Cinema, Karam, Kapi

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 Vedha (with Mad

It’s a known thing to my friends and extended circuit of people that I am a huge fan of Superstar Rajinikanth for over 40 years now. What very few people know is that I am also a big fan of the “Actor Kamal Hassan” though I don’t subscribe to his personal views on various issues including Spirituality & Religion, Politics and Current Affairs. However, I have seen almost all of his movies over the past 30 years of which at least a dozen films, over a hundred times (Still lesser than my penchant for watching Thalaivar movies). I have adored Kamal for his forward thinking on various business affairs – be it behind the camera or in front of it, casting himself as a “Her” with much authenticity or himself as 10 avtars; doing stunts real time notwithstanding his age, build and risk involved. His onscreen histrionics in films like Nayagan, Hey! Ram, Mahanathi to name a few won him awards & accolades, critical acclaim as well as controversy – it’s a package after all. Today,

The first dialogue Superstar Rajinikanth utters in Petta is “Naan Veezhven enduru ninaithayo” after bludgeoning a few bad guys in his inimitable style. One cannot but remember the golden words of Neelambari “Vayasanalum un stylum azhagum  innum  pogale” - except that she actually said that 20 years back when Thalaivar was 49 years young. From this scene which is 4 minutes after the film reels on till the last scene - where Thalaivar ends with a pistol shot, its Superstar galore for over 150 minutes. Every fan who came out after watching the film has only one thing to say about Director Karthik Subburaj - “Only someone who has consumed Rajinikanth in every vein, muscle, blood and brain can create such a screenplay” - so true. KS has literally “Rajinified” the viewers with such a strong and gripping storyline which is a potpourri of Superstar’s antics for 40 years which most of his  ardent fans have enjoyed every bit and byte, literally . Kaali joins a convent in a hill sta

Releasing “Singles” ahead of the main album release has been prevalent in Tamil Cinema for over 4-5 years although I don’t recall which was the first movie which did this. So Music Director and Film Director of Petta Anirudh and Karthik Subburaj released the first single “Marana Mass” on 3rd December which opened to a thunderous response and garnered 1 million views on YouTube in just 4 hours.  This was followed by another number “Ullaallaa” which released on 6 Dec., a peppy number with a bit of reggae and rock. Finally, the full music album was released on 9 Dec. 2018 at a grand gathering which was well attended by the Cast & Crew of the film including Superstar Rajinikanth and Kalanidhi Maran of Sun Pictures. Subsequently, Sony Music released the entire album on YouTube the same day at 9pm and finally Amazon Music released it on 10 Dec. 2018 at 6pm. Marana Mass is a peppy tune sung by Anirudh and a short yet interesting part sung by SPB, perhaps as the voi

I have been a fan of Mani Ratnam movie for over 30 years, I must confess. This is not the first time Mani is handling a multi-starrer. Exactly 30 years back, his much acclaimed Agni Natchathiram released which had two young heroes Karthik & Prabhu in the lead with a fantastic role by Vijaya Kumar. In 1991, he pulled off Thalapathi featuring Superstar Rajinikanth & Mammooty. In 2004, we saw Ayutha Exhuthu with Surya, Madhavan and Siddharth in the leads. From controversial political overtones in films like Mumbai, Dil Se and Guru to extreme romance-led subjects like Alaipayuthe, Raavan, OKK and most recently Katru Veliyidai, he has tried his hands on every genre perhaps. Having produced most of his films by himself, he never had the need to worry about critical acclaim or Box-Office collections. Add to that, he has to his credit portraying young heroes in their early career as strong protagonists - Prashanth, Arvindawamy, Madhavan, Shah Rukh Khan all the way up to Dulqeer Salma