Cinema, Karam, Kapi

After Drishyam 1 & 2, Director Jeethu Joseph is back with yet another mystery drama. Kooman doesn’t disappoint the skills of the much talented Jeethu. And actors from Malayalam cinema have a certain emotive expression which not only makes them stand apart and special but also makes the entire movie quite gripping. Kooman is one such. Kooman means Owl in Malayalam. There are a spate of suicide deaths in Nerpara, a border town between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Giri Shankar (Asif Ali), a police constable and a local is well-versed in finding clues and cracking cases, which often wins him acclaim from the community. However, he gets in to minor fracas with his new boss, Sub-Inspector Harilal (Baburaj) after the previous one retires. To avenge his anger, Giri gets into an act of frivolously stealing from the houses of locals. As the cases grow, the locals are agitated that the new SI is unable to find the thief. Giri continues with his “outings in the night” but to his bad luck, gets caugh

There is nothing bigger than a remorse when one loses his/her child. In this fictitious account of one such man, we see emotions flying from a loving dad in memory of his son.   Mason Hargreaves (Jason Statham) is a crime warlord with his group of colleagues Mike (Darrell D’Silva), Brendan (Cameroon Jack) and Moggy (Babs Olusanmokun). While overseeing one such heist of a Cash Truck, his son Dougie (Eli Brown) is shot down by the masked perpetrators. He is also shot down to death, though he recovers from the wound. He joins the Cash pick-up firm Fortico through the influence of team leader Terry Rossi (Eddie Marsan). Though he barely passes the required tests to join the fleet, he somehow scrapes through the marks. His colleagues Dave Hancock (Josh Hartnet) and Dana Curtis (Niamh Algar) are suspicious of his motives but none are able to find out anything about his past. The company’s trainer Haiden Bullet Blaire (Holt McCallany) names the new joinee as H and is part of the crew to pick

What intrigued me to watch this movie was the online on Netflix which mentions about a “shopping mall”. My love for retail… duh. Intrigued to watch a movie about shopping and retail, decided to watch and boy, I wasn’t disappointed. I have been seen eerie Malls right from 2004 onwards when I joined Bangalore Central Mall. On the first night of opening, the CEO summoned all of us and said - “ We have a problem. The main door is not locking and we need 2-3 people to guard it .” A senior Sardar colleague, Mr. Rekhi raised his hand first. I was the second. We both sat outside the Mall all night and saw the sunrise. And mind you, we were not armed and had no weapons either though there were a few professional security guards present outside the mall. But still, to sit and guard an unmanned Mall, well, been there, done that .  Security  is a film set and shot inside a shopping mall where a former veteran who has just joined as a security staff takes full control in a rescue operation. Leaders

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

Revenge is not worthwhile, they say. Well, it depends on the cause after all. Sometime, getting back at someone is not to get even but to gain peace. For some please, ignoring or shrugging off is the best solution while a few go to any length to get even, take revenge, at times risking what they have, wondering whether it was all worthwhile. Like the film’s protagonist Stephanie Patrick. To each, their own. Stephanie (Blake Lively) is a happy kind in a family of four with her sister and parents. Even as she reminisces the good old times she’s had, we hear a voice asking her to go to the front bedroom for a Client is waiting. With a “ drugged for several years-look ” and ready to strip to get laid as a prostitute in downtown London, Stephanie asks the client to first pay and borrows a Cigarette. Only that the “Client” is there to – well, talk to her. Rather, talk her out. Keith Proctor (Raza Jaffrey) is a freelance Investigative Journalist and tells her that her parents didn’t die in a

