Mister Madras

A flawed protagonist and a powerful antagonist have always proven to be successful tropes in the world of cinema. The hero, when being anything but perfect, makes way for a beautiful story arc as he convalesces and a strong villain makes the hero’s triumph at the end larger. Despite having both of these, Vijay’s Master feels far from a perfect flick thanks to succumbing to irregular pacing and a middling screenplay. Master follows the trials and tribulations of JD (Vijay), an alcoholic college professor whose valiant effort towards the student community plants a belief in his colleague Charu (Malavika Mohanan) that he would be able to do the same to the kids in a juvenile correction centre that needs… correction. Armed with a just kada, a classic four-wheeler, a Persian cat and a cool pair of sunglasses, JD embarks on a journey that will collide with that of Bhavani’s (Vijay Sethupathi). On paper, Master looks like a failproof star vehicle – the story of a ...

Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck Cast: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Clark Gregg The 21st film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe,  Captain Marvel , is a product of many firsts and lasts. While many expected a Black Widow film,  Captain Marvel  has come as the first standalone female superhero film from Marvel. It’s also one of the first films from the franchise, along with  Captain America , to have a storyline set in the past. On the other hand,  Captain Marvel  will also be the last film with a cameo of Stan Lee; it’s also the last before its biggest film,  Avengers:  Endgame , hits theatres this April. With a lot to live up to and a lot to deliver, considering Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) is expected to be a gamechanger in  Endgame , directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have much on their plates to work with. That’s probably why they have rather taken a laidback approach in making this origins film. Captain Marvel , unlike DC’s  Wo...

Director: Chezhiyan Cast: Santhosh Sreeram, Sheela Rajkumar, Dharun  In a scene from Chezhiyan’s award-winning To Let, Ilango (Santhosh Sreeram) and Amudha (Sheela Rajkumar), break their heads and savings to make ends meet. As Amudha brings out her last ounce of savings that she had stored between the pages of her bible, their son, Siddharth (Dharun), brings out his hundi and places it between his parents. A regular film would’ve made that kid as an unnecessarily mature character who has probably understood the grave situation and is willing to let go of what he has saved for the betterment of the family. But To Let , unexpectedly, does what you’d expect a kid to do. Seeing his mother holding a handful of notes, he had brought the hundi and Amudha too plays along by inserting a hundred rupee note at its mouth, only for Ilango and Siddharth to push it down. That’s one of the many times To Let’s realism would remind you of Balu Mahendra’s cult classi...

Director: Sundar C Cast: Silambarasan, Megha Akash, Catherine Tresa, Prabhu, Ramya Krishnan  Though I’m not comfortable with the usage of the term ‘comeback’ in Tamil cinema, Chekka Chivantha Vaanam was termed as one for Silambarasan a.k.a Simbu a.k.a STR. You know how much the Mani Ratnam film means to the actor’s career when his next film is titled after a a line from  CCV . But it’s rather sad when you see Sundar C’s  Vantha Rajavathaan Varuven and realise that the title is as creative as film gets. And let’s not forget the fact that VRV is technically a remake of the Telugu film Attarintiki Daredi . VRV has the so-called essentials that you’d find in any Sundar C film from the last decade – a cast list that’s as long as the population of a small town, an expensive set of a house, a host of comedians who’re given more screen space than the actual female lead and of course, intolerable songs. What’s different ...

Director: Rajiv Menon Cast: GV Prakash, Nedumudi Venu, Vineeth, Aparna Balamurali A film on underdogs is anything but new in Tamil cinema. In fact, the heroes are written as so, so that when he rises from the ashes a la a phoenix bird, the transformation is ought to give a high to the audience. But Rajiv Menon’s comeback film Sarvam Thaala Mayam can’t be brushed under the carpet as yet another such film. For starters, we aren’t given a conventional ‘hero’ but just a happy-go-lucky-guy named Peter (a role that seems to be custom-made for GV Prakash) who loves being a die-hard fan of a hero. While it’s Thalapathy Vijay, in the beginning, his hero-worshipping soon changes focuses to veteran percussionist Vembu Iyer (Nedumudi Venu) after seeing the latter perform. What follows is a series of insults and tribulations that hit Peter like how he wants to hit the mridangam, for which he even goes against the words of his mridangam making father Johnson (a br...

