Maadathy – Nobodies do not have gods…they are gods

Official Trailer: If you have taken a bus ride between Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli, you would have come across Isakkiyamman temple near Aralvaimozhi where every vehicle would stop, get the blessings, and continue their journey. Similarly, there is a Shastha temple between Theni to Madurai near Andipatti. My safe guess is there are many like this. While I have heard stories that these gods are related to death, they are powerful,

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

Master

Official Trailer: Master has lots of things going for it…Vijay, and Vijay Sethupathy for one. Then Lokesh Kanagaraj who has created a name for himself with engaging Mahanagaram, a superb hyperlink story, and Kaithi, a Die hard and Rambo rolled in to one. Vaathi coming and Kutti story has been on the charts for sometime now. Prelude with intro of the villain Bhavani made me smile. Bhavani gets a super

 

Bhoomi – better off if he had taken the trip to Mars

Official Trailer: Take a serious social issue and use it as a star vehicle, to sell the star, this has become a Kollywood trademark. In the process, nuance, and logic goes out the window. Insult the victims (of the issue) and the audience. I guess this trend started with Gentleman. We have seen it in so many movies in last 2 decades including Kaththi, Sivaji, Sarkar, and now we get

 

Paava Kadhaigal – 2 hits, 1 near miss, 1 fell short – a good start

Official Trailer: First season of Paava Kadhaigal from Netflix is out and has four episodes. First season explores the subject of honor. Family honor. Common theme in all the four episodes is that women bear the pressure of upholding the honor of the family. Or is it their bodies? As the mother from Vaanmagal episode says to her daughter your body is like temple. You need to protect it. If

 

Soorarai Pottru – Soori, Sooran, and the Masses

Official Trailer: After watching the movie what stood out for me was Sundari’s character, from here onwards referred as Soori. While the story is about Sooran, genuinely heartening to see the effort that has gone in to give equal weightage to Soori’s role. A woman with a dream, a career ambition. A woman of conviction. Yes, we see them around us, in our family, in our work place, and in

 

Mookuthi Amman – Movie starts well and then falls in to easy villain and PSA traps

Official Movie Trailer: Mookthi Amman from RJ Balaji starts well, first 30-40mts of the movie worked effectively to setup the premise. We get introduced to Engels Ramasamy (get the drift?) and his family, mother, 3 sisters, and grandfather. Family struggles to make their ends meet and life hasn’t been good to them. Sample these: father has run away, gap between Engels and his last sister is 16 years, education stopped

 

Short Takes – By Years – Nov 2020

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