Author: Rad

The Banshees of Inisherin – A fresh perspective on Friendship

Official Trailer: We have seen many movies on friendship. Kollywood heroes from love stories are always seen with 3-4 friends who play the Hanuman delivering messages. Or they reveal a key secret to the heroine that changes her heart. Most of the time friendship stories are about sacrifice, betrayal, separation, or breakup. In The Banshees of Inisherin, director Martin McDonagh gives us a fresh perspective on friendship that I haven’t

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Iratta – Minor flaws aside, a satisfying thriller with a gut-wrenching climax

Official Trailer: Iratta is a solid directorial debut by Rohit M.G.Krishnan. He knew he has a great story to tell in his hand and that confidence shows in his direction. We have seen so many movies with twins as protagonists. When we think we have run out of ideas, we get Iratta with its fresh spin with twins. It is a police procedural drama bookended with a strong opening stretch,

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Hidden Figures – Powerful and Inspiring

Official Trailer: In Hidden Figures we follow the story of Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Gobels, and Mary Jackson, part of group of African-American female mathematicians, dubbed as human computers, who rose the ranks of NASA, crossed gender, race, and professional lines against the odds with their brilliance and desire to dream big. I hit upon this hidden gem of a movie on Netflix. Missed it when it was released in 2016.

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Ayali – A refreshingly well written series that challenges the oppressive cultural norms

Official Trailer: Ayali will ace the Bechtel test hands down. While we had movies that centered around women characters, like TGIK or Gargi, Ayali may be the first regional series where the story revolves around women characters, focusing on women’s issues and empowerment. The topic they have picked up is the biases and prejudices women face around Menstruation. A big applause to the writing team and the director for handling

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Vaarisu – Cliched movie further let down by lazy writing

Official Trailer: Vaarisu is as cliched as it can get. There is nothing wrong in making a cliched movie. Formulaic movie can be made interesting with a fresh approach and angle. All it takes is spend some energy in writing. Love stories have been there from the time images started moving on the screen. Still, we get engaging love stories like Alai Payuthe, VTV, Thiruchittrambalam, La La Land. Guess the

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Sembi – Interesting parts don’t add up to the whole

Official Trailer: Sembi has multiple interesting threads. Anbu the bus, represents a microcosm of the society. Passengers of the bus are from different segments of the society. Along with their value system and perceptions (of others). Then we have the lawyer character thrown into the mix of passengers who plays the catalyst role. Like a catalyst can he brings in the change in the behavior of the passengers in Anbu.

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Vani Jayaram – A Tribute

Growing up, till certain age I didn’t pay attention to playback singers. Rather I believed the actors sang the songs. Thanks to Puthiya Varpugal which made me realize there is something called dubbing voice and playback singers. Only then I realized Pongum Kagalosai one of my favorite songs from Meenava Nanban (1977) is sung by Vani Jayaram. From then onwards, I started paying attention to the singers. We had many

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The Menu and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Two movies, The Menu and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, with similar structure. In both bunch of people get together in a remote place by special invitation. Chosen bunch. For a weekend retreat in a rich person’s island in Glass Onion. In The Menu to have a specially designed meal by a world-famous Chef ($1250 per person) in an island. Commonality doesn’t end there. rich people get roasted in

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Fast Cuts – Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, Gatta Kusthi, The Teacher

A movie comes with a new template, well received and that sets a trend for similar movies. Most of the times it is not the movie we wish. A movie like Kadaisi Vivasayi or Aandavan Kattalai doesn’t set a trend even though those two are well made cinemas. But a successful Kanchana opens the door for similar ghost / supernatural movies that falls under comedy-horror genre, but horror-torture for the

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