We cannot erase our past, but we can ensure we erase our future so it doesn’t erase our past. Yeah. Read again. And again. If you can get what I’m saying, well, then that’s Tent for you. Tenet was the first big budget outing that will be remembered for being released worldwide in theatres even as the Covid-19 pandemic shook the world all through 2020. Be glad that there is no direct or indirect connect to China. For Christopher Nolan is known to intertwine not just screenplay but also multiple geographies in his films.  In Tenet, he has stuck to just 7 countries (or geographies) including Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Norway, the UK and the US as well as amchi- Mumbai displaying a brave bungee jumping act among others in Mumbai in an Antillia-like structure. Later, they gatecrash a part of Oslo Airport with a Cargo Airliner with minimum destruction to the structure (ser, perhaps!).  Tenet is fantastically (and fanatically written and conceptualised) by Nolan, someone who has always belted m

unhinge   verb past tense:  unhinged ; past participle:  unhinged   make (someone) mentally unbalanced. "the loneliness had nearly unhinged her"      deprive of stability; throw into disorder. "a chain of events unhinges the structure of his family" Three things I learned early in my life to lead a better life – use PST liberally and without any hesitation or shame as the situation may be: Please, Sorry & Thank You. In many occasions, this has come in handy; in some it didn’t. After all, it requires a lot of grace to say these three words. And a lot more to accept them.   Unhinged   is all about one of these words. And how someone can bully another. Who bullied who? Later in this article. Rachel, very well played by Caren Pistorius, a single mother (in the making) is a distressed person due to various reasons and lives with her son Kyle (Gabriel Bateman who is in real only 14 years younger to her). While she’s rushing to drop her son to the school as she over-sl

As always, the excitement of watching a brand-new feature film; FDFS as we popularly say; the idea of watching it at the confines of my home, sipping my morning Filter coffee, seated on my favourite armchair and while doing early morning household chores – Welcome to the New World Order, thanks to Covid-19.  This is my third FDFS on an OTT - the first one being Man Vs. Wild . Penguin, feat. Keerthy Suresh who won critical acclaim and an Award from none other than the President of India for her 2018 outing “Mahanathi” – the official biopic of yesteryear actress Smt. Savithri has been quite a sensation in Tamil Nadu as well as Andhra before and after her National Award. She’s been lately unseen in public for over a year, thanks to her intense preparation for her role in “Miss India”, a trilingual in Hindi, Telugu & Tamil that could be released later this year. Her last Tamil outing Saamy2 with Vikram was a drub and was a flop at the BO. So, when the first look poster of “Pe

The much-awaited Surya-thriller “Kaappaan” released today, 20 th  Sep. 2019 after missing a previous date. The film has been making much noise over the past few weeks, what with Lyca creating a big buzz around the movie with Superstar Rajinikanth himself attending and launching the movie’s audio amid much fanfare. Surya’s past seven films have received critical feedback with the latest NGK being dubbed as his career’s worst flop. His previous outings TSK & Singam 3 received mixed responses and he is on the verge of being written off as a bankable star with a hit opening weekend – something he’s ferociously trying to defend. Kaappaan, for me is Aadhavan 2 which released exactly a decade back for Deepavali. In a similar role, Kathir plays an SPG Officer working in the PMO and shadowing the security of none other than the Prime Minister of India played ably by Mohanlal. Lalettan is sauve, displays formidable demeanour suitable for the character and is crisp in his dialogue d

I’ve always liked thriller films. And if it’s in Tamil (off late, there have been quite a few), then I give it a shot. And when it’s the second film as a Director for someone after receiving much acclaim for his previous thriller, even more. And if it’s featuring Actor Vikram, I would jump into. And that’s how I ended up watching Kadaram Kondaan today. The first 10 minutes set the film on a good note. And that’s quite important, for that’s where you hook the audience. And the entire film is edgy with slick editing and cinematography, what with yet another fantastic underrated performance by Vikram.   The film opens with a cute couple Aatirah and Vasu Rajagopalan (Akshata Hassan and Abi Hassan - Offsprings of Kamal Hassan and Nasser, respectively) get the scan done at a maternity hospital only to be overjoyed seeing the little one in the womb. The couple has just moved to KL, Malaysia and the dialogues represent they have had a love marriage which doesn’t have the blessing o

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