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#AskBR – Sarkar
In which I answer a few questions on an older film… or a new one. For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2018 Film Companion.
Readers Write In #59: Is the film playing Kill-Marry-Hook Up with its female characters?
November 11, 2018
‘Kill-Marry-Hook Up’, for the uninitiated, is a conversation game where participants are presented with three names. They are then forced to map each name with exactly one option from ‘Kill’, ‘Marry’ or ‘Hook Up’. ‘Hook Up’ is usually replaced with a “profane” synonym, but let’s stick to the Koffee With Karan version of the title. […]
Writing a piece on writing a piece on Kamal Haasan
November 7, 2018
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/kamal-haasan-64-birthday-zero-anand-rai-punnagai-mannan-apoorva-sagotharargal/ On the multi-hyphenate’s 64th birthday, Baradwaj Rangan tries to make a list and gets meta (and how fitting is that, given this star)! I’ve just realised it’s tough to write a peg-less piece about Kamal Haasan. Well, there is a peg: his birthday. But it’s not […]
Readers Write In #58: Vada Chennai and Wasseypur: Rooting cinema with music
November 6, 2018
It’s been merely weeks since Vada Chennai released and the film is being talked about as a work that will go down in Tamil cinema as a milestone. Apart from solid writing, good camerawork and some stellar performances, there’s another factor that elevates the movie: The distinctive music. Criticism has risen about the way the […]
“Sarkar”… An efficient political platform that should have been a more effective movie
November 6, 2018
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/sarkar-movie-review-vijay-murugadoss-keerthi-suresh-varalaxmi-sarathkumar/ T his seems to be the year for NRIs plunging into the muck of Indian politics. We saw it in Bharat Ane Nenu. We saw it in NOTA. We see it in Sarkar (Authority), directed by AR Murugadoss (with a mile-long opening note acknowledging […]
Off the Topic: Making sci fi accesible to the masses
November 3, 2018
Dear BR, Below is a topic which I felt can be discussed on the thread. The gap between the first and second installments of Enthiran is almost a decade. A huge time frame from a technology stand point. So much has changed and developed in the area of AI,robotics, data age. While I wasnt anticipating […]
She Says She Says: Mass, Masculinity & Thalapathy Vijay
October 31, 2018
Copyright ©2018 Film Companion.
#AskBR – Vada Chennai
October 22, 2018
In which I answer a few questions on an older film… or a new one. For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2018 Film Companion.
Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, Vada Chennai, 96… and assorted thoughts
October 19, 2018
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/chekka-chivantha-vaanam-vada-chennai-96-baradwaj-rangan A mini-flashback of what’s been a remarkable few weeks for Tamil cinema, and the issues they bring up. The responses for my review of Chekka Chivantha Vaanam were interesting, to say the least. My reaction to the film was that of bewilderment, but so many people […]
“Sandakozhi 2 “… A just-about bearable sequel
October 18, 2018
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/+sandakozhi-2-movie-review-vishal-lingusamy-keerthi-suresh-baradwaj-rangan There’s a Thevar Magan hangover in N Lingusami’s Sandakozhi 2 (Fightercock). Balu (Vishal) strides into southern Tamil Nadu the way the Kamal Haasan character did in the earlier film — only, Balu takes a flight, and he slips past the people who’ve gathered outside, […]
Readers Write In #56: Make a musical, Or Don’t: A rant on the usage of songs in modern Tamil cinema
October 18, 2018
First in the ‘Chekka Chivantha Vaanam’ review, and now in the ‘Vada Chennai’ review — I much liked BR’s views on the usage (or lack thereof) of good songs. I, for one, am really really glad that BR brought this up. I am an audiophile. I love listening to songs in the theater. I enjoy […]
“Vada Chennai”… A very satisfying gangster saga that (mostly) becomes the epic it strives to be
October 17, 2018
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/Vada-Chennai-review-Dhanush-Vetrimaaran-Baradwaj-Rangan/ For a while now, Vetri Maaran has been calling Vada Chennai (North Chennai) an epic, and it turns out he was right. The title design is epic. It has a big-screen quality, like the Cinemascope logo (narrow in the centre and broadening towards the […]
Readers Write In #55: The dance of idea and story in Pariyerum Perumal
October 16, 2018
At the intermission of Pariyerum Perumal, the eponymous protagonist lies bruised and battered by the relatives of his female upper caste classmate. He’s covered in their urine, locked inside a room. If he is ‘let out’ he might get killed, he’s told. Pariyan, shivering in trauma, drags himself to the bolted door and knocks on […]
Interview: Vetri Maaran
October 15, 2018
#VadaChennai has shades of Macbeth, Hamlet… @dhanushkraja had misgivings about Polladhavan… The only 2 “filmmakers” in Tamil cinema are Balu Mahendra, Mani Ratnam… In #VadaChennai, the women swear too.. Vetri Maaran talks about Vada Chennai, and how it differs from other gangster movies set in North Madras. It was originally a 5-1/2 hour cut. How […]
Readers Write In #54: Evolution paints the sky crimson
October 14, 2018
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD for Chekka Chivantha Vaanam An obvious distinction that #MeToo often brings up is that while men cloaked in power are unwilling to shed their primal skins, the women, even when victimized, have used civil means to fight back. A striking contrast between the composure displayed by women and the emotional charge spewed […]
The Amateur’s Art #43 – Germanyin Senthaen Malare
October 14, 2018
See here for what this series is about. Director’s note: At some point of time in our life, we are not sure about the things happening around us. This experimental film captured one of that moment from a true event.
Live: SaNa listens to a situation, makes the BGM
October 13, 2018
Santhosh Narayanan talks about his composing style, how he makes a basic tune that is then developed and handed out to the players. He plays a BGM piece from Pariyerum Perumal – first on the piano, and then the final output (as played by the whole orchestra). He discusses contributors like Pradeep and Sean Roldan. […]
“Manusangada”… A vital addition to the series of stories narrated from the POV of the oppressed
October 12, 2018
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/manusangada-review-amshan-kumar-rajeev-anand-baradwaj-rangan/ The central event in Amshan Kumar’s Manusangada finds an ironic counterpoint in Samarasam ulaavum idamey, the Seerkazhi Govindarajan hit from Rambaiyin Kaadhal (1956). The song speaks of death being the great leveller, that people who are differentiated by caste and class while they are […]
Readers Write In #52: Chekka Chivantha Vaanam – A Psychoanalytic Perspective
October 10, 2018
Mr. Maniratnam’s latest oeuvre, Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, like his previous work Kaatru Veliyidai, is a detailed and evocative study on narcissism. While disguised as a gangster shootout, the film relates to something far more fundamental, that being the dysfunctional family and the suffering that is housed within. In Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, the chief patriarch is Prakash […]
Interview: Santhosh Narayanan
October 9, 2018
Santhosh Narayanan talks about his 25th album, Vada Chennai, directed by Vetri Maaran. He speaks of the song, Kaarkuzhal kadavaiye, and why he wanted it in this album. He talks about his sound and why it came about, and how he goes about composing a song. He speaks of how ideologically inclined directors like Pa […]
November 14, 2018
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