Cinema, Karam, Kapi

It’s that time of the year when our walls and desks are replaced. This year, I bought one from Fully Filmy with every month having a montage of my matinee idol Superstar Rajinikanth.  The living room will have one or two large monthly calendars while the puja room with have a daily-sheet calendar, a culture that is very popular in the South, especially in Tamil Nadu.  The workdesks for all of us at home will have new desktop calendars, courtesy friends and family who ship their business calendars or send us one bearing photos of religious deities. This year, I am plannning to design my own desktop calendars on Zoomin with photos taken through 2024. But other than these little changes that we make, there is nothing that really changes between 31 Dec & 1 Jan. for most Indians.  Our personal / religious calendar is varied across the country and our ethnic backgrounds.  From Ugadi to Baisakhi and so many others for almost each state, our calendar for purposes of calc...

In the second instalment of Pushpa 2 – The Rule, the lead actor Allu Arjun doesn’t disappoint his fans one bit. From the first scene till the end, it’s Arjun who carries confidently, the might of the expectations of the much awaited film on his shoulders. And how he does it deftly, so easily, is something that’s worth appreciating. In the first part Pushpa - The Rise (2021), Pushpa Raj, a coolie who is involved in transporting red sanders smuggled from the forests, becomes a local thug and begins to be a part of the syndicate. Over time, he becomes a notorious criminal, by transporting truck loads of the well guarded tree logs, which are banned from hunting and transporting unofficially. In the sequel, we see Pushparaj continue his “raj” and this time, he is a lot more aggressive in his dealings with the cops. Pushparaj and Srivalli’s (Rashmika Mandanna) romance track goes on one side. They are married now and their overtures are – well over the top in some scenes (sic). Jagapathi Ba...