Cinema, Karam, Kapi

The much expected and hyped Kanguva feat. Actor Surya released on 14 Nov. amidst much fanfare. Will Kanguva be the saviour for the Tamil Box Office in 2024 is yet to be seen. The film will release in  Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and  over a dozen foreign languages worldwide.  Produced at an estimated budget of INR 300 – 350 Cr by Studio Green and Directed by Siva, known for his hatrick success with 3 back-to back films feat. Actor Ajith Kumar, this socio-fantasy drama is a thriller that doesn’t let down one’s expectations, neither is an edge-of-the-seat thriller that one wishes to see in Indian cinema. As the movie begins, a young boy escapes from a lab under mysterious circumstances and is being chased by the security guards. He boards a moving goods train.  The film begins in 2024 where Francis Theodore (Surya) and Angelina (Disha Patani), ex-lovers are bounty hunters helping the Goa Police to nab notorious criminals. The film opens with a beach party where everyone ...

Prof. Selvam was a big inspiration when I was still in school. In the climax of the film “Nammavar”, a title which Mr. Kamal Hassan’s supporters  have been liberally using for his political posters, advises the young ones that “Change” will take time, but one shouldn’t expect immediate results as the system has been corrupted for a long time. 25+ years later, Prof. John Durairaj also concludes in the film with a similar message. That we should keep trying for improvements and never stop becoming better – at things around us as well as ourselves. While everything was reasonably good with Vijay’s Master, the Kutti story that was intended was a tad too long – spanning almost 180 minutes.  Lokesh Kanagaraj, who’s “Kaithi” feat. Karthi had a great outing a year back has been on the news ever since his “Master” feat. not one but two Vijay namesakes was announced. Along with the veteran Vijay (Sr.), we also have Vijay Sethupathi who plays a negative role yet again after Vikram V...

Dev is a film about Meghna. Actually. There’s more “Meghna” in the film than Dev himself. Meghna is a young successful lady raised by a single mother. She doesn’t trust men due to her unsavoury childhood memories when her father deserted her. A classic case of rags to riches story, Meghna’s life is full of grit, determination and hard work for which she’s rewarded across the world while she runs a successful firm in the USA. That’s when she gets noticed by Dev, whose friends send her a Facebook request which she eventually doesn’t accept. After all, she has over 4,000 friend requests pending on her profile which she informs Dev when they meet for the first time. Dev impresses her over the course of time and they agree to live together all their life. For a frivolous reason, they get separated only to get back together on top of Mt. Everest, of all places. The film starts with Dev, a young man who’s fond of adventures trying to scale up the tallest peak on earth even as his is ...

With a toned body already in place after Kaatru Veliyidai, Karthi’s Theeran Adhigaram Ondru was in the making for a few months now, with interesting visuals of him as a Cop, his second after the infamous “Siruthai”. I was keen to see what was in store and ensured I watched the film on the first day in the evening. Boy, I wasn’t disappointed one bit. The film is apparently based on real life incidents and a big round of applause to Director H. Vinoth who is directing only his second after the hugely popular cult thriller “Saduranga Vettai”. For a second film, must say he has done a great job behind the camera. The film starts slow with a few romantic scenes set-up in the mid 90s. I was a tad disappointed that the Director has shown a Royal Enfield Electra in a scene depicted in 1999 when the model was not around. Also, the walls of a small village near Tanjore where the family scenes are shot show a poster of the Vijay-starrer “Shahjahan” which was actually released in 2001. I ...

Madras I There are two things that are making the news these days in the city, probably three. Madras, as the city has been known historically (and I choose to spell the city's name that way most often) is also the name of a recently released movie. Featuring Karthi, btoher of veteran actor Suriya, Karthi has been quite experimental with Tamil Cinema ever since his first release 5 years ago with Paruthi Veeran. He has played a village lad, unemployed Chennai youth, and many a time a happy go lucky guy. His box office records have been topsy turvy, where he has the most returns when least expected. Back to Madras, the film is shot in North Madras, which has been largely neglected in Kollywood for a long time. Except for a one-off gana song or a kuthu song, nothing has captured the imagination of this part of the city, which was also the original settlement along the sea shore. I have had the privilege of travelling to North Madras twice or more every week to work where my prev...