I write reviews, profiles, essays, interviews, yearly round-ups and the like. You may have seen my work on Film Companion, Firstpost, Huffington Post, News9, Scroll, The Hindu Thread and Indian Express. If you’ve read my work at PopMatters or The South Asianist Journal, well, you must be a fan, <3
Dhoni is the latest addition to the fit of ridiculous Tamil movies that have been made about the game of cricket. The name of the film is ‘Dhoni – not out’, if you haven’t judged it already, read on. 0 or 1 This begins as the story of a young boy who wants to be…
After a 23 minute long emotional blackmail of my digital agency on the phone, I sat on my bike and embarked on a journey home. The cold breeze blowing through my hair put me at ease after a hectic day. I rode a few metres humming sara sara saarakaathu floating in tranquillity and contentment. ‘Hoi’…
Over the last couple of years, I’ve lost more things that I’ve gained. Here is a list of all my losses and the conspiracy theories around them. Last week I sent out an SMS with the wrong text on behalf of my employer to a huge database. An SMS is all of 160 characters. What…
At the end of just another day at work, she packed her bag and left for home. She had about 20 minutes before the bus would arrive but she preferred to get to the bus stop much earlier than tad later. She walked briskly, taking small but quick steps. A lot of her friends teased…
Anjana is a welcome addition to the small queue of women directors in Tamil cinema. While most female filmmakers – TP Rajalakshmi, Bhanumathi, Suhasini, Revathy and more recently Nandini mainly stuck to homely themes, strong women characters, everyday issues and their logical end, Anjana has taken a subject that has predominantly been a male director’s…
With Kolaveri still doing the rounds, there is one thing about Dhanush that caught my attention last year. He has mastered a unique style of dance for himself and does that in every single hit song. Samples below. See his performance at 0:59 seconds. This is Mayakkam Enna. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7V-4o7j-F0&w=560&h=315] Watch this one from 0:29…
This is one of those films that I have been waiting a long time to watch. It was not released in Bangalore and I had to watch on a thiruttu VCD. Giving credit to the lack of clear sound, a big screen, darkness, popcorn and suspension of disbelief, please read this review for what it’s…
Mayakkam Enna is the story of a young man trying to make it big in a profession he claims to love. It is the story of an ordinary man, facing ordinary problems, living an ordinary life in the end to achieve extra ordinary things. In one line, it is good. The story begins with Karthik…
A few days ago, I watched Francis Veber’s ‘The dinner game’. On liking the film, I decided to watch the next one – The Valet! The Valet is a farcical comedy in the life of a parking valet. A man who drives many fancy cars but can own none, who is in love with a…
We should have known from all the promotional activity of the film that is going to be some sort of rhetorical hogwash trying to ride on the legacy of some strange fact in history. It is the story of the (scientifically constructed) revival of a 16th century warrior/ saint/ medical practitioner (5th- 6th century AD…
For people who studied cinema in any form (academically, that is) Abbas Kiarostami is like the Satyajit Ray of Iran. Legendary, known as the messiah of Iranian cinema across the globe and immensely rebellious within Iran, Kiarostami is a topic of study. I’ve read a bit about Kiarostami in college but the only film of…
It is a Venkat Prabhu film with Ajith and Premgi in it called Mankatha! Obviously, I wasn’t expecting to see a meaningful film that would be a path breaking initiative in overriding Tamil stereotypes. Even as a fun-film that one should watch without exercising their brain cells, this film is trashy! Mankatha begins with a…
Every morning I am woken up by the double beep horn of my neighbour’s daughter’s school van. About quarter past seven every morning, there is an old Omni that screeches to a halt in front of my house in North Bangalore and the driver hits the horn twice for a second each. My neighbour’s daughter,…
Published by City Buzz dated 12 Aug 2011 The Hindu Metroplus Theatre Fest 2011 brought on stage ‘chasing my Mamet duck’ by the Chennai based Evam on Saturday. Before the show began, we were sufficiently warned that this wasn’t a ‘play’; it was indeed an experience for all the participants (including the viewers). The pathway…
Right! After getting the ‘print’ version for City Buzz out of the way, this is the blog version about Evam’s ‘chasing my Mamet duck’! This show is utter yeay-ness! It begins with interesting walk through Zone A – Four golden bags with balls of different textures, a gift box where you can take what you…
Dir: Akarsh Khurana Last week, I had a chance to watch Special Bond 2 on stage – a collection of Ruskin Bond’s short stories rather well enacted in stage. The adventures of three children in the hills of Dehradun were definitely a delight to watch. The play is technically not strong at all. The lighting…
One of the rarest stories from Indian mythology unfolded itself in an exquisite performance by Kapila Venu at the Ranga Shankara on Saturday. Kapila brought to Ranga Shankara the 2000-year-old theatre form practiced by a mere 50 people in the country today. Kutiyattam, the peculiar theatrical rendition of Sanskrit text presented with a distinct local…
A few days ago, I was invited to review one of Evam’s new plays. This blogpost is perhaps the result of one of my bad decisions. The play I watched was the product of a workshop that Evam conducted for theatre enthusiasts. Before I get to the play itself, here is a quick recap of…