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Showing posts with the label Cinema

Lal Salaam – Music Review

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Aishwarya Rajinikanth’s directorial and the much awaited and talked about “Lal Salaam” will hit the screens on 9 Feb. ’24. The film features a host of artists such as Vishnu Vishal and Vikranth as the key characters with KS Ravikumar, Thambi Ramaiah, Livingston, Senthil among many others, playing support roles.   Bankrolled by Lyca Productions, Aishwarya’s third directorial has music by Oscar Winner and Mozart of Madras, AR Rahman, where the two are collaborating for the first time.  The director’s first film titled “3” was released in 2012 and featured Actor Dhanush (to whom she was married back then) along with Shruti Hassan, the elder daughter of Actor Kamal Hassan. Her sister Soundarya Rajinikanth directed her maiden venture “Kochhadaiyaan” feat. Superstar Rajinikanth which released in 2014.  Superstar Rajinikanth will be seen as “Mohideen Bhai” only in a cameo role in Lal Salaam, though his presence is expected to increase the “saleability” of the film across cinema theatres.  The

G.O.A.T – Why is Rajinikanth a phenomenon

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Few would have noticed, but it was the first time that Superstar Rajinikanth donned the role of a grand father in his August 2023 outing titled “Jailer”. While the actor, who will complete 50 years in Indian Cinema in 2025 has been the darling of Producers & Distributors for two decades continuously in the 80s and 90s, the actor’s charisma started waning around the turn of the millennium. His own production film “Baba”, one of his career best according to his ardent fans, was the worst flop of his career. Thereafter, the actor’s films have been nothing short of a roller-coster ride. As I write this article after 5 days since the release of Jailer, the film is said to have grossed Rs. 350 Cr (USD 65 mn approx.) worldwide at the box office as per market estimates.  Day 1 - ₹ 95.78 cr     Day 2 - ₹ 56.24 cr     Day 3 - ₹ 68.51 cr   Day 4 - ₹ 82.36 cr   Day 5 - ₹ 49.03 cr  Total - ₹ 351.92 cr   For a 72-year old actor, at the fag end of his career, this is nothing short of a miracle of

Pathaan - Movie Review

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Shah Rukh Khan has always been remembered for his emotive scenes from Baazigar to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai to Kal Ho Na Ho. Somewhere down the line, the actor chose to do various experimental roles which may not have been fitting to his status. That’s a professional risk many take. Except that after his last big run at the Box Office, Chennai Express, none of his movies stuck a chord with the audience, even with his hardcore fans spread worldwide. In Pathaan, he is back with his old ways, charming the audience with his emotions, romantic innuendos, action scenes and a rare, one of its kind on-screen camaraderie with his close friend, confidante, contemporary and career brother –Salman Khan. As the movie ends with the title credits, the two are seen sitting and chatting casually, wondering who would be their successors in their missions (read: Bollywood, perhaps). The two make guesstimates without naming the newbies, sarcastic comments about youngsters but do not agree unanimously on any one

Disconnect: The Wedding Planner

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What happens when you know nothing about an interesting start-up business and still go ahead and attempt doing it, guessing some angel will help you succeed? The film shows how and why it may not work all the time! Otis is a playboy living in Nairobi and has trouble inheriting his family business. He flirts with many girls and ends up dumping each one of them, time and again. He is also a father to his daughter but his ex-wife has moved on in life. He is pitching his business idea to a potential Investor Dele but the latter is not convinced if Otis is trustworthy. His partner Khalid is also not sure of Otis’ acts and doesn’t trust him much. That’s when Otis proposes to Dele to allow him organise his wedding in a grand manner in Kenya. After much reluctance, Otis and his fiancé agree to this.  However, Otis has no clue whether he can pull this off by his own, so he invites his friends Richard & his girlfriend Celine, TK, Judy and Khalid to the Kenyan resort a few days before the wed

