Short Takes – Thadam – a satisfying thriller

Official Trailer: Exiting the movie hall, you get the feel of having watched an engaging, satisfying thriller. You have nothing but appreciation for the director, Magizh Thirumeni. This is a director’s movie, and things fall in place with all others contributing to director’s vision. He does takes time to setup the premise, but post that director makes sure we play catch up with the him. Thrill of watching who-done-it thrillers

 

Run up to Election 2019 – Tamilnadu and the Twin Towers of Periyar and Ambedkar

                                    Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons Part 2         Part 3 Election fever picking up with Parliament elections around the corner. Stakes are high for both BJP and Congress, the two big national parties. Last year, 2018, Assembly elections have shown a power shift at State’s level, BJP lost power in few states, Congress did do well compared to previous election but they just scraped through with few additional

 

Sarvam Taala Mayam – can beats break the barrier?

Official Trailer: Director follows the sports template, how an underdog breaks into the chosen field working against the odds with the help of a coach. Here we have an aspiring youth, Peter Johnson, from a family of mridangam makers, who wants to become a mridangam artist. Peter is not aware of the caste barriers; how Carnatic music has been dominated by Brahmins and other castes are not easily allowed in,

 

Peranbu – a poignant story beautifully narrated

[SPOILERS AHEAD…] Official trailer: In Peranbu, we follow the coming of age of Amudhavan, father of spastic daughter, how he relearns the environment and world around him as he connects with his daughter. We get a peek into few incidents of Amudhavan’s life as chapters. I have nothing but great appreciation for Director Ram, for his vision, diving deep on the issue, boldness, and sensitive handling. When is the last

 

EVM-VVPAT – They need to stay and going back to ballot paper would be retrograde

EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) is in news again. That it can be hacked and allegations about hacking in earlier elections. No need to get in to which party is saying what. We have seen every party worth its name has taken either side of the fence depending on whether they are in the ruling or opposition, or whether they won or lost the election. Let’s leave that to news channels

 

Petta – A full length Rajni entertainer

[SPOILERS AHEAD…] Official trailer: It is a great fun to see vintage Rajni walk the screen with his signature swag, and hear his magnetic and mesmerizing voice and dialogue delivery. After a long gap, we get a Rajni who is fully relaxed and he rocks us with his mischievous streak. Add to this peppy BGM that elevates the mood of the film, the first half just zips through. Director Karthik

 

25 Years of Amaidhipadai and Mahanadhi

If someone makes a list of top Tamil movies, I can tell you that high probability you will find both Amaidhipadai and Mahanadhi in that list. Both were released in 1994. Both have gone on to become movies we still remember and talk about irrespective how they did at BO when they got released. Both are in my favorite movies list. Amaidhipadai tracks the life of Amavasai who from being

 

Movies I liked from 2018 watched list

It is always fun to look back on the year that has gone by and list the movies that made it to your top list from the movies you watched. My list includes not just the movies that got released in 2018 but also movies I caught up with from my watchlist, movies I missed from earlier years. I am not a fan of ranking the movies. So, the movies

 

Merku Thodarchi Malai – Excellent Visual Show and Tell Cinema where the Tell is left to the audience

Official movie trailer: Since the movie never got a release in Bangalore, had to wait for it to show up in a streaming site. So, the delayed writeup – it showed up on Netflix, I guess beginning of this year. Considering the payoff, it is worth the wait. This is one of the best movies of 2018, along with Pariyerum Perumal these two movies stand way ahead of all other

 

Knife in the gut series – Muran – Sujata

What triggers a change in behavior of a person who follows a routine for past 25 years? A change that is in contradiction? An anomaly. In our life we see that many times. Some are minor, some major, making us wonder, is this the same person we knew. Some are known changes that happens as a person gets older that is attributed to midlife crisis. Mostly those are either change