This piece was originally written for the news portal "The News Minute" and was carried on the 15th of May, 2022. The line to the piece is here: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/revisiting-kamal-haasan-s-1986-vikram-film-was-ahead-its-time-163986 There may not be frenzied requests for daily “updates” on social media like the kind we saw for Valimai but, in terms of audience expectations, Kamal... Continue Reading →
Hey Sinamika – My Flash Review
The title is inspired by the song Hey Sinamika… from Maniratnam’s hit film – OK Kanmani which incidentally also had Dulquer Salman as the male lead as this one. Now, if you think the inspirations from Mani’s films ended here, sorry you are wrong. The film is littered with references from earlier films of Mani.... Continue Reading →
Putham Puthu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa – My Flash Review!
Putham Puthu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa an anthology in Tamil that dropped on Amazon Prime is a sort of a sequel to Putham Puthu Kaalai that we saw in 2020 during the 1st wave. We are in January 2022 and the lockdown saga is still continuing. So arrival of the new dawn is posed as a question.... Continue Reading →
Maanaadu – My (late) Flash Review!
If a film gets a huge thumbs up on its theatrical release and then releases on OTT where we get to watch for the 1st time, there are 2 issues. One, the expectations get built up. Two, the reputation of the film precedes our watching experience. That’s what happened to me for this film –... Continue Reading →
Jai Bhim – My Flash Review!
Right in the opening scene, when a set of jail convicts are asked their respective castes before the next action follows, you know that this film’s intent is not to entertain, but to educate. Or rather to enlighten. Or better, to shake you. As a film, Jai Bhim for most parts is not just disturbing... Continue Reading →
Vinodhaya Sitham – My Flash Review!
The title phrase Vinodhaya Sitham seemed familiar when I heard it first but, could not place it immediately. Then it dawned upon me that Vinodaya Chittam is a phrase in the Sanskrit shloka – ‘Bhaja Govindam’. But here, the title Vinodhaya Sitham meaning “Strange desire/will” in Tamil is based upon a Tamil play with the... Continue Reading →
Thalaivi – My Flash Review!
The much awaited Jayalalitha (JJ) biopic is out and I caught up with the Hindi version of it which is streaming now on Netflix. I am stressing on the “Hindi” version because, it’s my guess that the treatment and therefore the end product would be quite different in Tamil. First up, JJ’s real life is... Continue Reading →
Navarasa – My Flash Review
The much hyped and talked about anthology Navarasa is out on Netflix and as the title suggests it is a coming together of 9 Rasas or Emotions as short stories. Helmed and backed by some marquee names of South Indian cinema, the build-up and expectations were quite high and frankly that has turned out to... Continue Reading →
Toofan Vs Sarpatta Parambarai – My Flash take!
As a matter of coincidence, 2 films - one in Hindi (Toofan) and the other in Tamil (Sarpatta Parambarai) both essentially sports dramas that too based on Boxing, got released almost at the same time two weeks ago on Amazon Prime. Probably it would have been to coincide with the Olympics where as we speak,... Continue Reading →
Sarpatta Parambarai – My Flash Review
Frankly I had no clue as to what the title referred to or the background till I watched this Pa.Ranjith’s film which was premiered on Prime Video this week. The interest to watch was of course due to being a “Pa. Ranjith film”. This outing follows his two back to back average films that too... Continue Reading →