Ramnath

With more ideological discussions and debates, Vetrimaaran comes back with the sequel to his 2023 film Viduthalai. Vetrimaaran narrates this story with more and more information and sparks several other thoughts in the society with his unrelenting courage to convey his stories. Viduthalai 2 starts from where its first part had ended, and Kumaresan played by Soori is on a life-changing journey with Perumal Vaathiyar, played to perfection by Vijay Sethupathi. This time, Vetrimaaran focuses on scaling down Vaathiyar's story and his transformation from a teacher to a revolutionist.  While Viduthalai 1 was an underdog story about an honest constable, whose unwavering stand towards honesty gets him into the journey of capturing another person, amidst his obstacles, Viduthalai 2 is more towards the backstories of Vaathiyar and the film answers many of the questions left in its first part. The biggest success of Viduthalai 2 is how it meticulously narrates the lives of many re...

Sukumar has always been a director, who had managed to carve a niche for himself in Telugu commercial cinema by presenting flawed and vulnerable protagonists and complex screenplays. His ability to crack this within commercial boundaries catering to the star made him a special filmmaker. The left-out trope of his flawed protagonist was a 'rags to riches' anti-hero and that's Pushpa. Pushpa 2 starts from where its first part got over, from the ego clash between Pushparaj and Bhanwar Singh played by Allu Arjun and Fahadh Faasil respectively. Pushpa, albeit treading along a familiar path gave us one moment after another, that showed his street-smart nature with tricks up his sleeve for every obstacle. His journey of climbing the ladder up in the red sandalwood syndicate made for a nice commercial biggie and Pushpa did that. By now, Pushpa 2 revels in the magnanimous rise of Pushpa and his ego-tussle with this hot headed police officer, hell-bent on revenge for his ...

Imagine having a fascinatingly novel plot involving the Roman Empire attempting to create rifts amongst a five-clan community in a mountain, with each clan having unique characteristics, professions, costumes- yet a magnanimously mounted epic treads on a familiar tale of re-incarnation, ending up doing justice to none. That is Kanguva.  Expecting larger than life elements and huge spectacle treatment is certainly not a bad thing, but there are certain facets to it, demanding some sort of nuance. Kanguva seems to have misunderstood this aspect in its epic attempt and hammers these sensibilities to all possible corners. From all Siva films, it is safe to say that one doesn't arrive to his films, expecting subtle emotions and underplayed moments and it's not completely wrong. With Kanguva, Dir.Siva attempts to broaden his canvas and experiment with genre-types and in his pursuit to integrate his trademark emotions to this narrative, Kanguva terribly misses out on creat...

  Overview: Biopics are usually a tough genre to either give an opinion or articulate our thoughts owing to the respect both the art and viewers hold for the person and their journey it takes us through. In that sense, Amaran is quite complex, but the opinion on this film is definitely a good thing to discuss about. Performances: The film is driven by strong performances. Sivakarthikeyan is majestic as Major Mukund, depicting all the traits the real character acquired. This physically demanding character not only stands out for the sincere performance the actor delivers on this front,but also those very tiny moments where the actor really shines. Sai Pallavi is the complete heart and soul of this film. She carries the character with great dignity, and the moments where it all demands her emotional acting chunks, she is tremendous.  The whole casting is done to the point. From the soldiers to the parents and even the tiny characters, everyone does a great job. Casting done righ...

  Overview: Eccentric films are always a very crafty and delicate genre to touch upon. If done right, they work extremely well but if not treated well, it becomes sore to watch. The integration of dark humour makes it a walk on a tight rope. Bloody Beggar, unfortunately, ends up missing its mark, even with some very compelling ideas. Performances: Kavin leads this ensemble cast of actors, with his great act as a beggar, innocent yet bizarre. He manages to hook us in the emotional portions, really well and shoulders the film. Redin Kingsley fails to bring some great laughs to the film. The other cast is quite a mixed bag. While some perform well to the character, some end up missing to make a mark. Cinematography and Music: Fresh out of Nelson's creative radar, Bloody Beggar has its trademark still frames, symmetric camera framings and a very yellow-brown colouring to the frames, adding a new flavour and theme to the story, in terms of treatment. The whole palace is shot very well, ...

Black comes out as a very engaging genre film that somehow ends up confusing the proceedings, although it succeeds in sustaining the mystery. Jiiva shoulders the film skilfully, raising above the usual shock or reactions,while PBS gives a decent performance. This minimal casting and the chemistry between the couple helps in maintaining some stakes for the story. The film really is very atmospheric and makes great use of sounds. Sound design is one among the finely executed aspects of the film that compliments the film in a good manner. Visuals aid very well to register the nature of the film, with minimal usage of other lights to set for a very realistic feeling of a confusing row house setting that is used to the fullest in the narrative. The film has a shaky start with a needless song and some broad stoke attempts to convince the audience about the nature of the protagonist. The film spends another 10 solid minutes with a song to show the couple and their closeness for th...

  Overview: Amidst many big hero films that cater to the stars, leaving a lot to desire in terms of story and creative choices, Vettaiyan is a very interesting superstar film that never requires its lead actor to showcase his stardom.  A monumental task of narrating a story with a huge star is nearly achieved in this flick, despite some dilutions. Creative choices and some nuances uplift this film that definitely has a lot going its way despite many shortcomings, which include the film being bogged down at times by its attempt to commercialise the moments. Performances: The ensemble casting here is a mixed bag. Rajinikanth is superb as the subtle Athiyan, even with some moments leaving it to the 'superstar'. Fahadh Faasil is absolutely brilliant as Patrick, who gives this techie character a natural and humane touch that goes far beyond the buttons and gadgets. Amitabh as Sathyadev has a magnanimous presence that compensates for his shallow character development. The other cast...