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Browsing All Posts filed under »Cinema: Telugu«
“RX 100.”… A generic angry young man’s generic love story, until a solid twist turns everything on its head
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/rx-100-telugu-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan-kartikeya-payal-rajput-ajay-bhupathi/ Shiva (Karthikeya Gummakonda), the hero of Ajay Bhupathi’s RX 100, is the kind of up-yours, super-macho man we’re seeing a lot, lately, in Telugu cinema. He’s built like a tree trunk — when he spreads his arms wide, he seems to be inviting birds […]
The Prithviraj-Parvathy starrer ‘My Story’ is a meh story
July 12, 2018
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/prithviraj-parvathy-my-story-movie-southern-lights-baradwaj-rangan/ Plus, thoughts on this unnamed genre, which finds new ways to embadden an already bad movie. There’s a genre of Indian cinema I’ve come to dread. It hasn’t got a name (and truth be told, there haven’t been that many representative films), but it’s basically about […]
Baradwaj Rangan, let’s talk about bias!
June 14, 2018
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/baradwaj-rangan-kaala-review-critics-mani-ratnam-twitter-conversations-southern-cinema-bias/ Because it’s impossible to have a proper conversation on Twitter, I imagine a chat with critics of my ‘Kaala’ review and argue why form is important and why ‘Mani Ratnam’ isn’t a bad word. There may be spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen ‘Kaala’. So you’re […]
“Kaala”… The second Rajini-Ranjith outing is better than ‘Kabali’, but still an odd fit for both
June 7, 2018
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/kaala-movie-review-rajinikanth-pa-ranjith-dhanush-huma-qureshi-baradwaj-rangan/ Six years after Mullum Malarum (1978), director Mahendran and star Rajinikanth made Kai Kodukkum Kai, a sensitive drama now remembered mostly for the Ilayaraja beauty, Thazhampoove vaasam veesu. The film bombed. It’s difficult to say why exactly a film fails — it could be […]
Great actress, middling biopic
May 31, 2018
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/keerthy-suresh-dulquer-salmaan-mahanati-baradwaj-rangan-southern-lights-column/ Thoughts about and around biopics and ‘Mahanati’, starring Keerthy Suresh and Dulquer Salmaan. As a Tamilian – or at least, as someone more familiar with Savitri’s work in Tamil cinema – Nag Ashwin’s Mahanati (Great Actress) felt incomplete. (There is a Tamil version titled Nadigaiyar Thilagam, but […]
“Diya”… An interesting premise that needed better writing, better performances
April 27, 2018
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/diya-tamil-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan/ Like last week’s Mercury, Diya is not quite the horror film (in the pure, genre sense of the word) it’s been advertised as. As with Mercury, the basis of the premise is a tragedy, and the ensuing events are tinged with the ache of […]
“Bharat Ane Nenu”… Mahesh Babu stars in an entertaining, and at times rousing, political fairy tale
April 23, 2018
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/bharat-ane-nenu-movie-review-mahesh-babu-baradwaj-rangan/ In Koratala Siva’s Bharat Ane Nenu (I, Bharat), Mahesh Babu plays an overachieving Oxford student — he has five degrees (including a diploma in food science!), and he might have gone on to a sixth (in animal husbandry? Aztec mating rituals?) had he not […]
“Mercury”… Even in his slightest film so far, Karthik Subbaraj proves he’s one of our most exciting writer-directors
April 19, 2018
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/mercury-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan/ With Karthik Subbaraj, we expect a twist, so here’s one from his new film, Mercury: the title card that dedicates this film to all silent films, from Raja Harischandra to Pushpak. The twist is that Mercury isn’t like any of those earlier silent films. […]
The contentious nature of the National Awards
April 14, 2018
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/the-contentious-nature-of-the-national-awards-baahubali-village-rockstars-sridevi/ Musings on the country’s most prestigious film awards – and this is not about whether X deserved to win over Y. Another year. Another set of arguments over the National Awards. For instance: Did Sridevi deserve Best Actress? Indeed, under normal circumstances, would her performance in […]
“Rangasthalam”… An overlong, yet interestingly narrated tale that makes for unusual masala movie
March 31, 2018
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/rangasthalam-movie-review-ram-charan-sukumar-baradwaj-rangan/ Everything that some people will think is right (and others wrong) in Sukumar’s Rangasthalam (Stage) can be glimpsed in the song, Ee chethi thone. It’s a dirge that plays over a murder victim being prepared for a funeral. We see the body being held […]
Interview: Samantha
March 30, 2018
Everyone is talking about ‘Rangasthalam’ these days. The film, directed by Sukumar, has Samantha playing a villager, a first in her career, and the actress says it was an eye-opening experience. Prior to this, she has been part of several high profile films in Telugu and Tamil cinema, and starting from Pawan Kalyan and Mahesh […]
Whose Plot Is It Anyway – “Rangasthalam”
March 28, 2018
A weekly feature, where standup comedian Jagan takes a look at previews and trailers and predicts the story of a new film in his own inimitable way. This week: Rangasthalam For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2018 Film Companion.
Video Essay: Best Moments of Prakash Raj
March 26, 2018
A birthday special, celebrating the best scenes of Prakash Raj. How does your list of favorites compare? For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2018 Film Companion.
#AskBR – Sridevi
March 9, 2018
A weekly feature, where I answer a few questions on the big release of the previous weekend. (Or, an older film, if the week has no big releases.) For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2018 Film Companion.
The Amateur’s Art #34 – Samyuktham (Telugu, with English subs)
March 5, 2018
See here for what this series is about. This film came from Vishvak Khanderao, who did his direction course from L.V. Prasad film academy. This is his diploma film, and it won the best film gold. Synopsis from YouTube: “The lives of two individuals intertwined due to the loss of life of another takes a […]
“Awe”… An ambitious, meticulous mix of genres is a tad overcooked but also fun to think back on
March 1, 2018
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/awe-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan/ Late in Prasanth Varma’s Awe, a barista named Meera (Regina Cassandra) finds a Rubik’s Cube in the basement of a restaurant. She tosses it into a dark corner — but a few seconds later, it’s tossed back at her, mysteriously (and fully) solved. That’s […]
Devi… Sridevi…
February 25, 2018
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/sridevi-kapoor-death-obituary/ A Madras boy remembers the actress, the star who could do everything every kind of director wanted her to do. G rowing up in the seventies and eighties, in Madras, meant you grew up with Sridevi. Actors and actresses, those days, made a ton of movies […]
Tamil cinema, English thoughts
January 25, 2018
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/southern-lights-tamil-cinema-english-thoughts/ In which I make a case that there needs to be more writing about non-Hindi cinema in English, if this cinema is to break through ghettos. I interviewed two authors at this year’s edition of the The Hindu’s Lit for Life. One of them was a […]
Interview: R Madhavan
January 18, 2018
R Madhavan, star of the Amazon Prime original Breathe, talks about his 20-year-old career (his first major role, in the Kannada film Shanti Shanti Shanti, was in 1998). He laughs about being too “mature” for romantic roles, and discusses opting for quality over quantity, and his biggest reality check. He speaks about upcoming projects like […]
Happy new year
January 4, 2018
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/southern-lights-happy-new-year These are our pick of songs for the occasion from across south India. What are yours?? For the first column of 2018, I decided to do something simple: pick one song from Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam that celebrates the new year (or at least, contains […]
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