Cinema, Karam, Kapi

A war which is unending, sabotage by those whom one trusts, enemies within and to top it all, a biological war in the making by spreading a man-made virus stored in a vial – I am not referring to the ongoing Ukraine crisis coupled with the Covid-19 led lockdown which is celebrating (sic) its 2 nd   anniversary today in India. Operation Black Crab is a movie set somewhere in Scandinavia where a fighter reaches her destination for just one reason – Hope!   We have seen war movies and many of them. From classics like Ben Hur to the current times’ Outside the Wire, 2 Guns and so on, there has been enough and more where soldiers and fighters use various weapons, fly across regions and use sophisticated guns and revolvers among others. But Operation Black Crab is different. The soldiers use skateboards. Legends! Caroline Edh (Noomi Rapace) skates all the way across an archipelago to deliver a courier to the “base” on the other side which would perhaps end the war. Or so she thinks. The singl

Maaran is the third consecutive OTT release for actor Dhanush after Jagame Thanthiram  and Atrangi Re. This time on Disney+Hotstar.  Sathyamurthy (Ramki) is a news reporter who is into investigative journalism. On the day his wife delivers their second child, a girl baby, Sathya is killed by his detractors while his wife deceases upon delivery. Mathimaaran brings up his sister Shweta (Smruthi Venkat) along with his uncle (Aadukalam Naren). Maaran changes job often due to his straightforward way of writing and eventually lands up  with a News channel (owned by Jayaprakash) where he gets to show his professional work and grows up the ranks while also gaining social popularity. Thara (Malavika Mohanan) is his colleague and the two build a mutual liking for each other. Pazhani (Samuthrakani) is a former Minister who is trying to get re-elected in the upcoming by-election. However, as he is unsure about his victory, he indulges in tampering with the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). In Maar

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

Who is a better actor – Vikram or Dhruv Vikram? While the question itself is silly, the film makes me wonder. Perhaps, it's all in the genes. Dhruv shines as much as his father in this crime drama and proves to be the most promising among the star kids who have hit the silver screens in the past decade. While no comparisons with others, he certainly stands out after an impressive performance in Aditya Verma. Mahaan, Gandhi Mahaan (Vikram) is a school teacher with a small family and lives a typical 80s and 90s life in Tamil Nadu. As a child, he was skinned by his father Mohandoss (Adukalam Naren) for playing cards with friends. As a staunch Gandhian himself, the namesake’s father takes an oath from his son beating him black and blue that he will lead the live of Mahatma Gandhi as a Mahaan. Years later, he is settled with his wife Nachi (Simran) and son Dadabhai Naoriji (Dhruv) and lives a typical middle class mundane life running errands and as a doting husband cum father. When his

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 Christmas season and here is a film which revolves around the most celebrated festival in the world. And yeah, there is strong connect with the current Gen’s obsession to online dating and believing what they don’t see is also true. Getting “catfished” is often heard from the kids of the new millennium but this film takes it to an all new high. Finally, the movie makes us realise that we really like a person not because how they look or who they are – socially or physically, rather how they are and their true qualities and personal nature.  True love after all is hard. And “Love Hard” is a testimony to it. Natalie Bauer (Nina Dobrev) writes articles for a dating column for a publication in Los Angeles about her disastrous outings week after week. Her boss Lee (Matty Finochio) loves her escapades as they get great views and the audience is excited to read more and more of these. One day, she finds the profile of Josh Lin (Jimmy O. Yang) and they start chatting up. She’s intrigued b

There are days when we just want to spend the day lazing around doing nothing. We pick up chores which are worthless, useless and a complete time pass. At the end of the day, we regret how we lost a precious day in our lives. At times, we feel happy that we ended up the day doing nothing and smile at ourselves. BaB2 is such a regretful day in one’s life, just that the makers spent a fortune (or perhaps not) making such a film, after all. The first edition feat. Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukherji and Abhishek Bachchan was a cult film, in a sense that it was a combination of a mild thriller, a comedy and ending up as a drama. But the sequel neither of these and is a long bore at best.   BaB2 opens up with a bunch of rich Dilli businessmen ganging up with alcohol glasses on their hands in a pool side villa with young girls in scantily dressed clothes. The event organisers Sonia Rawat Kunal Singh lure the men to a private destination that is known by the name “Virgin Islands” where, well as o