Cast: Rajinikanth, Vijay Sethupathi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Simran, Trisha, Sasikumar, Bobby Simha, Sanath Reddy Director: Karthik Subbaraj There are directors such as Pa Ranjith and Shankar who had translated their visions into films starring Rajini and there are also directors like Karthik Subbaraj who ‘make’ a Rajini film. Though I liked Kabali, Kaala and 2.0 from the former category, I must say, I enjoyed the latter’s Petta more thanks to a phenomenon the film’s team is referring to as Rajinism. If the reviewer and science lover in me can define the film together, Petta’s plot is similar to that of a Hyperloop carriage while this Rajinism is the vacuum that makes this carriage travel at breakneck speed. It’s pretty obvious that Petta’s story and screenplay will remind the audience of Rajini’s previous cult classics and from the looks of it, it sounds like a conscious decision. For starters, Pettavelan’s (Rajinikanth) pseudony...

Cast: Ajith, Nayanthara, Jagabathi Babu, Robo Shankar, Thambi Ramaiah, Vivekh Director: Siva Film lovers whose fatigue level hit rock-bottom when they got to know about Ajith and Siva’s fourth collaboration, after the rather underwhelming Vivegam , can now heave a sigh of relief. Viswasam is exactly what the promotional material lead you into believing and boy, it would be an understatement to call the film one of the director’s best. For his fans, an Ajith film releasing is nothing short of a festival, but Viswasam is actually made to feel like a festival. Be it the backdrop, songs or even Ajith’s clothes, there’s no dearth of colours and the film shifting from village to the city is more of a move from a festival to a carnival. Viswasam has everything you’d expect in a Siva film — a happy family, some beautiful moments, decent humour, raw action and a nonessential villain. But what makes the film stand apart is the fact that Siva seems to have co...

  Director: Jagadeesan Subu Cast: Kathir, Raj Bharath, Meera Nair, Riythvika, Mayilsamy  After a run in the festival circuits, the long-delayed  Sigai  became the second Tamil film to get a release in an OTT platform (Zee5). I wonder if the message that the film preaches was the reason for it not getting a theatrical release. If so, it would be rather disheartening.  Sigai  has everything you’d expect in a template thriller — a plot that happens in one day, a missing person, a couple of mysterious deaths and a man who goes looking for an answer. But director Jagadeesan Subu seems to have not wanted  Sigai  to get brushed off as yet another whodunit. Which probably explains why his screenplay shifts course post intermission and goes on to become a completely different story. The first half tracks the trials and tribulations of Prasad (Raj Bharath), a pimp who feels guilty for the disappearance of the in-demand prostitute Nimmi (Meera Nair) and more than the actors, it...

Cast: Jayam Ravi, Raashi Khanna, Sampath, Azhagam Perumal, Munishkanth Director: Karthik Thangavel What’s the similarity between Honest Raj, Kaakha Kaakha, Sathriyan, Saamy and Theri ? Apart from being cop films, they’re also stories of a man who does what he’s paid for only to get his near and dear ones killed as repercussions. Jayam Ravi starrer Adanga Maru too is a film etched out of the same template and considering we know how the film is going to wrap up, it’s the treatment that the screenplay gets which makes Adanga Maru an intriguing watch. Once again, apart from the obvious reason that Jayam Ravi dons the khaki in both the films, Adanga Maru also would remind you of Thani Oruvan. For starters, he’s dishing out justice in style, under disguise. In one scene, he rolls up the window of his car trapping the head of a minister’s son. And that’s one of the many instances shown to prove how Subash (Jayam Ravi) would go to any lengths to serve t...

Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Archana, Moulee, Sunil Reddy Director: Balaji Tharaneetharan It’s not every day we, as the audience, get to see an actor’s landmark film. If that’s a blue moon occurrence, imagine one of the most sought-after actor playing an old man in his 25th film, in which, he only appears for 40 minutes. That’s what Seethakaathi is — a film that sees artistic talent as a sort of energy — something that can neither be created nor destroyed but only be transferred from one to another. Speaking about art, Seethakaathi’s underlying story throws light at the dwindling state of theatre arts in our country and the majority of the first half implies it by showing us the trials and tribulations of septuagenarian theatre veteran Ayya Aadhimoolam (Vijay Sethupathi). Apart from personal life problems, the man’s professional life is also riddled with issues, predominantly for how theatre dramas just don’t get the recognition it once...

Cast: Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson Director: Shankar If I have to be honest, let me start with saying that Enthiran never found a fan in me. I loved Rajini and Shankar’s Sivaji and I would even joke how I’d watch Baba over Enthiran if given a chance (Yes, I love Baba ). So, when a sequel was announced to this sci-fi flick which ended up being the most expensive film ever made in our soil, and not to mention the Tamil debut of Akshay Kumar, the stakes have never been higher. Naturally, it instantly intrigued me. Thankfully, what didn’t work for me majorly in Enthiran , are the bits reworked for 2.0. For example, there isn’t an interfering love track for Dr Vaseegaran (Rajini) and hence, no duet numbers in exotic locations or expensive sets. This helps to keep our attention glued to the core story of the film which is about an ornithologist’s revenge at cell phone users as the harmful radiation from their phones are killing birds. But does the ...

Cast: Vijay, Keerthy Suresh, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Pazha Karuppiah, Radharavi Director: AR Murugadoss Undoubtedly, the current political climate in Tamilnadu is providing ample fodder to Tamil cinema, which has “incidentally” been the go-to industry for many who wants to make the political plunge. After a hilarious Tamizh Padam 2 and NOTA which border-line spoofed the scenario, the Vijay starrer AR Murugadoss directorial Sarkar takes on the ongoing sequence of events in a serious and a holistic manner. Speaking about seriousness, this actor-director combos’ previous two collaborations, Thuppaki and Kaththi have turned out to be super-hits and if that doesn’t send the stakes up north, Vijay has been having a dream run with back to back blockbusters and A.R.M needs a hit desperately after the Spyder fiasco. While heroism used to be sending goons flying and mouthing punch dialogues, it goes a step ahead in Sarkar , where Sundar Ramasamy (Vijay in something o...

Cast: Vishal, Rajkiran, Keerthy Suresh, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar Director: Lingusamy  Sequels in Tamil cinema seems to be the fad and what the underwhelming history has proven is that sequels are an easier bet when compared to a fresh script, especially if an actor or a director is in dire need of a hit. Considering Vishal’s last film Irumbu Thirai is his most successful yet, it’s no surprise that Sandakozhi 2 is more of a comeback to its director Lingusamy, whose last film four years backs, Anjaan , was nothing short of a fiasco. As someone who loves it focus on a few details, I tend to compare how many years have passed in a sequel film since its original film to real time. Though the original Sandakozhi came out in 2005, in Sandakozhi 2, it’s only been seven years since the incidents of the first part. Nothing much has changed in the lives of Balu (Vishal) and Durai Ayya (Rajkiran) apart from Balu’s girlfriend from the original film, not being a part of his l...