Ram Setu - Movie Review

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Ram Setu, dubbed as Adam’s Bridge is an important edifice of the epic Ramayana. Believers and followers of Sanathana Dharma do not question its existence from the time immemorial. It is the naysayers, non-believers and those of other religions who are hell bent on breaking the remnants of the bridge, so cargo vessels can pass through the Gulf of Mannar instead of taking a circuitous route around Sri Lanka. This long debated subject is the research of an ASI archaeologist in this film who goes from disbelieving the story of the bridge built by Lord Rama all the way to finding the erstwhile location of King Ravana’s palace. All within 200 mins!   Aryan Kulshreshta (Akshay Kumar) is shown digging up wealth in a box, believed to be 100s of years old in the Taliban region. Though many of his colleagues get killed by the Taliban in a massive shoot-out, he and his colleagues reach safely to tell the story of the ancient link between Afghanistan and India. His next assignment at ASI is to find

Varisu - Film Review

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After almost a week of its release, watched Vijay’s Varisu. Went without any expectations as there has been a steady negative feedback about the film. In fact, the reviews mostly said the film was too much drama.   After coping for over 150mins, I am convinced with the popular verdict. The film is heavy on drama. But then, aren’t films meant to be that way? Will come back to this at the end of this article.  Vijay (Vijay) is sent out of his home by his father Rajendran (Sarath Kumar) as he fails to fall in line to his wishes. The family patriarch, father of three sons is yet to decide his successor of his sprawling business empire which is dominated by the mining fields and wants his sons Ajay (Shamsudern aka Sham) and Jay (Srikanth) to pitch themselves against each other. Not wanting to be a part of this rat race, Vijay relinquishes from the race. He travels around the country only to be called back home by his mother Sudha (Jayasudha).  On the occasion of Rajendran’s 60th birthday ce

12th Man - Film Review

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  Set in the midst of a resort in Idukki, the film is all about the 11 men and women and the 12th man who uncovers a murder mystery. Jeetu Joseph, who made the classic Drishyam (Malayalam & Hindi) and Papanasam (in Tamil) is now back with his favourite hero Mohan Lal, The crew, obviously 11 of them, have given a terrific performance with each of them playing a significant role from the word go till the end. Sidharth is engaged to Aarathy and they decide to throw a bachelor’s party to Sid’s classmates – 10 of them. Interestingly, but for one, all other are married within the group, so that makes 4 couples. Banker Sam and his wife Merin are a happy couple. Dr. Nayan and her husband Jithesh are not the perfect match, but they continue to navigate this relationship that is a marriage. Annie & Zacharia are about to become parents and decide to announce the big news at the party the next day. Shiny & Mathew are a couple who have their own excesses. Shiny borrows money from friend

The cult of Agent Vikram

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After 10 days since its release, I finally watched Kamal Hassan’s Vikram, well er… should I say, Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Vikram. That’s how it seems to be, going by the screenplay, the audience feedback and of course, the Box Office collections. As I write this piece (after 3 weeks of its release), the film has collected over Rs. 300 Cr at the Box Office in India and wolrd wide. Plus OTT rights, of course.  Kamal Hassan’s Vishwaroopam 1 & 2 were anything patriotic, to say the least. His critics have always said the gentleman lacked clarity of thoughts in his screenplay, and political stance, later on. But that’s for a different article. Staying true to his age and image that he has created for almost 6 decades now, KH has sprung a surprise in Vikram, where he plays a disheartened father who loses his son to the drug mafia – just that his son was not an addict, rather a cop who uncovered the mafia and stashed their prized catch.  The film opens with a drunk+sober Karnan (KH) who seem to

