Hello hello! Thank you for taking an interest in my work. In this page, you’ll see everything I’ve ever written. That might be a handful, so tread carefully. 🙂
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‘K13’ Movie Review: This Thriller Shows Promise But Lets Down Its Viewers
‘K13’ Movie Review: This Thriller Shows Promise But Lets Down Its Viewers The Arulnithi-Shraddha Srinath starrer comes across as a vacuous idea that desperately wants to seem like a deep thought. K-13, Barath Neelakantan’s film starring Arulnithi and Shraddha Srinath, wants to be a writer’s soliloquy. Mathiyazhagan, the character played by Arulnithi, is an aspiring…
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Serial Chiller: Web series Auto Shankar, although engaging in parts, ultimately disappoints
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‘Mehandi Circus’ Review: A Grandpa’s Tale That Leaves You Wanting More
The Ilaiyaraaja nostalgia and Shweta Tripathi’s acting are the highlights of this choppy tale of love and loss. Mehandi Circus opens with an animated folktale about a princess, her prince charming and some knives, perhaps hinting that this film would be a modern day reinterpretation of this tragic story. When we get to present day,…
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‘Super Deluxe’ Review: This Delightfully Layered Movie Is A Treat For All Your Senses
Samantha, Fahadh Faasil and Ashwanth shine in Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s colourful, intelligent film. If a spaceship landed some place in Tamil Nadu and aliens wandered into a theatre playing Super Deluxe, they would get a pretty accurate image of what passes for humanity in this part of the world these days. Thiagarajan Kumararaja, one of the…
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‘Airaa’ Review: Even Twice The Nayanthara Isn’t Enough To Save This Film
As a writer, my worst nightmare is the lede. How does one start writing something instantly hooking the reader into my world? I’ve not figured this out yet, but screenwriters these days seem to like the prologue-approach very much, especially when it’s a thriller/horror genre film. Airaa begins on a rainy night in a faraway…
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‘Ispade Rajavum Idhaya Raniyum’ Wants Us To Empathise With A Toxic, Violent Man
Ranjit Jeyakodi’s film is perfectly in line with recent ‘toxic male’ films like ‘Arjun Reddy’, ‘Kaatru Veliyidai’ and ‘Taramani’. There is a scene in Ispade Rajavum Idhaya Raniyum (IRIR) where Gautham (Harish Kalyan), an angry, violent man, helps Tara (Shilpa Manjunath), a kind solemn woman, escape a scene of violence. He asks her, “eppo paathaalum…
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Ms. En Scene: The Occupational Hazards Of A ‘Film Writer’
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’90ML’ Review: This Is A Film I’m Glad Exists, But I Wouldn’t Recommend Anyone To Watch It
“Ambalainga panra ellaa ketta vishayathayum panradhillai penniyam” (Doing all bad things that men do is not feminism), they say. 90ML argues that, this is, in fact, feminism, if that’s what women want! At the outset, I must tell you that 90ML is a terrible film. In fact, it’s hardly a film: It’s a inebriated vomit…
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Serial Chiller: I watched mega-serials every day for two months; why I plan to continue
This is the edition edition of my monthly column on Tamil television for Firstpost. First published here. What if the Bahubali franchise was made for, with and by women? Benevolent and just warrior queen Amarendrika would have been the hero. She would be so pious and devoted that Lord Shiva himself would protect her and…
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‘LKG’ Review: Kindergarten-Level Primer On Tamil Nadu Politics, Society, Cinema, And Youth
Is it satire? Is it serious? Or is it RJ Balaji’s stepping stone into politics? Nobody knows, not even the filmmakers, it would appear. LKG is the story of Lalgudi Karuppaiyya Gandhi, a small town politician with big political ambitions. Set in post-Jayalalithaa Tamilnadu, LKG traces the journey of a shrewd ward-councillor towards becoming the…
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‘Oru Adaar Love’ Review: Misogyny in slow motion
Do you remember the viral song from Oru Adaar Love where Priya Prakash Varrier and Roshan Abdul Rahoof make eyes at each other in slow motion? Now, imagine nearly two and half hours of that. That is this film. Roshan and Priya first meet on her first day at school. He bullies her. She is…
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Ms En Scene: Dei Telugu Cinema, Where Were You Hiding Your Gentle Lovers All This While, Ra?
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‘Sarvam Thaala Mayam’ Review: An almost-but-not-yet film that relies on the largesse of upper caste hearts to bring about social change.
Sarvam Thaala Mayam is less a story of hope against all odds than it is one of faith in the innate goodness of people, democracy of capitalism and paramountcy of talent. There is a scene in the film where Peter Johnson (GV Prakash Kumar) goes to Vembu Iyer’s (Nedumudi Venu) house wishing to join his…
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Blog | Soni: The powerful telling of a simple, ordinary, commonplace slice of women’s lives
For me, the worst thing about watching a film on television is the distraction. A pile of laundry starts moaning for attention. Tea leaves in the bottle jump up and down crying out to be boiled. The Amazon delivery agent keeps calling to deliver groceries I’m too lazy to go to the store for. Not…
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‘Simba’ Review: A Wannabe Stoner Film That Is Your Regular, Misogynistic Sausage Fest
Simba isn’t hinged on a story, but relies on stoner tropes, mind-voice, gimmicks and monologues to keep going. In the Tamil film Simba, the character Mahesh (played by Bharath) is a loner and a stoner. He imagines his neighbour’s dog Simba as human. Mahesh’s hallucinated anthropomorphic form of Simba is played by Premji. One day,…
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Ms En Scene: The Road To Tamil Cinema Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions
So, Aaruthra is also full of good intentions. Pa Vijay intends to make an awareness campaign for child sexual abuse — “Like how Strawberry (his previous film) imparted a huge relevant message, Aaruthrawill also have one for the society,” he told the Deccan Chronicle. From the way he treats the film, it’s easy to understand that for Pa Vijay, Aaruthra isn’t an ordinary…
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‘Viswasam’ Review: Nayanthara Should Be The Hero Of This Ajith-Starrer
Viswasam: An inadvertently thoughtful film Star vehicles in Tamil aren’t just films. They are complex potpourri of elements with economic, political, social and cultural (mis)guidances of their own. This Pongal’s two releases can explain. Karthik Subbaraj’s Petta (hood) was pitched as a “tribute” to Rajinikanth, which the film stays true to. Siva’s Ajith-starrer Viswasam (loyalty)…
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‘Petta’ Review: Except Rajinikanth, The Film Has Nothing Going For It
Dek: It’s an ode to Rajinikanth’s superstardom, but has a flimsy storyline, or space for other actors. Five minutes into Petta, a friend who was watching the movie with me asked, “How many references to his other films did you catch so far?” I shushed him, hoping Petta would soon find its feet and stand…