What to say of a movie that right at the outset, warns you to keep your moral compass aside? Right at the beginning there is a title card that says, “Human beings are mostly grey. Except in some cases. In some cases, they are just, black.” In the film, therefore, you find most of the... Continue Reading →
My pick of the Top 10 films of 2022!
Another Friday. Another big-ticket Hindi film release. Another flop at the Box Office. This has been the recurring theme in Bollywood this year. The latest one to suffer this ignominy is Cirkus directed by none other than Rohit Shetty - a filmmaker with many 100 crore grossers under his belt and one who is touted... Continue Reading →
Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey – My Flash Review!
The film opens with a lady doing kitchen chores early in the morning and leaving for work while we see a shot of a man – most likely her husband, still sleeping. We wonder if it’s a sequel to the hit Malayalam film – The Great Indian Kitchen. We soon realise it is not, as... Continue Reading →
Ariyippu – My Flash Review!
What is common between the films Take Off, C U Soon, Malik, and now Ariyippu apart from being Malayalam films directed by the ace editor turned Director Mahesh Narayanan? Well, all these films are based on news headlines around which the story is built and the screenplay structured. The main plot of Ariyippu (Declaration) follows... Continue Reading →
Love Today – My Flash Review!
While the opening credits roll, we are taken inside a smart phone production line where we get to see visuals of phones getting assembled completely on a “hands-free” basis except at the final packaging stage where we see workers doing the packing. This irony is stark for a product that is destined to be at... Continue Reading →
CHUP – The Revenge of the Artist – My Flash Review
What happens when a filmmaker gets enraged by the uncharitable reviews which he believes are dishonest? What if that filmmaker had a mentally disturbing upbringing? And finally, what happens if that filmmaker becomes a psychopath and starts targeting film critics whom he believes are not honest in their reviews? And what if the targeting means... Continue Reading →
Kantara – My (late) Flash Review!
If KGF – Part 1 opened the doors of the world of Kannada cinema to many Non – Kannadigas, for me it was a film called – Garuda Gamana Vrishaba Vahana (GGVV), a 2021 film that took me to Kannada films. GGVV is a gritty film about a set of local gangsters – a genre... Continue Reading →
Palthu Janwar (Malayalam film) Review!
This review was written for the news portal The News Minute and was published on 21st Oct, 2022. It can be read here: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/palthu-janwar-delectably-sweet-malayalam-film-has-animals-its-centre-169094 Directed by Sangeeth P Rajan, Malayalam film Palthu Janwar does not have a ‘star’ at its heart but animals, that too livestock. It is only in Malayalam cinema that we can expect such... Continue Reading →
Venthu Thanindathu Kaadu – My Flash Review!
Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather might have inspired quite a few films in the gangster genre all over the world but in South Indian cinema, it is Mani Ratnam’s Nayagan that has inspired filmmakers to try that genre. Promising filmmakers in the post-Nayagan era have made at least one film based on the Mumbai Don story,... Continue Reading →
Ponniyin Selvan and its aftermath!
This piece was originally written for the news portal “The News Minute” and was carried on 7th Oct, 2022. The link to the piece is here: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/mani-ratnam-s-ponniyin-selvan-and-its-four-types-audience-168671 It has been a week since Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan-I hit theatres across the globe, and the chatter around the film on social media remains unabated. By and large, the... Continue Reading →
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