A Perfect Pairing – Movie Review

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There’s nothing called the perfect match in the world – a couple in love, a geek and his device, a musician and his composition, a spin bowler and his catch and so on. But something that really pairs very well – being a foodie, I can bet you – is Wine with it’s right combo (of foods). A Perfect Pairing is not exactly a documentary on Wine tasting & pairing, rather a breezy movie about a fairly imperfect couple who eventually end up a great pair. Fairly cinematic stuff, unrealistic in life at most time. Hell yea, it’s a feel good movie after all. Lola Alvarez (Victoria Justice) is a Sales Manager at one of the top Wine Import firms in the US and is getting ready for a promotion as a Sales Director soon. After her recent divorce, she wants to take a break before another hook-up. Celebrity Chef Hamish (Nicholas Brown) loves her knowledge of wines and gets her win a big contract for her firm and she’s about to present her newest idea to her Boss Calder (Craig Horner) in the Team Meetin

Valimai – Movie Review

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A social message, power packed performance by the protagonist, a small, yet effective cast of actors and no boring, disconnected songs for the heck of it – that’s Vinod’s Valimai for you. His previous outing “Dheeran” feat. Karthi and 2019 Nerkonda Parvai with Ajith were somewhat similar too but with different plots. Ajith carries the entire strength of the movie on his shoulders and doesn’t disappoint. The movie begins in Cambodia (South America) and reels down for a few minutes to set a context about the film’s intentions – drugs, drag racing, small time crimes and a cover-up job – in that sequence and how disconnected they all are and go unnoticed until one fine day. Bankrolled by Boney Kapoor, the film released worldwide on 24 Feb. 2022 with a record number of screens.  Arjun Kumar (Ajith) is a cop in Madurai and dances for the opening song which revolves around a world famous temple event – the Azhagar Utsavam. That the actor is a staunch follower of Lord Ganesha and Lord Vishnu i

The Assistant - Movie Review

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  Much has been spoken, tweeted and written about #MeToo in real life. There have been some convictions, some remorse and mostly inaction in real life cases. Here’s a film that showcases the life of an office assistant who is not just subject to harassment but even embarrassed when she tries to protect her female colleague.  The film begins with Jane (Julia Garner) starting her work day in the wee hours and heads to her office set in Lower Manhattan, New York city. She’s the first one to get in to the office and manages all the administrative tasks almost alone at the office. The company, a film production house has a number of employees walking up the alley, to the pantry, in the elevator and so on but no one hardly acknowledges her presence or her contribution to the workplace. The first scene show how Jane carefully assembles the coffee mugs, washing the plates, cups and so on, takes photo copies of work files, sends emails, fixes schedules for her bosses and even interacts with the

The Guilty

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It’s quite often in life that we blame someone around us for something. Mostly, these are opinions and are usually not fuelled with facts and analysis. Much later, we realise that whom we felt was “guilty” of something perhaps was not. We do not remorse at the moment, nor do we proclaim loudly in public or on social media that we were wrong - I am being generic and generous here about human behaviour.  The Netflix movie “Guilty” is all about this human behaviour. As the movie ends, there could be a sense of introspection to some of us. Again, it’s mostly personal, I would say.  Joe Baylor (Jake Gylenhall) works at the call centre of #911, America’s police helpline, more as a punishment transfer for a homicide case that he has been involved in. He received a few calls, during the shift, one where a guy has been robbed by a prostitute and refuses to come out of the car to check the number plate of the car - he is terrified by the fact that such a thing happened in America (sic). He gets

Netrikann – Movie Review

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Lady Superstar Nayanthara has played a few unique characters in her career spanning 18+ years. In one of her earliest movies with Superstar Rajinikanth, her character was named “Durga” and she takes the same name in her most recent outing “Netrikann” in which she plays the role of a visually challenged person. In her earlier movie “Naanum Rowdydaan” pairing with Vijay Sethupathy, she appeared in a role who cannot hear anything. With this role, she has touched the emotions of millions of her fans with a fantastic portrayal, something very close to how a real person who cannot see the world would. Very few actors / actresses have played such a role so well, notable among them being Kamal Hassan in “Rajaparvai” and Rani Mukherjee alongside Amitabh Bachchan in the movie “Black”. Quite frankly, it is extremely difficult to “act” as though one cannot see.  Nayan has done justice to this role and has stepped up expectations on her, making the audience feel worthy of her title “Lady Superstar”