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Tanglish Talks: “Charlie – version 2”
April 18, 2021
I keep writing scenes. Some of them get discarded. Thought they’d make for fun blog posts, titled ‘Tanglish Talks’. Do read, share, mock, comment, ring the bell icon, whatever 🙂 ! About this installment: Remember that “magician-boy” scene I posted a while ago, from when I was reworking CHARLIE for Dhilip? Here’s another version I […]
Posted in: Tanglish Talks
Ranjeet Kamala Sankar and Salil V’s ‘Chathur Mukham’, with Manju Warrier, Sunny Wayne and Alencier Ley Lopez is a super-solid techno-horror thriller
April 17, 2021
Spoilers ahead… Copyright ©2021 Film Companion.
Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam
Martin Prakkat’s ‘Nayattu’, with Kunchacko Boban, Joju George and Nimisha Sajayan, is an excellent thriller that carries the punch of a hard-hitting social drama
April 16, 2021
Spoilers ahead… Copyright ©2021 Film Companion.
Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam
Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy’s ’99 Songs’, with Ehan Bhat and Edilsy Vargas, is an experimental, music video-styled dive into AR Rahman’s mind
April 16, 2021
Spoilers ahead… Text: 99 Songs has been directed by Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy, but the speciality is that the story and music are by AR Rahman. We’re introduced to Jay (Ehan Bhat) and Sofia (Edilsy Vargas). Jay is a struggling musician and Sofia is a super-rich woman with a super-rich dad (Ranjit Barot). We think this is going to […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi, Cinema: Tamil
Review: Rahul Riji Nair’s ‘Kho-Kho’, with Rajisha Vijayan and Mamitha Baiju
April 14, 2021
Spoilers ahead… We are going to be talking about a film called Kho Kho, a film by Rahul Riji Nair, starring Rajisha Vijayan. Now, I have seen two movies of this director. One is Ottamuri Velicham and I have seen Kalla Nottam, which won the national award for best Malayalam Film this year. It’s a […]
Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam
Readers Write In #354: On the caste origins of Karna
April 13, 2021
(by Sudharshan Garg) Loved the movie and the review, but a few…mythological and historical quibbles. Karna’s foster parents were not from the ‘oppressed’ classes. If anything Adhi his dad was from the lineage of the mighty king Jayadrata of Anga. Ratha was a suffix this line took, Jaya + Rata > DhratvaRata > Satkarma > […]
Readers Write In #353: Karnan: An Essay on the Radical
April 13, 2021
Hemanth Bharatha Chakravarthy I read Mari Selvaraj’s stunning Karnan as an essay on the radical, as a story of radical movements and radicalism within political struggles. There is a lot else in the movie: visually rich screenwriting with stunning landscapes and aerial shots, previously unsaid ethnography of the “lifestyle” of oppressed communities from their customs […]
#AskBR – Karnan
April 13, 2021
In which I answer a few questions on an older film… or a new one… or talk about actors and directors… or take on a few YouTube comments… For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2021 Film Companion.
Posted in: #AskBR, Cinema: Tamil
Review: Sanu John Varughese’s ‘Aarkkariyam’, with Biju Menon, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Sharaf U Dheen
April 13, 2021
Spoilers ahead… “Aarkkariyam” stars Parvathy Thiruvothu, Biju Menon and Sharaf U Dheen, and has been directed by Sanu JohnVarghese. Now, the film is a mystery, you could even call it a murder mystery, but it is actually more about the mystery that people are. Like, it’s about the mystery that makes a woman fall for […]
Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam
Tanglish Talks: “A scene in Kuwait”
April 11, 2021
I keep writing scenes. Some of them get discarded. Thought they’d make for fun blog posts, titled ‘Tanglish Talks’. Do read, share, mock, comment, ring the bell icon, whatever 🙂 ! About this installment: This, I wrote last year. It’s an under-production film, so I can’t say for whom (and anyway, someone else has now […]
Posted in: Tanglish Talks
Interview: AR Rahman, the writer (99 Songs)
April 10, 2021
For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2021 Film Companion.
Readers Write In #352: Revisiting Ghare Baire (1984)
April 10, 2021
(by Sidharth Malhotra) Cast: Soumitra Chatterjee, Victor Banerjee, and Swatilekha ChatterjeeDirector: Satyajit Ray The film is based on Rabindranath Tagore’s novel that came out in 1916 and carries the same name. Set in 1907’s colonialized India, Ghare Baire (English Title: The Home and the World) is a story that revolves around three major characters: Nikhilesh, […]
Posted in: Cinema: Bengali, Readers Write In
Review: Mari Selvaraj’s ‘Karnan’, with Dhanush, Lal, Rajisha Vijayan
April 9, 2021
Spoilers ahead… Text: The best of screenwriters cannot imagine writing something like the Mahabharata because there are so many plots, subplots, and characters. And oOne of the most fascinating characters is Karna, who is born a demi-god. He is the son of a queen (Kunti) and a god (Surya). But he’s abandoned by his mother […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil, Television / Online
Interview: Rahul Riji Nair (‘Kho Kho’)
April 8, 2021
For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2021 Film Companion.
Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam, Interview
Readers Write In #351: On ‘Pagglait’ and the existential duty of life surrounded by death…
April 8, 2021
(by Aneesh J) ‘Pagglait’, in a crude way, is a North Indian slang and stands for a ‘different’ level of crazy. In a way, it is the equivalent of the English language’s ‘bat-shit’ crazy: Mere ‘crazy’ is not enough to define the wide gap; like the difference between a Ranveer Singh and Mika Singh. It […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi, Readers Write In
Readers Write In #350: The World of Joji
April 8, 2021
(by Adi R) The story of Joji is a lot about strength and how the men in the family, society and the world wield it to alter its dynamics. This is strength of the conventional understanding – the brute force with which these men toy around with the world around them. When such brute force […]
Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam, Readers Write In
Interview: Sriram Venu (‘Vakeel Saab’)
April 8, 2021
For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2021 Film Companion.
Posted in: Cinema: Telugu, Interview
Review: Dileesh Pothan’s ‘Joji’, with Fahadh Faasil, Unnimaya Prasad
April 7, 2021
Spoilers ahead… Hello, and welcome to FILM COMPANION SOUTH. In this episode we’re going to talk about “JOJI”, which is just about as huge as a movie can get, it is directed by Dileesh Pothan, it has Fahadh Faasil, the director of photography is Shyju Khalid, the music is by Justin Varghese who contributes a […]
Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam, Television / Online
Pagglait is driven by Sanya Malhotra, whose character gets a subplot that should have been the actual movie
April 7, 2021
The film wastes so much time on peripherals that it ends up doing a disservice to its terrific central premise: What if you thought you knew someone but really didn’t? Spoilers ahead… A man has died. His large family has gathered for the funeral. It’s a traditional family, a god-fearing Brahmin family, the kind where […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi, Television / Online
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April 18, 2021
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