25 years of Kuruthipunal: A taut police thriller from Kamal, Arjun, and P.C. Sriram. Those who went in expecting a typical police thriller were in for a rude shock. Kuruthipunal, when it came out, was completely different from a usual police story movie from Kollywood heroes including Kamal and Arjun. With its hard to swallow realistic portrayal Kuruthipunal stands apart from movies that came before or after that where the portrayal is nowhere near to real life cops. The story follows two bold cops Adhi (Kamal) and Abbas (Arjun) on a covert mission to infiltrate a terrorist group headed by leader Badri (Nasser), as the mission progresses the police organization cracks from inside and both the sides pay a hefty price. Movie with its bare-bone narration with no songs and comedy tracks is gritty and nail-baiting. When I mention nail-baiting it is not the usual edge of the seat thriller, by the time it reaches the bloody climax you would have curled to a corner of your seat with a tightness in your stomach. Story builds on you slowly and explodes in your head by the time it reaches the finale. Exceptionally supported by the performance of all actors and background music. This is one of the few movies which I can never watch second time even though it is on the list of my favourite movies – I catch glimpses of the scenes but can never bring myself to watch it fully again – not ready to bear the emotional drain. Movie ends in a poignant note the cycle of violence continues and asks a much deeper and relevant question, are the cops let down by the system and merely used as tools? And yes, what is your breaking point?

                                                                        ****

30 years of MMKR (Michael Madana Kama Rajan): In the lines of Nayakan (1987), Apoorva Sagodharargal (AS) (1989), Indiran Chandran (1989), where Kamal donned different guises, MMKR (1990) became another crown jewel in his bio-data. AS team, Kamal, Crazy Mohan, Singeetham, and Ilayaraja, including Nagesh, Delhi Ganesh, Nasser, Manorama came together again to give us a comedy masterpiece. Full length comedy that stands the test of time is not an easy one to pull off. One can go on and on about brilliance of the script, impeccable performance, dialogues, and word-plays. How seamlessly the intro scenes transition from one brother to another, Madan to Michael to Rajan to Kameshwaran. Not only fish shows up in different threads (Meen, I mean what I mean, Mean Kuzhambu), numbers and dialogues too. You get to find new Easter eggs every viewing. For humor to work, every actor in the frame need to be in sync, and in MMKR it is fun to watch how everyone hits off so well. Of course, Kameshwaran gets the best supporting cast (it shows why his scenes are remembered more even now) followed by Raju and Madan. Michael gets limited screen time and would have liked his character to be developed further. Catch my point? 😀

Fish in sambar – watch out for prelude where Kameshwaran sniffs!!

MMKR brought out the hidden talent in Urvasi:

Madan and Nagesh and classy laptop from 90s!!

                                                                        ****

90 years of Clint Eastwood: For a few movies more 😁

A dreadful question everyone has to go through when they reach 50 years of age is what will they do when they retire? Assuming we all live longer, what is our plan post 60 years, 70, or 80? What if we get to live to 90? Not an easy one to answer since none of us seriously think about it (Oh no, we are busy with work….no time to worry about it now). Even if we get time, we procrastinate it. I think we have an answer in Clint Eastwood, who turned 90 this May. He is planning to produce, direct, and star in the adventure-drama Cry Macho for Warner Bros. While his directing output has remained study, averaging nearly 1 every year in the last 10+ years, when it comes to acting he has slowed down. Last we saw him in The Mule. Clint Eastwood joins the short list of actors who remained active well into their 90s. I like him both in front of and behind the camera. I think as a director he does better than as an actor. Not to be misinterpreted, Clint Eastwood is more of a Star, his range is limited but for the roles he played hard to imagine someone else bringing in the same impact like he did. I guess be brought in the trend of cool one-liners with his impeccable delivery. So, coming back to 90s what Clint is telling us is to find the thing you like to do, that doesn’t feel like a chore / job, then age is not a barrier. And let’s just hope we all stay healthy till the day comes. Now, can’t end a discussion on Clint Eastwood without recalling his cool one-liners, can we? 😀

Do I feel lucky?

It is a cultural thing…

My mule don’t like people laughing; My mistake, four coffins.

                                                            ****

Sean Connery, the actor known for James Bond role passed away at the age of 90 yesterday. Sean Connery was Untouchable as Bond. Being the first Bond, Sean Connery set the Bond Standard (a standard for cool and ruthless at the same time, sexy spy roles), with his own style, and sly sense of humor. Others who reprised the Bond role after him invariably got compared to his performance and found it challenging to meet and go above the standard set by him. I think Daniel Craig reshaped the James Bond role and crossed over it – guess changing times helped him. Sean Connery’s acting career spanned over seven decades (similar to Clint Eastwood). While many remember him as James Bond, he did excel as an actor in many memorable movies. My favorites, other than his Bond movies, are Untouchables, The Hunt for Red October, Indiana Jones and the last crusade, and The Rock.

Recruit and Raid scene from Untouchables:

An interesting moment from The Hunt for Red October:

Then what are you complaining about?