Paramapadham Vilayattu’s plot and the politics is excruciatingly stale, making it barely watchable.
Continue readingCategory: Firstpost
Karnan movie review: Dhanush, Mari Selvaraj deliver an audacious film about a community’s fight for dignity
Mari Selvaraj takes a giant leap with Karnan, arguably more gut-wrenching and bold in its messaging than Pariyerum Perumal.
Continue readingMandela movie review: Madonne Ashwin’s film is a balcony view of the darkly amusing times we live in
Against the backdrop of the upcoming assembly elections, Mandela is a film that will remind us of our priorities. It will encourage us to think about our rights as people and our power when we’re together.
Continue readingAnbirkiniyal movie review: Keerthy Pandian shines in this chilling, satisfying film featuring vignettes of urban life
Anbirkiniyal is a delightful story of a survivor, one which offers hope that with a little effort, all can be good in the world.
Continue readingSulthan movie review: Karthi’s film suffers from confused messaging with a dash of masala
Without a strong moral core, Sulthan neither evokes empathy nor inspires respect for what the film’s protagonist stands for.
Continue readingTeddy movie review: Novel premise aside, director Shakti Soundar Rajan’s film has little going for it
For a thriller, it offers no real thrills. For a comedy, the jokes don’t land. For a fantasy film, it is unimaginative. Overall, it’s barely watchable.
Continue readingNenjam Marappathillai movie review: Selvaraghavan’s sexual harassment film addresses everything else but
Nenjam Marappadhillai is a shallow, convenient sort of film, that can only excite those who are already entranced by the Selvaraghavan universe. For the rest of us, it is an exhausting mess.
Continue readingChakra movie review: Vishal, Shraddha Srinath’s thriller is a predictable hodgepodge
Chakra is supposed to be the protagonist’s search for his father’s stolen Ashoka Chakra, but it ends up being the audience’s search for a single moment of cleverness or skill
Continue readingKutty Story movie review: Vijay Sethupathi, Gautham Menon’s film is an engaging take on love, relationships
Within the constraints of an urban, middle class, heterosexual romance, Kutty Story is an interesting mix of shorts
Continue readingLive Telecast review: Disney+ Hotstar horror series is all Kajal Aggarwal’s plastic act, Venkat Prabhu’s stale humour
From workplace sexual harassment to the voyeurism of the TV viewing public, Live Telecast’s handling of important issues exposes its absolute lack of critical thought.
Continue readingEeswaran movie review: Silambarasan is earnest in an otherwise middling family drama
Director Suseenthiran doesn’t know where to take the film once he’s established the characters.
Continue readingBhoomi movie review: Jayam Ravi’s film is a potpourri of ill-researched ideas punctuated with loud screams
Bhoomi doesn’t give you a moment to breathe or even feel what just hit you.
Continue readingMaster movie review: Lokesh Kanagaraj’s direction fades in this moderately entertaining Vijay film
Master is unfortunately the kind of film that concerns itself with too many things but can hardly focus on any of it beyond adorning the hero, Vijay.
Continue readingMaara movie review: R Madhavan’s film demands patience of a hopeless romantic to invest in the story
If you aren’t instinctively drawn to the mystical world creates, R Madhavan’s Maara is a drag
Continue readingOru Pakka Kadhai movie review: Balaji Tharaneetharan offers one of the sharpest critiques of modern Tamil society
The biggest success of Oru Pakka Kathai is the adamant normalcy with which it treats everything.
Continue readingPaava Kadhaigal movie review: Netflix Tamil anthology deftly explores why the regular is right and the different is sinful
Paava Kadhaigal is a call to reject the family that rejects equality.
Continue readingTriples review: All of Tamil cinema can’t save this bummer of a web series
The biggest shame with Triples is that it had potential. A sharper commentary on the world and a cleverer dialogue writer could have made Triples an absolute delight of a show.
Continue readingAndhagaaram movie review: An interesting thriller that is bogged down by tiresome self-actualisation
Soon enough, Andhagaaram gets tiresome. The details unravel painfully slowly, and in excruciating little bursts.
Continue readingMookuthi Amman movie review: Trite and meandering film that wastes its biggest boon in Urvashi
The best thing about Mookuthi Amman is the delicate understanding with which RJ Balaji writes a suffering family. The worst thing about Mookuthi Amman is that everything else is more like trite sketch comedy than a meaningful take on society that’s desperate enough to be voluntarily conned
Continue readingSoorarai Pottru movie review: Sudha Kongara, Suriya tell a moving, poetic biopic without deifying the leading man
I rooted for Suriya’s character Maaran when he took flight. But also for director Sudha Kongara as she solidified her position as a rare female filmmaker to narrate a solid mainstream Tamil film.
Continue readingAs Laxmii releases, revisiting Raghava Lawrence’s Kanchana franchise and how well it represents the marginalised
Raghava Lawrence’s franchise is successful because he normalises vulnerability. While we can debate if the representation is truly positive or a crude caricature, one would find it difficult to argue that he has any malice or is misguided.
Continue readingPutham Pudhu Kaalai movie review: A relatable, yet restrictive, collection of stories of hope in the coronavirus era
The five films in Amazon Prime Video India’s maiden Tamil anthology are not all equal, but they are different and thoughtful in interesting ways.
Continue readingVarmaa movie review: The insipid ghost of Arjun Reddy
Arjun Reddy made me angry. Varmaa is insipid because it is a half-hearted copy-paste of the original.
Continue readingKa Pae Ranasingam movie review: Aishwarya Rajesh, Vijay Sethupathi’s film is incisive commentary on state apathy
Ka Pae Ranasingam reminds us that resistance is an exhausting endeavour; they will not kill you, they will simply wear you down.
Continue readingTime Enna Boss: Tamil web series experiments with different forms, but fails to evoke a chuckle
It appears that the makers of the web series want to stay within their comfort zones, recycling gags and making inside jokes.
Continue readingPenguin movie review: Keerthy Suresh shoulders thrilling, though unconvincing, search for a lost child
Penguin draws a clear line — this is a story about a mother. Rhythm is only that. For her, and for the film, that is enough.
Continue readingPonmagal Vandhal movie review: Jyotika doesn’t punch hard but sincerely delivers clarion call to believe women’s stories
In a sense, Ponmagal Vandhal fits perfectly into Jyotika’s pursuit: Every film is a milestone in her single-minded journey of women’s empowerment.
Continue readingSerial Chiller: Kannamoochi Review — An indifferent web series where the horror isn’t scary and the thriller has no mystery
In five episodes of about 25 minutes each, Kannamoochi is harried. The game of hide-and-seek as a thematic undercurrent is flimsy. Overall, it ends up being an indifferent effort devoted neither to the craft or the cause.
Continue reading