Mister Madras

With a lot of people going the ‘green’ way and opting healthier foods to improve their diets, these so called healthy foods are improving tastewise to appeal to a wider audience who would need a lot of persuasion to try something new. Who else would need to shift bases to healthier food than foodies and when obviously the facts aren’t going to help, it’s the taste factor that would win their hearts. That’s what I learnt when a couple of my foodie folks and I were invited for a tasting session by Re:store. Given below is my take on Re:store. Though they are based in Saidapet, we got to try their creations elsewhere. We were served a list of salads and cakes which we tried and this is how they fared. Salads Thinnai Salad :- Delicate foxtail millets with fresh and crunchy pomegranate seeds, mango, bell peppers and beans. All flavours and textures were present and that too in a pleasing manner, thanks to the well designed dish. Asian Salad :- Capsicum, cabbage and spring onions add the cru

Even after one and a half decades since the first film, the X-Men franchise has garnered what its contemporaries can only dream of, a faithful fan following that has grown along with the franchise. So it’s no wonder that the latest film, X-Men: Apocalypse , which is the ninth installment in the series had a lot of ground to cover. Not to mention the stupendous success of Deadpool from the franchise and Captain America: Civil War from the Marvel studios which have only raised the bar higher than ever. X-Men have been one of those Marvel films that have excelled in having an ensemble cast with numerous characters and X-Men: Apocalypse hasn’t broken that chain. The cast includes James McAvoy (Charles Xavier / Professor X), Michael Fassbender (Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Raven Darkhölme / Mystique), Oscar Isaac (Apocalypse), Game of Thrones fame Sophie Turner (Jean Grey) and a couple more handful of characters. Bryan Singer, the man who started the franchise is back t

Dear Dad is a film that marks the Bollywood comeback of Arvind Swamy. Post a long hiatus from the world of cinema, he revived his career in the Tamil film Kadal in which he was the only thing worth seeing. Dear Dad is directed by the debutante director Tanuj Bhramar. Ratnakar M and Shaan Vyas have bankrolled this flick. Apart from Arvind Swamy, Dear Dad’ s concise list of cast members include Himanshu Sharma, Ekavali Khanna and Aman Uppal. When a devastating secret is made open, the relationship between a son and his father becomes sour. Nithin Swaminathan (Arvind Swamy) tries his best to deal with a rough patch in his life as he finally decides to come out of the closet and things get awry when his son Shivam (Himanshu Sharma) figures it out before Nithin can make him understand things. What follows is a series of emotional drama and how the film tries to establish a point that family is family no matter how difficult things can get. Whether Shivam can accept his dad for what he is f

KO 2 is from Elred Kumar’s banner R.S.Infotainment that gave us the super-hit flick, KO in 2011. Sarath, who earlier worked as an associate director for a couple of films has wielded the megaphone for KO 2 . After a couple of forgettable films such as Urumeen and Bangalore Natkal , Bobby Simha is back as the solo lead for this flick. One of the most sought after heroines in recent times, Nikki Galrani has donned the cap of the female lead. Rest of the talented cast includes Prakash Raj, Bala Saravanan, John Vijay, Ilavarasu, Karunakaran and Nassar. The technical crew consists of Leon James who has composed the tunes, Madhan Karky and Na Muthukumar the lyricists and Venkat and Philip who’ve taken care of cinematography. KO 2 is the story of how a man is troubled to find the state of his guardian and takes matters into his own hands in the name of delivering justice. A journalist named Kumaran (Bobby Simha) kidnaps the Chief Minister (Prakash Raj) and as expected, the state comes to a

It’s no surprise that the number of resto-bars have gone up exponentially in our Chennai and from the looks of it, there’s no slowing down. Since the numbers are increasing, each spot is trying to stand apart from the rest of them and differentiate themselves with something or the other. It’s usually the theme or the cuisine. Very few places have done this successfully and one of them that I recently got to check out, Sudaka, fits the bill perfectly. A couple of my food buddies and I were invited for a tasting session and it was indeed a splendid experience. Location & Parking Sudaka is located in The Legends hotel at North Boag road and is ironically opposite to one of the most well known pubs of our city, 10 Downing Street. They have valet parking service which takes care of something which could’ve become a headache, considering how hard it is to get a parking spot in this stretch of tarmac. Sudaka is located at the side of the hotel’s main entrance. Ambience We were greeted at

Marvel is back on stage with its film no. 13 and the odd number doesn’t do much to put it out of luck. Captain America: Civil War is the sequel to 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger and 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Chris Evans (Steve Rogers / Captain America), Robert Downey Jr. ( Tony Stark / Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Sebastian Stan ( Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Paul Bettany (Vision), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Paul Rudd (Ant Man), Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and Daniel Brühl ( Helmut Zemo). The film is directed by the Russo brothers, Anthony and Joseph who wielded the megaphone for the last Captain America flick. As always, Marvel has presented this creation. Things get personal in this installment of Captain America as a moral dilemma splits the team into two. Post the catastro

“ Basically I’m a watch mechanic madam ” says Suriya with his charming smile. That’s just one of the many pleasing shots of the film 24 which released today across the world. The film is directed by Vikram Kumar, who gave us the engaging horror flick, Yavarum Nalam . After a successful venture in the Telugu industry with Manam , he’s back in Kollywood to deliver the brilliant 24 . This flick is produced by Suriya’s 2D Entertainment. 24 stars Suriya in triple action for the first time in his career and the star studded list of cast members include Samantha, Nithya Menen, Saranya Ponvannan, Girish Karnad, Ajay, Sathyan and many more. As far as the technical crew is concerned, the tunes are from the Mozart of Madras, A.R.Rahman. Tirru has handled the camera works and he’s back in Tamil cinema after a long hiatus. Prawin Pudi, who took care of the cuts in the director’s last film Manam , is the editor for 24 too. 24 is the story of how a scientific invention can change the course of time