Mister Madras

The most expected movie of the year is here and it can’t get any bigger than this. Baahubali 1 (Baahubali: The Beginning) made it pretty clear that the motive was not to go huge on budget but to go higher on quality and Baahubali 2 (Baahubali: The Conclusion) reaffirms it. While I was seeing reviews across social media with the words in caps stating ‘Spoiler free review’, I was wondering what’s there to spoil in this film. Those who had watched the first part giving importance to the ‘not so important’ scenes and grasping the dialogues would know exactly how this sequel will end. And that’s exactly what happens. So what’s the fuss about a film that can be easily be brushed below the carpet like a few specs of small stones as yet another good-wins-over-evil flick? Those stones we’re talking about are precious gems that now adorns the crown of Indian cinema. Long story short, it’s the presentation, the quality, the magnitude an...

***** SPOILER WARNING ***** While this article won’t reveal the story of the film, it would be fathomed in a better fashion if you had watched the film. Kaatru Veliyidai was a breezy entertainer but the mixed reception it had raked in over the weekend has taken the Tamil cinema industry by storm  (Forced  wind  metaphors). Be it a flop or a classic, a Mani Ratnam product always ends up becoming the talk of the town and while some films have forced a finger on the lip to the critics, some have raised eyebrows and some have even raised voices (not to mention the raised hate slogans too 😛 ). I personally liked Kaatru Veliyidai  (check out its review here ) and if you’re one of those people who watched the film and felt the film could swallow a  Kadal,  then this post would probably gain a ‘meh’ from you. That said, I didn’t like his last work, OK Kanmani and I wouldn’t mind watching Ravanan twice to endure that romantic flick. The problem of being ...

Despite having a number of films to star in such as  Enai Noki Paayum Thota, Velaiilla Pattadhari 2, Vada Chennai, Maari 2 , a film with Karthik Subbaraj, his Hollywood debut  The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir and his production venture starring ‘Superstar’ Rajinikanth under Pa. Ranjith’s direction, Dhanush still had time to pull off a directorial debut in style and that’s Pa Paandi a.k.a Power Paandi. How the film fared? Read on! I walked in with zero expectations and fortunately, I wasn’t in for a major shocker. The premise is pretty simple and straightforward. Rajkiran (Power Paandi) is a retired stunt master who feels useless being home doing nothing and hence decides to hit the road with a bullet as old as him in-order to rediscover himself. Halfway through, he wonders why can’t he meet Poonthendral (Revathi), his first love. He finds out that she too is single and well settled with a daughter and a grand-daughter. Not worrying about what...

While usual filmmakers’ works are similar to a novel that can be understood with the turn of a page, Mani Ratnam’s works are usually a cryptex or an onion. Once you unravel the mysteries and get to the nucleus, you either get flabbergasted by the reveal or delve into a space of emptiness and feel like Kungfu Panda ‘s Po who opens the magic scroll to find nothing. Reviewing a Mani product isn’t easy, especially for an amateur a.k.a armchair critic like me. And to view it as just another film that I want to review is out of question thanks to the Mani Ratnam – esque that’s embedded in every single frame. So in an attempt to keep that thought away, I’m penning this down similar to how I tried to watch this film fooling myself that it’s yet another wannabe new-age romance preacher. VC (Karthi) ends up as a P.O.W in our most-favourite-enemy-according-to-media land and that’s justified with the Kargil War tag. Confined in a cell, he has al...