Tag Archives: Vijay

BEAST (2022) Tamil Movie Review: Guns, Swag and Vijay in a Nelson world

Commercial cinema in India is a tricky issue, especially so in Tamil and Telugu where directors need to tread a path wherein they need to balance their storytelling and pander to fans. While Vijay has been consistently among the most popular stars in Tamil cinema, with a solid mass fan following, Nelson on the other hand is a director who is known for dark comedy, a genre which has not been explored much in Tamil cinema. I was looking forward for this combination, expecting something exciting to emerge out of it.

Continue reading “BEAST (2022) Tamil Movie Review: Guns, Swag and Vijay in a Nelson world”

Master (2021) Movie Review: Vijay Shines, Lokesh Flatters to Deceive

Covid-19 has given a break to theatre-going experience across the globe. Even though Indian cinema halls have opened up slowly from October 2020 onwards, there has been no tentpole release which has revived the fortunes of cinema halls so far. December saw the release of Telugu film Solo Brathuke So Better which indicated that the audience in Southern India is willing to watch movies in the theatre. With this being the Pongal/Sankranti week in India, we have two films in Tamizh and three in Telugu (plus Master’s dubbed version) hitting marquee in a span of less than a week. If we go by the initial response, it is sure that cinemas are here to stay and co-exist with OTT. Continue reading “Master (2021) Movie Review: Vijay Shines, Lokesh Flatters to Deceive”

Bairavaa Movie Review: Much Ado about Nothing

Early on into Bharathan’s (or is it Bharhathan as he prefers to call himself now) Bairavaa we see the branch manager of ICIC Bank (Y.G.Mahendra) call upon his collection agent Bairavaa (Vijay) in desperation. The manager is in a soup because of a bad debt in the form of a loan given to a local thug Karuvadu Kumar (Mime Gopi). With the bank authorities breathing down his neck, the manager has just a day to hand over the money & with his daughter’s wedding scheduled for a month later he is extremely distressed. With Bairavaa assuring his boss that he would be back with the money by the evening one would typically expect fireworks in the form of a regulation fight sequence. But that’s where Bharathan and action choreographer Anal Arasu show some ingenuity. Yes there are fireworks on display indeed but not in the form of a typical fight which would follow some chest thumping dialogues. In fact the dialogues exchanged between Bairavaa and Karuvadu Kumar is kept to the minimum and the action happens in the guise of a game of cricket.Continue reading “Bairavaa Movie Review: Much Ado about Nothing”

The Best of Tamil Cinema in 2016

2016 was an interesting year for Tamil Cinema with a variety of topics being explored. Some big films didn’t do well, while some small films made impact. Certain stars did well,while some of them didn’t really do well. Here are the films in my opinion which stood a little apart from the rest of the pack and made an impact this year.The movies aren’t sorted in any order of merit. Sorting is done based on release dates.

Continue reading “The Best of Tamil Cinema in 2016”

In Conversation with Rekhs, the Doyen of Subtitling in South India (Part 2): On Subtitling-the Competition, Recognition, Memorable People/Movies, Kabali and More

In part 1 of our conversation with popular subtitling expert Rekhs we discussed a variety of topics including her journey into films and subtitling, the process involved, subtitling for songs, challenges involved etc. Here is Part 2, the concluding part of the freewheeling chat with Rekhs.

(You can check out Part 1 of the conversation here) Continue reading “In Conversation with Rekhs, the Doyen of Subtitling in South India (Part 2): On Subtitling-the Competition, Recognition, Memorable People/Movies, Kabali and More”

Theri Movie Review: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, There’s No Wonder that Vijay in Form is a Real Star

Of late Vijay, one of the most popular actors in Tamil Cinema has been seen working with a lot of young directors, balancing their films with those of senior directors like Shankar and A.R.Murugadoss. Of course not all the films with the younger lot of directors has worked, case in point being his last film, Chimbu Deven‘s Puli which couldn’t meet the huge expectations that it was facing, turning out to be a cold turkey eventually. When Theri, Vijay’s film with director Atlee was announced it didn’t really come as a surprise as such. Atlee who started off as an AD with Shankar, turned director himself with Raja Rani (2013), a film which had worked quite well commercially. With Theri the scale was being upped considerably, being a Vijay film after all and that too an action film, quite different from his previous film. With the promos being well received it was but natural that there was going to be a lot of hype and curiosity over the film. Theri’s success was important for both Vijay as well as Atlee. For Vijay it mattered because the success of Theri could make people forgive him for Puli and for Atlee because it could prove that the success of Raja Rani was no flash in the pan.Continue reading “Theri Movie Review: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, There’s No Wonder that Vijay in Form is a Real Star”

Puli Movie Review: Lofty in Ambition, Mediocre in Output

Chimbu Deven who started his career as a cartoonist with the popular Tamil magazine, Ananda Vikatan went on to turn filmmaker with Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi (2006). A period comedy, the film was widely accepted for its novelty and made comedian Vadivelu acceptable as a hero as well. Chimbu Deven then went on to make more films like the contemporary fantasy Arai En 305 il Kadavul (2008), the western comedy Irumbukottai Murattu Singam (2010) and a contemporary tale like Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavaanikalum (2014). When it was announced that his next film would be with Vijay it didn’t really surprise me as he did have a decent track record to talk about. But considering that the film in question, Puli was to be a period fantasy adventure, I was quite skeptical. Skeptical only because of the fact that a project like this is expected to be a little too ambitious and isn’t something that everyone can actually deliver.Continue reading “Puli Movie Review: Lofty in Ambition, Mediocre in Output”

Vijay, We Are Waiting!

Over the last couple of decades, Vijay has successfully worked with quite some filmmakers giving us glimpses of his potential in films like Priyamudan, Thulladha Manamum Thullum, Ghilli and Thuppaki. As the actor turns 41 today,why not a fantasy ride, reflecting on the kind of awesomeness that could be unleashed on us, if the actor collaborates with some of the best creative minds of our industry!

Continue reading “Vijay, We Are Waiting!”

Kaththi Movie Review: A Social Message Delivered via a Commercial Film

Over the years writer-director A.R.Murugadoss has made an impact with his films in Tamil (and their remakes in Telugu-Stalin and Hindi-Ghajini and Holiday). One may or may not like his films but I guess there is no debate about the fact that he does manage to bring in a variety of subjects with his films, with no film of his so far having any resemblance to any of his previous works. Even in case of an ambitious project like 7 Aum Arivu (2011) while the final outcome wasn’t all that satisfactory, the premise was quite interesting. When Murugadoss and Vijay joined hands for the first time for Thuppakki (2012) what emerged was a good commercial Tamil film which according to me is the best Vijay film since Pokkiri (2007). So with both of them coming back together for Kaththi obviously the expectations were clear and the questions were many. Continue reading “Kaththi Movie Review: A Social Message Delivered via a Commercial Film”