Ramnath

Amidst a barrage of heavy duty, serious films, finding something that keeps us light and enjoyable is few and far between. With the new Nakkalites team's 'Kudumbasthan', the film takes us back to the middle class family dramas, that resonate on a larger level, much like Middle Class Madhavan, Budget Padmanabhan and many other vintage films. Kudumbasthan takes a very realistic topic of middle class lifestyle and deals with all its complexities and conflicts in a rather sugar coated manner. The idea to treat this topic, similar to a satire or on the levels of a comic caper does warrant some lighter moments and the film scores bigger in this front. The pacing with which the screenplay progresses never lets the eyes down or nowhere, with comic situations sprinkled one after another. The laughs do range from knee-slappers to screamers to chuckles but the good part is that the laughs are free flowing. The more we enjoy the humorous parts, the less we get to see the em...

Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi's 'Kadhalikka Neramillai' is a warm breezy film about contemporary relationships, albeit scratching the surface at so many things, comes with a lot of pleasant surprises. The film attempts to discuss the issues in new age independent relationships and that's where it gets the brownie points, but also where the film stumbles. The film is really well shot. There is always a sense of sophistication, be it the colours that scream white, teal, lavender, surprisingly a song named Lavender. The frames are soft and delicate, the conversations are natural and there are new situations around which scenes are built. This is a rare film, where we don't get to see those 'built-up' moments for the soulmates to meet or the universe to make them meet. These moments happen just like any other day, but the scenes play out in a more interesting and fresh manner. There is a nice little play with the professions of the lead characters. Both of ...

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, ...