Author: Rad

Cinematograph Act, CBFC, Amendment Bill 2021 – do they have a place in democracy?

“…there ought to exist the fullest liberty of professing and discussing, as a matter of ethical conviction, any doctrine, however immoral it may be considered…fullest liberty of expression is required to push arguments to their logical limits, rather than the limits of social embarrassment” – John Stuart Mill I don’t plan to get into merits and demerits of CBFC and Cinematograph Act. Or do I intend to discuss the Amendment

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OTT Picks – Mare of Easttown

Official Trailer: Mare of Easttown – Doing something great is overrated. Because then people expect that from you all the time. What they don’t realize is you’re just as screwed up as they are I am all for small town murder-mystery dramas. If done well, great. Whether it is movies like Fargo, Mystic River, Stand by me, or series like Trapped. Series format gives ample room for the writers and

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OTT Picks – The Family Man

Official Trailer: The Family Man – Everyone wants the Truth to be on their side…but no one wants to standby the Truth Good thing about The Family Man Season 2 is that it keeps the momentum like season 1. With its characters and plot twists it keeps you hooked. A big thumbs up to the writers. Another big thumbs up to casting team, casting of The Family Man is perfect.

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10 years of Aaranya Kaandam

Official Trailer: Aaranya Kaanadm trailer itself was so different when it came out – breaking the convention. The opening villain introduction scene sets the tone for the rest of the movie. After watching it you realize this is a director with complete understanding of the neo-noir genre, and with a vision. Usually in their first movies, directors play it safe when it comes to the story they want to tell.

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COVID Times – Random Thoughts

COVID Cures – Cumin to Cow In our country, even during normal times due to lack of access to doctors and cost of healthcare, there is always a space for fakes, and magical remedies. While science-based medicines have made phenomenal improvements in the last 2 centuries, we still have diseases where either we don’t have a cure yet or we can only manage them with or without some side effects.

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Karnan – What you do if where you live and your name controls your destiny

Official Trailer: Let’s get the few obvious questions out of the way. Which one is better, Mari Selvaraj’s first or his second movie? Pariyerum Perumal (PP) or Karnan? To me, both are director’s movies and showcases his talent, how not to get carried away by the message compromising the art of cinema, how to make a good cinema with great content. Both had oppression, a universal subject, as the core

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COVID, India, Vaccination – How did we end up here?

Let me start with a success story. Not one but two. First is small pox vaccination and eradication from India. India was one of the few countries where small pox still existed in the early 70s. With collaboration with WHO, focused program was launched in 1972. By May 1975, the last known Indian smallpox patient, a 30-year-old female, was identified. By April 1977, two-year search and active surveillance activities confirmed

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OTT Picks – Night in Paradise, Trial of the Chicago 7, BlacKkKlansman, Unhinged, and More

Night in Paradise (on Netflix) – Are you Okay? Should I be Okay? Official Trailer: Night in Paradise is a gritty gangster drama, with wonderfully staged scenes. What works is well paced action scenes, dramatic interaction scenes, cinematography, and music. Loved the interaction scenes between Tae-gu and Jae-Yeon, few conversations bordering on surreal. Sequence where the cop brokers a deal between two rival gang leaders gets you on the edge.

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COVID, India, Religion and Tinted Glasses

Two events. Spaced across one year, one happened Mar 2020 and second in April 2021 (ongoing). Attendees of both failed to follow COVID protocol. Both can be considered as super-spreader events, along with many other super-spreader events (shouldn’t single them out) – I don’t think any detailed data analysis done or available on  impact of these events on the COVID infection numbers. Similarities stop there though. It is little unfair

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Mandela – Underneath the humor it is a story about the sorry state of our society

Official Trailer: What is one vote worth in a democracy? Especially if that one is the deciding vote in an election outcome. That is the question the movie Mandela asks and uses that interesting premise to cleverly to give us a political-social satire. Village of Soorangudi is split in to two groups based on caste – from my observation these castes are at the same level in our caste hierarchy

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