#CelluloidCritic

Critic - No.  182 Director: RJ Balaji & N.J. Saravanan Producer: Ishari K Ganesh (Vels Film International) Casts:  RJ Balaji, Nayanthara, Urvashi Language: Tamil Genre: Comedy / Fantasy Music: Girishh G   SYNOPSIS: A small-time TV reporter Engels Ramasamy (RJ Balaji), who has been gathering evidence to expose a self-styled godman for years, gets help from his ancestral Goddess Mookuthi Amman (Nayanthara) who appears in front of him one day. How does he utilise the situation to bring down the godman before the public? REVIEW: RJ Balaji, the co-director and main cast of the film has always been interested in discussing sensitive social and political topics, both offscreen and onscreen. After delivering a sleeper hit, LKG, Balaji returns again to whip another religious-political satire with an interesting satirical twist. As the synopsis suggests, the film has a mix of fantasy, comedy and some spoof kid of Goddess film trademarks we have seen in Indian cinema in the ...

Critic - No. 181 Director: Sudha Kongara Producer: Surya (2D Entertainment), Guneert Monga (Sikhya Entertainment) Casts:  Surya, Paresh Rawal, Aparna Balamurali, Urvashi, Mohan Babu, Language: Tamil Genre: Drama Music: G.V. Prakash Kumar   SYNOPSIS: Nedumaaran Rajangam (Surya) a.k.a "Maara", sets out to make the common man fly and takes on the world's most capital-intensive industry with the help of his friends, family and sheer power. REVIEW: Based on Captain GR Gopinath's novel, Simply Fly and other 'stories from the aviation industry', Sudha Kongara's Soorarai Pottru is an inspiring film about a common man who had big ambition.   The film revolves around Nedumaaran Rajangam (Suriya), the son of a school teacher (Poo Ramu) in a Madurai village, who decides to start a low-cost airline for the less privileged. His aspiration is challenged in all directions by Paresh Goswami (Paresh Rawal), a leader in the aviation industry, who ensures that his drea...

Critic - No.180 Director: Krishna Marimuthu Producer: Screen Scene Media Entertainment Pvt Ltd Casts:  Harish Kalyan, Vivekh, Tanya Hope Language: Tamil Genre: Comedy / Romance Music: Anirudh Ravichander, Sean Roldan, Vivek-Mervin, Inno Genga, Madley Blues, Bhrath Shankar (also BGM), Kaber Vasuki, Ooorka SYNOPSIS: A shrewd fertility clinic owner, Kannadasan (Vivekh) convinces an unemployed and happy-go-lucky guy, Prabhu (Harish) to become a sperm donor. But little did the latter know that it would land him in trouble with his love of his life, Nidhi (Tanya Hope). REVIEW: Not many films have succeeded into translating the essence of a Hindi film aptly into the South Indian flavour. A good example is Settai (remake of Delhi Belly ). Especially narrating a taboo issue like sperm donation to a relatively conservative South Indian audience is a challenge. But debut director, Krishna Marimuthu has done almost a perfect job in executing this...

My Predictions for 92nd Academy Awards WW = 'Will Win' DH = 'Dark Horse' Best Picture Ford v Ferrari  The Irishman  Jojo Rabbit  Joker  Little Women  Marriage Story  1917 (WW) Once upon a Time...in Hollywood Parasite  (DH) Best International Feature Corpus Christi  Honeyland  Les Misérables  Pain and Glory (DH) Parasite (WW) Best Animated Feature How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World  I Lost My Body  Klaus  Missing Link (DH) Toy Story 4 (WW) Best Documentary Feature American Factory (WW) The Cave  The Edge of Democracy  For Sama (DH) Honeyland  Best Director The Irishman  Joker  Sam Mendes, 1917 (WW) Once upon a Time...in Hollywood  Bong Joon-ho, Parasite (DH) Best Leading Actor Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory  Leonardo DiCaprio, Once upon a Time...in Hollywood  Adam Driver, Marriage Story (DH)...

Critic - No.179 Director : Mysskin Produced by: Arun Mozhi Manickam (Double Meaning Productions) Casts: Udhayanidhi Stalin, Aditi Rao Hydari, Nithya Menon, Ram, Sigampuli, Rajkumar Pitchumani, Renuka Language: Tamil Music: Ilaiyaraja Genre: Crime, Thriller SYNOPSIS:  Gautham (Udhayanidhi Stalin), a visually challenged man races against time to save Dakini (Aditi Rao Hydari), the woman he loves from a psychopathic serial killer. REVIEW: Mysskin’s Psycho begins with Albert Maslov’s quote – ‘We are simultaneously gods and worms’. He defines his antagonist, the psycho, Angulimala as a God, albeit a ruthless one, in front of his victims, and a worm, in the presence of the people who has created him to be one. Unlike other psychopath-based crime thrillers where the audience play a guessing game to find out the killer, Mysskin opens the films with Anguli hacking his victims and collecting their heads as trophies. He kidnaps Dakini, a radio jockey, who is about to accept...

Critic - No.178 Director: Halitha Shameem Produced by: Venkatesh Velineni (Divine Productions) Casts:  Samuthirakani, Sunaina, Nivedhithaa, Leela Samson, Baby Sara, KravMaga Sree Ram, M. Manikanden, Rahul Language: Tamil Music: Pradeep Kumar Genre: Drama, Romance SYNOPSIS: An anthology of four romantic stories across four agree groups connected by a magical thread called love. REVIEW: ‘We like only a few things in each other, yet we believe we love a person whole-heartedly. That make-believe factor is love’, says a character from the second story of Halitha Shameem’s Sillu Karuppatti. The film oozes with philosophical lines about love that are placed in a realistic, timely manner in the four stories that depicts situational romance across different ages. In the first story, Pink Bag, Halitha explores the innocent affection between a teenage ragpicker and a rich girl. Maanja (Rahul), the teenaged ragpicker, begins to crush on Mity (Sara Arjun), a gir...

Critic - No.177 Director: A.R.Murgadoss Produced by: Allirajah Subaskaran (Lyca Productions) Casts: Rajinikanth, Sunil Shetty, Nivetha Thomas, Nayanthara, Yogi Babu Language: Tamil Music: Anirudh Genre: Action SYNOPSIS:  Dehli commissioner, Aaditya Arunachalam (Rajinikanth) is tasked to end the drug menace in Mumbai that leads him on to face a most feared and ruthless mafia lord. REVIEW: After a masala treat in Petta, where Rajini bounced back to show his energetic styles in, expectations were sky high when one of the most successful commercial film director, AR Murgadoss was signed as his next director. Murgadoss is one director who knows how to perfectly balance commercialism with intelligence. Will Darbar land as a grand pinnacle of India’s most celebrated actor? The film starts off with a 80s style of warehouse fight where Rajini flies in and kills tons of gangsters mercilessly with much swag. Kudos to Ram-Laxman, Peter Hein for the exciting fight sequences ...