Recent Posts

• Despite the familiar coming-of-age tropes, Vineeth Sreenivasan’s ‘Hridayam’ is all heart, all charm, and feel-good even in its feel-bad moments
• Prithviraj Sukumaran’s ‘Bro Daddy’ is a sweet, silly, likeable, well-written comedy with lots of laughs
• Rahul Sankrityan’s reincarnation drama ‘Shyam Singha Roy’, on Netflix, begins shakily but finds its footing in the second half
• Readers Write In #438: 63 Years Later, Kaagaz Ke Phool Still Looks Magnificent
• Readers Write In #437: தொலைந்து போன தொகுப்புகள் – சட்டென்று மாறுது மனநிலை
• Tamil Cinema Actors’ Round Table 2021
• Readers Write In #436: Moga Mul
• Darbuka Siva’s ‘Mudhal Nee Mudivum Nee’, on ZEE5, is a pleasant but predictable school-time drama
• Rahul Sadasivan’s impressive ‘Bhoothakaalam’, on SonyLIV, has Revathi and Shane Nigam playing mind games on us
• Interview: Darbuka Siva (‘Mudhal Nee Mudivum Nee’)
• Interview: Shane Nigam (‘Bhoothakaalam’)
• Interview: Revathi (‘Bhoothakaalam’, flashbacks and WCC)
• Interview: Vineeth Sreenivasan (‘Hridayam’)
• Twenty-five years of ‘Iruvar’
• Readers Write In #435: Twenty-five years of ‘Minsara Kanavu’
• No Stranger Conversations
• Halitha Shameem and Richard Anthony’s films are the best in ‘Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadha’, on Amazon Prime
• Tamil Directors Round Table 2021
• Tanglish Talks: Happy Pongal
• Interview: AR Rahman and Shekhar Kapoor (On their new stage show, how music happens, etc.)
• Interview: Balaji Mohan, Halitha Shameem and others (on their Amazon anthology ‘Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyadha’)
• The Spam: Fifty Shades of Mylapore
• Readers Write In #434: On Leo Tolstoy’s ‘A Calendar of Wisdom’ and the idea of daily devotion.
• Interview: Manikandan and Vijay Sethupathi (On friendship and ‘Kadaisi Vivasayi’)
• Interview: Basil Joseph (A spoilery deep dive into the writing and making of ‘Minnal Murali’)
• The top 10 films of 2021: Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada cinema
• Readers Write In #433: Retro Movie Review: Hum Tum (2004)
• Food Companion: Vetri Maaran
• Ahammed Khabeer’s ‘Madhuram’ (Joju George, Shruti Ramachandran) is a set of love stories as sweet as the title
• Aanand L Rai’s ‘Atrangi Re’ (Akshay Kumar, Dhanush, Sara Ali Khan) is a wonderfully prickly love story that literalises the phrase “madly in love”
• Interview: Atharvaa Murali (on ‘Thalli Pogathey’, ‘Kuruthi Aattam’, remaking ‘Idhayam’, etc.)
• Interview: Ranveer Singh (on ’83’, Bhansali, ‘Simmba’, etc.)
• Readers Write In #432: ‘Minnal Murali: Film Review’
• Basil Joseph’s ‘Minnal Murali’ (Tovino Thomas, Guru Somasundaram) is an inspired “local” and drama-laden superhero movie
• Flaws and all, Kabir Khan’s ’83’ (Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone) is not so much a “movie” as a rousing memorial to a great event
• Franklin Jacob’s ‘Writer’ (Samuthirakani) is a very impressive docudrama-style debut that immerses us into the world of cops and their crimes
• Readers Write In #431: ’83’
• Sarjun KM’s ‘Blood Money’ (Priya Bhavani Shankar, Kishore) is a watchable drama that could have used better writing
• Despite a generic narrative, Arun Matheswaran’s stylish ‘Rocky’ (Vasanth Ravi, Bharathiraja) signals the arrival of a genuine cinematic voice
• Priyadarshan’s ‘Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham’ (Mohanlal, Manju Warrier) is a historical that needed far better writing
• Srinath Rajendran’s ‘Kurup’ (Dulquer Salmaan, Sobhita Dhulipala) is stylish but has little depth
• Kannada Cinema Round Table 2021
• Interview: Mohanlal (on destiny, ‘Marakkar’ etc.)
• Interview: PS Vinothraj (on ‘Pebbles’ being India’s Oscar entry)
• Arjunan Ekalaivan’s ‘Oomai Sennaai’ is an impressive debut that plays with form and narrative structure
• Malayalam Cinema Round Table 2021
• ‘Blue Sattai’ Maran makes a surprisingly watchable message movie with ‘Anti Indian’, which has humour and finesse
• Vasanthabalan’s underwhelming ‘Jail’ (GV Prakash Kumar) can’t make up its mind whether it’s a social drama or a commercial entertainer
• Interview: Vasanth Sai (About his heroine characters, from Radhika in ‘Keladi Kanmani’ to the women of ‘Sivaranjiniyum…’)
• Sathish Selvakumar’s well-crafted ‘Bachelor’ (GV Prakash Kumar, Divyabharathi) has a solid premise about a live-in relationship, but the screenplay is all over the place