#CelluloidCritic

Critic No. 234 Director : Chimbu Devan Written by: Chimbu Devan Produced by : Black Ticket Company, Trident Arts Casts: Premji Amaran, Regina Cassandra, Venkat Prabhu, Santhanu Bhagyaraj, Sampath, Sendrayan, Sundeep Kishan, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Subbu Panchu, Harish Kalyan, Vijayalakshmi, Vidya Pradeep, Arvind Akash, Sija Rose Language: Tamil Genre: Drama Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja, Premji Amaran, Sam C.S, Sean Roldan, Santosh Narayanan, Ghibran SYNOPSIS:  The lives of a few individuals get impacted, both in good and bad ways, by the actions of others who are hardly connected to them. REVIEW: Right at the beginning of Kasada Thapara , in a voiceover, director Chimbudeven gives us what the film is all about — a demonstration of two theories: the butterfly effect and the vantage point theory. The film involves six stories that are interlinked and each one has an overriding theme with principal characters appearing in other stories and influencing the conflicts in one way or another.

Critic No. 233 Director : R. Rathindran Prasad Written by: R. Rathindran Prasad Produced by : Stone Bench Productions Casts: Aishwarya Rajesh, Avantika, Pavel Navageethan, Vidhu, Madhuri, Surya Ganapathy, Ayaan Abhishek Language: Tamil Genre: Horror Music: Prithvi Chandrasekhar SYNOPSIS:  Paranormal activity at a lush abandoned property alarms a group eager to redevelop the site, but the eerie events may not be as unearthly as they think. REVIEW: After a flying start in the Tamil anthology, Navarasa (2021) through the eerie short, Inmai , I was really looking forward to witnessing Rahtindran’s next which was marketed as an eco-horror. Banked by director Karthik Subburaj’s Stone Bench Productions and led by Aishwarya Rajesh in the performances front, the film had created a great hype due to the names associated. Has it managed to fulfill its promises? Samyuktha's (Aishwarya Rajesh) husband Gautham (Vidhu) acquires a contract to build a township villa in an abandoned forest area.

Critic No. 232 Director : Manu Warrier Written by: Anish Pallyal Produced by : Prithviraj Productions Casts: Prithviraj, Roshan Matthew, Mamukkoya, Srindaa, Murali Gopy, Shine Tom Chacko Language: Malayalam Genre: Action, Thriller Music: Jakes Bejoy SYNOPSIS:  Ibrahim (Roshan Matthew), his father (Mamukkoya) and younger brother are waiting from their Hindu neighbour Suma to bring dinner, but when there's a knock at the door, it upends all their lives REVIEW: What I really like about Malayalam films in general is the effective use of supporting characters to form the holistic tension and rising action of the film. With an increasing number of films discussing caste/community issues in Indian cinema, Kuruthi interestingly talks about the growing fear of majoritarian sentiment, the alienation of minorities, and the mounting human cost of communalization. The film doesn’t take sides or justify any acts of its characters. It simply observes the eroding harmony and a sense of brotherh

Critic No. 232 Director : Milind Raju Written by: Milind Raju Produced by : Cross Pictures, Rowdy Pictures Casts: Nayanthara, Ajmal Ameer, Manikanden Language: Tamil Genre: Crime, Thriller Music: Girishh Gopalakrishnan SYNOPSIS:  When fear grips Chennai as girls get abducted in the city, blind ex-cop Durga (Nayanthara) becomes the prime witness in the case and the kidnapper's object of obsession REVIEW: Netrikann begins with Durga, a CB-CID officer, losing her brother (Sacchin Nachiappan) due to a freak accident in which she loses her vision as well. While Durga learns to live on her own while grieving her brother’s death, her biggest test comes when she has to track down a twisted psychopath (Ajmal Ameer), who kidnaps and tortures women for kinks, and has started to fancy her as a victim.  The film has a juicy plot for an intense thriller and has an assured technical team that ensures the look of the film is not compromised at any point. Loosely adapted from the Korean film, Bl

Critic No. 230 Director : Tanu Balak Written by: Sreenath V. Nath Produced by : Anto Joseph Film Company, Plan J Studios, AP International Casts: Prithviraj, Aditi Balan, Alencier Ley Lopez, Anil Nedumangad, Athmiya Rajan Language: Malayalam Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller Music: Prakash Alex SYNOPSIS:  A police commissioner, Sathyajith (Prithviraj) and journalist Medha (Aditi Balan) are on the trail of a murder victim to unearth the identity of the culprit and to quell a disturbed spirit REVIEW: Cold Case directed by debut filmmaker Tanu Balak, has lots of ingredients to rave about in terms of concept. It's an investigative police drama and a supernatural thriller at the same time, with two characters independently arriving at the same questions and answers that lead to solving a puzzle. The mystery kicks in when a skull wrapped in a trash bag emerges in a fisherman's net. Forensic analysis finds out that the murder was committed a year ago with the police seeking for more clu

Critic - No. 229 Director : Priyadarshan, Vasanth, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Bejoy Nambiar, Karthik Subbaraj, Sarjun KM, Karthick Naren, Arvind Swami, Rathindran R. Prasad Produced by: Madras Talkies Casts: Suriya, Arvind Swami, Siddarth, Atharvaa, Vijay Sethupathi, Revathi, Anjali, Bobby Simha, Sananth, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Yogi Babu, Aditi Balan, Prakash Raj, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Prasanna, Shamna Kasim, Riythvika, Rohini, Prayaga Martin, Delhi Ganesh, Ramya, Nambeesan, Nedumudi Venu, Manikuttan Language: Tamil Music: A. R. Rahman, Santhosh Narayanan, Sundaramurthy KS, Rajesh Murugesan, Karthik, Ron Ethan Yohann, Govind Vasantha, Justin Prabhakaran, Vishal Bhardwaj SYNOPSIS:  From secrets and lies to jealousy and control, four stories in this anthology film explore darker, deceptive sides of love. REVIEW: "Navarasa" is an anthology drama featuring some big directors, technicians and actors of the Tamil film industry. The anthology drama is an effort to help the film workers