Cast: Dhanush, Aishwarya Rajesh, Samuthirakani, Ameer, Andrea, Daniel Balaji, Kishore, Radha Ravi Director: Vetri Maran A game of carrom is all fun until you pocket the red coin. Immediately, you’re put into a spot where you’re forced to pocket another coin, that too one of yours and that’s when the pressure gets real. You got to nail it, as failing to do so will give your opponent an opportunity. That’s the story of Vada Chennai’s Anbu (Dhanush), an aspiring carrom board player, whose unintentional moves get him from the plain flat regular life into the webbed underworld that’s so unpredictable that you might not even know which direction you’ll fall in. Vada Chennai , though fresh with its treatment and content, does remind you a little of director Vetri Maran’s previous films as well as Dhanush’s first gangster film, Puthupettai , which became a cult classic over the years. Apart from different factions doing what it takes to bri...

Director: Ruben Fleischer Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed With phase three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe drawing to a close, the studio seems to be having its best time ever with their tried and tested characters such as the Avengers as well as new ones like Black Panther, all of which are setting the cash registers ringing. But the same can’t be said about Marvel characters owned by other studios. 20th Century Fox’s  Fantastic Four  (2015) was a catastrophe and after the below-par  X-Men: Apocalypse , it was the  Deadpool  series and  Logan  that bought them back on track. On the other hand, we’ve got Sony Pictures who messed up the Spider-Man franchise (Andrew Garfield’s  Amazing Spiderman  series) only to collaborate once again with Marvel to give us the Tom Holland starrer  Spider-Man: Homecoming  which is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe unlike Sony’s other Spider-Man based characters such as Venom. So considering how the Tom Ha...

Director: Mani Ratnam Cast: Arvind Swami, Simbu, Vijay Sethupathi, Arun Vijay, Aishwarya Rajesh, Jyotika, Dayana Errapa, Aditi Rao Hydari, Prakash Raj It’s not every day you see a multi-starrer in Tamil cinema, let alone in the magnitude of Chekka Chivantha Vaanam that stars such a stellar cast. And obviously, if someone can pull it off, it can only be by someone in the stature of Mani Ratnam. After all, when was the last time there was a 5 am show for a director? CCV is not just an amalgamation of stars but a marriage of talents and Mani collects these beams like a prism to give out a rainbow. What intrigued me about the film was how simple and straightforward the story actually is. Of course, there are the mandatory twists as well as the whodunit turn the film takes closer to the intermission, but as it gets to the climax, you’ll realise how you’ve complicated it inside your head even though the answers were just lying around to be discovered. Mani’s filmograph...

A lot has changed since Vishwaroopam came out in 2013. Terrorism has a new face in the form of ISIS, the President of USA comedy happened, Tamil Nadu’s political scenario changed, we lost two major leaders, two actors got into politics and something so trivial as my life has also changed drastically! So one might feel a sequel 5 years later wouldn’t really deliver the same punch its original film did. After all, Vishwaroopam 2 isn’t one of those franchises such as Singam which had sequels just because the original ended up doing well at the box office. It’s, of course, a film that continues from where the original one ended and that too immediately, so how relatable is the film? The answer is, in short, the film is a worthy sequel to the original and gives us a bit more too. Hey, we’re talking about a man who has often been said to be ahead of his times, so that shouldn’t be surprising. Vishwaroopam 2, is technically not a sequel but a circumquel,...

Cast: Harish Kalyan, Raiza Wilson, Rekha, Anand Babu Director: Elan In a sense, almost all Indian films can be considered to be musicals. But films like  Duet, Neethane En Ponvasantham  and  Meyaadha Maan  (which was even promoted as  Royapurathu La La Land ) come closer to the definition of a musical, given the sheer volume of songs that are also interwoven into the story. The latest to join this list is the Harish Kalyan and Raiza Wilson-starrer  Pyaar Prema Kaadhal,  which also marks the production debut of Yuvan Shankar Raja. While the title gives away what this film is about, the use of words from different languages to mean the same thing is mirrored in the leads, who despite being in the same relationship, are totally different from each other. Sree (played by an exuberant Harish Kalyan) is the quintessential middle-class guy without any major dreams, for whom the epitome of romance is Jack-Rose relationship from  Titanic . His is a modest family with a mother who worries about ...