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“Munna Michael”… An unfocused, unremarkable, but also un-terrible Tiger Shroff vehicle
Spoilers ahead… Munna Michael is the third collaboration between star Tiger Shroff and director Sabbir Khan, and their single-mindedness is admirable. They pick stories that will resonate with single-screen audiences. Their first film together, Heropanti, was a remake of the Telugu blockbuster Parugu. Baaghi, the follow-up, was loosely based on another Telugu blockbuster, Varsham. The […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi
“Vikram Vedha”… Pushkar-Gayatri make their massiest movie yet, and the results are… interesting.
July 21, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/vikram-vedha-movie-review The latter half of the title of Pushkar-Gayatri’s Vikram Vedha belongs to the gangster played by Vijay Sethupathi. Even before we set eyes on him – and it’s a while into the movie before he swaggers in – he’s something of a legend. Cops […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
Bitty Ruminations 87 – Nepotism
July 20, 2017
Someone brought up the nepotism thing in the comments section, and I thought I’d add my two cents. Was the joke (by Saif, Karan and Varun) insensitive? Sure. Was it in bad taste? Probably. But these awards shows have a long tradition of jokes being made about the industry — that’s the shtick. And each […]
Posted in: Bitty Ruminations, Cinema: Hindi
The political, the personal
July 20, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full article on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/southern-lights-adimai-penn Scattered thoughts on ‘Adimai Penn’, the MGR-Jayalalitha starrer that was re-released in theatres last weekend. A couple of times a year, a big splash is made around an old film getting a “digital” makeover and being released in theatres again. The quotes are because […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil, Southern Lights
Bitty Ruminations 86 – Dunkirk
July 20, 2017
I have a strange relationship with Christopher Nolan’s films. The last one I liked unabashedly, adored 100%, is The Prestige, which is the perfect “Nolan movie” in every way. It has his trademark gimmickry, but this gotcha-ness is folded beautifully into the story, which demands that gimmickry. I mean, it’s about seeing something you only […]
Posted in: Bitty Ruminations, Cinema: English
The Amateur’s Art #24- “Mirror” (Telugu, with English subs)
July 16, 2017
See here for what this series is about. This short film — horror, for a change — is by Prashanth Mittapelli.
Readers Write In #21: Unexpected blessing
July 16, 2017
You are returning home at the end of another mundane day at work. Your idle mind is starting to play games with you. You suddenly catch yourself questioning the choices you have made in your life (“maybe I really should have done MS instead of MBA, maybe I should have avoided all the show boating […]
Posted in: Music: Classical, Readers Write In
“Shab”… An underwhelming, unaffecting criss-cross of urban lives
July 16, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Onir’s new film, Shab, begins with a migration. A handsome-to-the-point-of-pretty young man, Mohan (Ashish Bisht) hops onto a Delhi-bound bus. He wants to become a model, and he’s got in his bag a pair of shiny briefs he’s going to strut about in before a panel of judges in a Gladrags-style contest. Sonal […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi
“Jagga Jasoos”… A mad, magical, parts-greater-than-sum musical that’s a total treat
July 15, 2017
Spoilers ahead… The last time we got a musical – a musical in the genre sense of the word, and not simply a film with a few songs – was probably in Shirish Kunder’s Jaan-e-Mann, of which I wrote: “We sit there helpless, as if hypnotised, just as [a character] is in the Jaane ke […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi
“Thiri”… A dull, talky, been-there-done-that action-drama
July 15, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/thiri-movie-review Before the press show of Thiri (Wick), the director, Ashok Amritharaj, addressed the audience. He had that “I am a student of cinema” air. (“If you like the film, tell others. If not, tell me. And I’ll fix the mistakes in my next project.) […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
“Pandigai”… A smartly written, stylishly crafted heist thriller
