Category: Firstpost

Amy Jackson, playing Nila — Nice Intelligent Lovely Assistant — in Rajnikanth’s latest 2.0 (2018), says, “vada poche” to great comic effect. It is a joke that only makes sense if you know the reference to a Vadivelu comedy from another film. Nila is perhaps the first robot to indulge in someContinue readingMaking the audience do the homework

Beginning, as it does, with a section titled ‘Dramatic Personae’, AR Venkatachalapathy’s new non-fiction book Who Owns that Song? The Battle for Subramania Bharati’s Copyright left me with one overwhelming thought: This would make for an entertaining period film. My review of AR Venkatachalapathy’s book for the Firstpost.

“Do you know for people like us, who are freelancers not working in an organisation, there is supposed to be a local sexual harassment complaints committee that the district collector must set up?” Vaishnavi Sundar asks, then states emphatically: “There is no such thing. Nowhere in India. The collector hasContinue readingBut What Was She Wearing, India’s first feature-length documentary on workplace harassment, faces funding crunch

As a friend and I sat together watching Stephen Colbert on YouTube, I couldn’t resist sulking over what seemed like a gaping hole in our film and television landscape that holds authority to account. “We can’t do this in Tamil, no channel will buy it, no writer will be spared,” myContinue readingTamil web content is venturing forth boldly where cinema and TV fear to tread

Arul is hunched over a smoking gun, in a railway station, after having just murdered his friend Michael. A brutally tortured prisoner of war, VC, in his 8×5 solitary cell, stares into space. A physically hurt Prabhunath watches a policeman point a gun to his wife’s head, as she pullsContinue readingWhat Taramani, Kaatru Veliyidai, Iraivi tell us about abusive men, and the women in their lives

“As long as our films are male-centric, we’ll be producing only male stars. What happens to our female stars then?” asks Karthik Keramalu in his article for the Firstpost. He argues that the stardom of a female star is short-lived, often limited by age. If they take a break in theirContinue readingManju Warrier, Nayanthara, Jyothika: Female stars are marching to a different, but no less successful, beat