Cinema, Karam, Kapi

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

Jurassic Park released in 1993 and I remember watching in awe how a digitally mastered Dinosaur fought humans in the epic film when I saw it at one of the biggest screens in the erstwhile Madras at Devi Theatre Complex, Mount Road. Much was spoken about how the film was conceptualized and produced. For reasons unknown to me, I skipped The Lost World as well as the other sequels which released in later years. I decided to make do with it and therefore tuned in the films one after the other on our Smart Tv at home. The film is hosted on the Hungama App and I was asked to subscribe to watch the film. The cost of an annual subscription was Rs. 1,299 for which I get to watch – to begin with all three releases and thereafter, an unlimited dose of films hosted on the platform. The cost was almost the same as a movie outing for four of us or perhaps a Continental Meal at our favorite restaurant in town. We went ahead and watched the films on our 42” Tv and I was again in awe of the concept.

After donning roles of a Petty Thief, a Police cop, a Teacher, a Radio Jockey and a happy go lucky homemaker, Jyothika Surya stars as a Lawyer in her most recent outing Ponmagal Vandhal and also has a brief dual role of sorts. Directed by debutant JJ Fredrick and produced by Surya’s 2D Entertainment (as he always does for his beloved), PV is essentially not a Court Drama as one would see in the film’s trailer.   Kamal Hassan’s Mahanadhi was a critically acclaimed film in 1994 when it released which was about child sex-abuse, a topic that was not so popularly discussed in public domain then. But due to 100s of cases which have occurred in India over the years and now that this has become a Living room banter across SEC households, the topic gets mainstream visibility and the Crew have chosen a much appreciable subject that could win hearts.  PV is an emotional drama about Child Rape cases and the ordeals one goes through growing up as a victim. The protagonist argues how t

Two weeks back, we were watching Dharma Durai at home feat.  Superstar Rajinikanth on Raj Tv, a regional Satellite Tv channel that has remained in ”existence” for over 2 decades as a GEC. No matter which channel has innovated or grown, this one remains loyal to its user base telecasting movies of yore from the 70s, 80s and sparingly from the 90s. When Thalaivar appears in the first scene (in a negative film mode, a novel attempt by Director Rajashekar those days and repeated later by Director Suresh Krishna in Baasha!) and fights off the rowdies, I was howling, clapping and all excited in front of the TV screen much to the surprise of my kids – perhaps with almost the same enthusiasm I had when I watched First Day First Show at National Theatre, Tambaram ( a suburb of Chennai) on 14 Jan. 1991.  I was, with all glee sharing the events of that day with my  family when I witnessed lathi charge for the first time as Police was regulating the frenzied “rasigans” outside the theatre wh

The distance from Koramangala to RT Nagar in Bangalore is around 14 Kms over 25 mins at that time of the day, rather night. But the bike ride felt eternal. My skin under the full sleeves’ shirt was shivering like never before. My closest experience to something similar was during the early 1980s when I watched “My Dear Kuttichathan” at Devi Theatre in Chennai. Be it a graphically shot snake coming out of a chandelier or the evil-filled Raja Vettaiyan walking with his sticks screaming “Laka Laka Laka” or the Rajapalayam Dogs barking fiercely and of course the extraordinary eye movements of the ecstatic Chandramukhi showing off her jewels, the entire movie was a bit on the edge when I watched it for the first time on this day, 15 years back. I feel the same every time I watch this film till now – around 50+ times during the past 180 months. The scary ride was because I was returning back from PVR at Forum Mall after watching First Day Night Show and Bangalore’s lonely roads were infamous

It was a yet another Monday for millions across the world. 23 rd  March 2020. But for some of us, it was a special day ahead. A day, Rajini Fans worldwide had marked in their Calendars as an important one. A few lucky of us would watch the Premier twice, others once. As I always wake up in the wee hours and prepare for a 4am “darshan” of Thalaivar at Kasi Theatre or Rohini Silverscreen at Chennai for an FDFS – First Day, First Show, I was all excited from the previous evening onwards. Just that I would be watching it all alone on my iPad in the confines of my favourite  chair at home, without the usual brouhaha outside and inside the theatre, save for the whistling, thumping and howling that I would anyway do all by myself. I would after all get to see “Thalaivar” in action with the wilderness on a small screen. The Discovery Plus App premiered at 6am and the Television premiered at 8pm. I was lucky to see both, one alone and the evening session with the family alongside Dinner.   It w

Among the most awaited movies of 2020 was Vaanam Kottatum. In a typical Mani Ratnam style movie (story & script is by him, btw) with a star cast that’s been resplendent over the past few years in his movie, Director Dhana sends home a message of, duh. Actually nothing.   VK is a family drama, a non-gripping father-son story that also involves the lives of those around. As is the case of many of the ace Director’s films, the story is loose with many open ends and makes the viewer wonder why certain characters even appeared. Like MJ. Sriram who’s only purpose was to offer a drink to a stranger who ends up at his home while there’s an IT Raid going on (we don’t know what business he ran and why they were there) at his scenic ECR-styled bungalow. I sincerely hoped this movie to be a head turner for Vikram Prabhu and Shanthnu Bhagyaraj, a sort of coup with kids of two yesteryear heroes coming together. But that wasn’t the case to be, finally. Shanthnu barely gets to share screen spacer