July 13, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/pandigai-movie-review Pandigai, directed by Feroz, has a ton of pluses and two minuses: the heroine (Kavya, played by Anandhi), and the hero’s wisecracking best friend (Thirupathi, played by Black Pandi). Is it not time to let go of these “must-haves”, especially at a time we’re […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
As I’m Suffering from Mixed Feelings
July 13, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full article on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/southern-lights-as-mi-suffering-from-mixed-feelings Two new web series in Tamil serve up fare that’s not seen on the big screen, but they could be so much more. With As I’m Suffering from Kadhal (As I’m Suffering from Love), the web series now on Hotstar, director Balaji Mohan no […]
“Tiyaan”… A confused, overlong, wannabe-epic that preaches secularism even as it glorifies Brahminism
July 11, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/tiyaan-movie-review We’ve all heard of “Hindu-Muslim bhai-bhai.” In Tiyaan (The Above-mentioned), the adage becomes literal: the actors who play Aslan Mohammad and Pattabhirama Giri are real-life siblings, Prithviraj and Indrajith. The casting, I feel, is no accident – for part of Tiyaan’s agenda is to […]
Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam
The Amateur’s Art #23- “Sthreepart” (Tamil, with English subs)
July 8, 2017
See here for what this series is about. A note about this short: I met the director, Barath Neelakantan, at Wandering Artist. He sent me this short film (a ” self-funded learning attempt”) and this description: About me. HR turned film-maker. Associate Director for Nibunan (Dir-Arun Vaidyanathan, starring Arjun, Prasanna, Varu). Assistant Director, Ticket (Dir – […]
“Mom”… A predictable, problematic, well-made thriller, helped by its performances
July 8, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Every Mother’s Day, we see this sentiment: MOM upside down is WOW. Repeat this mantra for two-and-a-half-hours and you get Sridevi’s new movie. Or Maatr, which featured Raveena Tandon and several of this film’s plot points. The crux is the same: a daughter’s rape is the radioactive spider that transforms mom into crime-fighting […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi
Readers Write In #20: Yama’s Lieutenant…
July 8, 2017
The following is a note from Anuja Chandramouli… People always want to know what prompted me to write books in the currently red – hot, alleged cash cow that is the mythology genre. I have no idea what to say except that it is not something that I thought long and hard about, given my […]
Posted in: Books, Readers Write In
“Ondu Motteya Kathe”… A gentle, winning comedy whose strains of sadness are smoothed over by the hilarity
July 6, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/ondu-motteya-kathe-movie-review One reason for my interest in Ondu Motteya Kathe (The Story of a Bald Man) was autobiographical. Finally, a protagonist I can see in the mirror. The second was archaeological, for I spent quite a bit of time trying to excavate examples of films […]
Posted in: Cinema: Kannada
Love on the run
July 6, 2017
A flashback to moments from Duniya Soori’s 2015 Kannada thriller ‘Kendasampige’, about a rich-girl-poor-boy couple chased by corrupt cops. Read the full article on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/southern-lights-kendasampige The first time we see Ravi and Gowri, they’re in a theatre, half watching the movie, half making out. This poor boy and rich girl are just […]
Posted in: Cinema: Kannada, Southern Lights
K Balachander’s mise en scène
July 5, 2017
So this post began as a response to hidnana’s comment in the Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangadhavan thread: “even BR was better to treat cinema as visual medium than KB.” (BR as in Bharathiraja.) Then I felt the topic deserved a mini-post (though it really deserves a book). Yes, while scripting, KB thought like a theatre person — […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
“Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum”… A superbly written and acted drama that keeps you guessing constantly
July 3, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/thondimuthalum-driksakshiyum-movie-review Pay attention to the first few frames of a Dileesh Pothan movie: there’s a nutshell of the story-to-come. Maheshinte Prathikaaram (Mahesh’s Revenge), Pothan’s first film, opens with an image of rubber slippers being scrubbed thoroughly. It isn’t until interval point that we realise what […]
Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam
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