courtesy: Abhijit Bhatlekar/ Mint) Here’s a link to the piece: http://bit.ly/2s5k2yM
Posted in: Personal
“Rangoon”… A not-bad thriller, with a ton of interesting detail
June 9, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/article/rangoon-tamil-movie-review Film is a kind of fiction, but first-time director Rajkumar Periasamy — a former associate of A. R. Murugadoss, who is the producer here — fills Rangoon with the factual density of non-fiction. He has done his research, and it’s all up there on […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
“Hindi Medium”… A satire that’s an easy, fun watch, but also facile and problematic
June 8, 2017
Spoilers ahead… In Saket Chaudhary’s Hindi Medium, Irrfan Khan plays Raj Batra, a garment shop owner in Chandni Chowk, a location that’s Bollywood-speak for “the boonies.” In an early scene, he chances upon an assistant on the verge of alienating a couple of fussy customers, a mother and her soon-to-be-married daughter. Raj steps in, takes over. […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi
“Godha”… A joyous compendium of sporting-movie (and love-story) clichés
June 7, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/article/godha-movie-review After a spate of red-themed political films, we’re now being inundated with sports dramas. Georgettan’s Pooram. Rakshadhikari Baiju Oppu. And now, Basil Joseph’s immensely heart-warming Godha (Wrestling Arena), a sturdy example of how the well-timed, well-tuned collision of clichés can become something… maybe not great, but certainly […]
Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam
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