Mister Madras

After our first long ride to Horsley Hills turning out to be an awesome one, we couldn’t wait to get back on the saddles. So the very next month, we worked out a plan to check out yet another place that hasn’t been exploited and that’s how we found Point Calimere. It was once again an interesting mix of Classics, Thunderbirds, and Himalayans. Itinerary It wasn’t one of our usual A to B rides. We once again started from Velavan Motors Alwartirunagar branch but instead of going straight to our destination, we halted at Velankanni owing to not so great accommodation options at Point Calimere. We also made it a point to go through the famous Puthur Jayaram Mess so that our lunch gets sorted too. Kms covered My odometer which stood at 4109 when I started from Chennai was at 4915 when I got back. So that’s a total of 806 kms. What’s new With the top of my body secured with jacket, gloves, and helmet, it was high time I got something to cover the other half. Inste...

Cast: Sasikumar, Nandita Swetha, Vasumithra, Srijith Ravi Director: Maruthupandian In director Maruthupandian’s  Asuravadham , a man who has ruined the lives of many women, ironically bashes his wife after doubting her fidelity. After bringing her to the ground with his brute force, he kicks her and walks away… only to go back to her. But that’s just to pick up his watch that fell during the tussle. He is our  Asuran  (demon). Meanwhile, a chronic alcoholic is waiting outside a bar for a miracle which would get him his daily dose of poison. A random stranger hands him a two thousand rupee note and tells him to buy two bottles. ‘ Onnu unnaku, innonum unnaku ,’ says the stranger and the drunkard becomes a devotee of this stranger who he perceives to be a God. Asuravadham  — as the name denotes — is the vanquishing of a demon and who else can do this but a God? While there are deities who advocate peace and those who get crucified for the sins of o...

Director: Shakti Soundar Rajan Cast: Jayam Ravi, Nivetha Pethuraj There is a fair share of pros and cons when you’re introducing a new genre to an audience. The advantages would include saying a simple story enclosed in a new wrapper (read: genre) and presenting something that’s brilliant. Not to mention, the possibilities of having a few tricks up their sleeves — something that the genre itself will give way to. On the other side of the spectrum, comes the dumbing down of the topic, especially if it’s ‘scientific’, to cater to audience who won’t really get it. Tik Tik Tik , Tamil cinema’s, if not Indian cinema’s first space film suffers a lot of the abovementioned cons despite reasonably banking on the advantages. But that’s alright! When the head of Defence played by Jayaprakash (one of the best in the business to play a fun dad character and should restrict to just that), says space’le puviyeerpu sakthi kedayathu  (t...

  Cast: Samuel L Jackson, Craig T Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner Director: Brad Bird The longest gap between film sequels came courtesy the  Bambi  franchise — a staggering 64 years. Though the  Incredibles  sequel, which is also produced by Walt Disney Pictures, took 14 years to hit the screens, we’re not complaining. A lot of us who watched the first film as kids are now adults and  Incredibles 2 , apart from being a fun film in its own right, is a lovely trip down memory lane. In the film, however, not much time has gone by and the events of the sequel happen just three months after the defeat of Syndrome. The superhero work of our unconventional but happy Parr family consisting of Bob, Helen, Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack, has hit a roadblock after Supers (as superheroes are called), are misunderstood as troublemakers and are forced to return to their secret identities. A super-rich sibling duo Winston and Evelyn Deavor, similar to Ray from  Hancock ,...

Cast: Samuthirakani, Krisha Kurup, Chemban Vinod Jose, Subiksha, Bharath Seeni, Esakki Bharath Director: Vijay Milton What made  Goli Soda  (2014) successful and cemented cinematographer Vijay Milton’s status as a bankable director, was how the story revolved around underdogs and more importantly, kids who took down giants. The David(s) versus Goliath standoff is once again the essence of  Goli Soda 2,  which is not a sequel, but Vijay has made sure that apart from this common idea, everything else is different, including the actors, and the plot itself. This film is about a basketball enthusiast Oli, who wants to join a company in order to play the game at a semi-professional level; an auto driver Siva, who wants to evolve from three wheels to four and become a cab owner; and Maran, a henchman, who wants to turn a new leaf and make an honest living. Their glue is Nadesan, an alcoholic medical shop owner (Samuthirakani in a role tailor-made for him). What’s common between  ...

Cast: Rajinikanth, Nana Patekar, Samuthirakani, Easwari Rao, Huma Qureshi Director: Pa Ranjith In a scene closer to the climax, a bunch of cops molests a protestor by stripping her leggings off. When she kneels in front of her piece of clothing, instead of grabbing it, she picks up a lathi right next to it and thrashes the cops. That’s one of many examples of how hard-hitting Pa Ranjith’s second collaboration with Rajinikanth is. True to the words of Rajini during promotions, Kaala isn’t a political movie but it talks about politics, and when I say politics, it’s not about what happens at the two sabhas  of our country. It talks at length about everyday politics that affect the laymen. Kaala must’ve felt like home turf for Pa Ranjith as the film is about those who don’t have anything but their lands and what happens when even that goes on the line. Seeing macroscopically, Kaala , similar to all of Rajini’s films in the last two decades, is a s...