I had missed watching Vikram when it was released in theatres and so caught up with it this weekend when it dropped on Disney-Hotstar! The best part of the film is, it unabashedly sticks to just action as a genre and doesn’t even attempt to go anywhere else. But is that enough to keep you... Continue Reading →
Revisting Kamal Haasan’s 1986 Vikram!
This piece was originally written for the news portal "The News Minute" and was carried on the 15th of May, 2022. The link 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 →
Kamal Haasan at 65: Celebrating the musician within the actor!
(This piece was written for the news website thenewsminute.com and was first published on the 7th Nov, 2019 and can be read here: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/kamal-haasan-65-celebrating-musician-within-actor-111885 ) This week, on the 65th birthday of actor Kamal Haasan, we are also celebrating his 60 years in cinema. It is well-documented that Kamal started out as a child actor and has then... Continue Reading →
30 years of Apoorva Sagodharargal
(This piece was written for the news website thenewsminute.com and was first published on the 16th of April, 2019 and can be read here: (https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/30-years-apoorva-sagodharargal-why-kamal-haasans-film-unforgettable-100133) Directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, Kamal Haasan’s blockbuster film – Apoorva Sagodharargal hit the theatres in April 1989, exactly 30 years ago. This was a phase when Kamal, post the success of Nayagan, had started experimenting... Continue Reading →
Looking forward to Shankar 2.0!
Director Shankar’s upcoming film 2.0 we hear, is going to hit the screens finally on the 29th of November, this year. This film featuring none other than the Superstar Rajinikanth has been awaited with bated breath by the director’s fans for quite some time now. That will be a in a long time that a... Continue Reading →
Tamil Cinema’s Masssss… trap!
Mouse Trap or Elipathayam is a 1981 Malayalam film directed by one of the most acclaimed film directors of Indian cinema – Adoor Gopalakrishnan. This film is considered as a bench mark for art and probably excruciatingly realistic cinema. Films of this genre though, suffered from poor box office response since they could only cater... Continue Reading →
The rise and rise of the Censor Senas!!!
(This post was first published on my personal blog http://anandkumarrs.com on 19th Nov, 2017) Acclaimed film maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has again been engulfed in a controversy. This time around his soon to be released magnum opus Padmavati, which has enraged a section of people in North India - Rajputs in particular, who have threatened to... Continue Reading →
30 years since ‘Nayagan’!
(This piece was written for the news website thenewsminute.com and was first published on 21st Oct, 2017) https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/30-years-nayagan-why-tamil-cinema-still-looks-mani-ratnam-classic-70333 30 years since 'Nayagan': Why Tamil cinema still looks up to the Mani Ratnam classic The plot of 'Nayagan' wasn't novel, it was the treatment that made the film the classic it is. Anand Kumar RS Saturday,... Continue Reading →
Ilayaraja 1000!!!
(This post was first published on my personal blog http://anandkumarrs.com on 13th Mar, 2016) Boxing a tribute for a man who just completed a journey of 1000 films as a music composer in my usual limit of 1000 words is going to be tough. Even tougher is going to be the task of choosing from... Continue Reading →
The dwarfing of Vishwaroopam!
(This post was first published on my personal blog http://anandkumarrs.com on 3rd Feb, 2013) Events in the last 2 weeks proved beyond doubt that in this Kalyug, even a Vishwaroopam can be dwarfed and how! Kamal Haasan, the man who dwarfed himself 2 decades ago and played the role of a midget so well in... Continue Reading →