one time wanderer

Miss you so much, Irrfan sir. Can't believe this was your second-last movie ever *cries in maqbool*. I feel as if something inside me has been hollowed out after finishing this movie- it has nothing to do with the movie itself, but everything to do with Irrfan Khan passing away. Sigh. Coming back to the movie though, this was the very definition of "heartwarming". Even though it was full of clichés, like the software engineer who wanted to be a photographer, the gen z gal who is "loose", and the road trip serving as an allegory for a journey of self-discovery, the overall effect was surprisingly sweet and funny. Karwaan was at its best though, when it was a farcical exposé of corporate inefficiency. The black comedy wasn't exactly the kind that'll make you laugh out loud- it'll more likely make you smirk and remember some similar incident that happened in your own life. And well, it was certainly a mood uplifter for me, for all these reasons and m...

Hmm, so technically I watched Athadey , the Telugu dubbed version (it was the only one I could find with English subtitles). At this rate, I'm going to have a decent understanding of Telugu by the end of the year. #blessed If this movie proves one thing, it's that Dulquer Salmaan is one of the best actors of his generation. He shines in all 4 segments, portraying 4 wildly different people in such a terrific manner. If I had to choose, my favourite would be Siva from the third segment. It's a treat- Siva hardly ever speaks, but his eyes, his body language, and his facial expressions tell you all that you need to know. My favourite scene from the movie is also from this segment- the one where the focus is on a man sleeping, and there's a young boy running on the road outside. I did a terrible job of explaining it, I know, but anyway, you won't get it unless you've seen the movie. Which you totally should, if you're a Dulquer fan. Otherwise, well, I'll t...

First things first: the audacity of casting Ramya Krishnan as Siddharth's mother, when she's ONLY 9 years elder to him. *screams* Honestly, I cared more about the Ramya-Prakash Raj dynamic, than the Siddharth-Tamannaah one, and this movie would have been tons better if they focused on that instead. I was waiting patiently for it to begin, but I felt very underwhelmed when it ended, only because the resolution was too hurried, and there was just not enough screen time given to them. Stop this ageism yaar Indian cinema. Plus it was so disrespectful to the people who were thirsting over Ramya- so not cool. The one saving grace would be the music, especially Evade Subramanyam. I'm gonna play it every time I'm forced to read something written by, or about Subramanian Swamy. It's truly the little things that give most joy. 

I knew I'd love this movie from the moment Sunil came in, waiting to receive Siddharth and his mother at the airport. Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana (I love this name btw) is the perfect balance of everything- half the time, I was laughing hysterically, and the other half, I was trying to rein in my emotions. The music is GREAT, and the accompanying visuals make the songs even more memorable. There is something so magical about Chandrulo Unde especially; I can't wait to play it on the next rainy day and just zone out to it while drinking a nice cup of coffee (can't believe it took an actual pandemic-induced lockdown for me to learn how to make good coffee, a drink that basically constitutes at least half of my bloodstream). (I am drinking coffee as I write this, obviously). One thing that I particularly admire about this movie is how well it has aged. There was hardly any problematic or even cringe-inducing factor, except perhaps the bit where Santosh (Siddharth) makes Sir...

Really don't understand why this one got so much hate. It was a fun watch that required you to pay close attention, with some good music and jokes- isn't that enough? Honestly, the fact that it had like 3 different endings irked me a bit- the movie should have ended 20 minutes before it actually did, but that's not such a grave crime to commit. Saif was totally believable as the desi RAW James Bond, and Adil Hussain as Colonel was not your average movie villain (just like Satish Godbole tbh). The creepiest though, was Colonel's close associate Jimmy, played by Anshuman Ajai Singh. Kareena was... Kareena. Couldn't stop seeing one of my best friends in her, because she resembles her so much and I can't believe it took me 9 years to realise. Also, can I just say that I loved this movie the most for having a lot of gay energy, and never once turning homophobic? That's the kind of content I expect from Sriram Raghavan, and I'm glad to have given him righ...

It's not at all surprising, but very frustrating, to watch this movie more than 30 years after it was released and realise that few things have changed about the perils of opening and sustaining a small business in India. Revathi was easily my favourite part of this movie- even though she had a small role, she stood her ground against Mohanlal, who delivers an almost perfect performance of a Gulf-returnee whose initial enthusiasm and optimism about having his own business in his hometown slowly turns into a chaos of despair and anger when he finds out how selfish everyone around him is. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about the core plot of the movie- I might have some issues with its labour politics, but I don't think I should comment on it, since I am in no way well-versed with the trade union history of Kerala. This also explains why I didn't find the movie as "cult comedy/satire" as I was expecting it to; probably because I am not aware of all the intri...

Watched this one in honour of Daniel Radcliffe's birthday, and man, what a wonderful gem did I discover! At first, I was scared of it turning out to be yet another boring rom-com, but it was so fresh and funny and insane, filled with moments that stay with you for a long time as testimony to what a good rom-com should be like. One thing that I really appreciated was the bromance chemistry between Wallace (Danny boi) and Allan (Adam Driver). The absence of friendships that come off as genuine has long been one of my complaints against the genre, especially male friendships, but this one felt so real. You just get why these two vibe so well, and honestly, I am here for it. I also really liked how they gradually built up Chantry (Zoe Kazan) and Wallace's friendship- not so slow that you lose interest, but not so quick that suspension of disbelief is impossible.  Alll the conversations in this movie are iconic, but not in an over-the-top kinda way; more like, the conversati...

I have honestly never felt as Bolly Trash as I did when I started this movie. It's early 90s Bhai- although, now that I think about it, this was the time when the real Bhai hadn't emerged, and he was still respectable? Well, that didn't last long, did it? Even here though, it's very easy to make out that Bhai cannot act. Revathi basically does the acting for both of them (if there's one sentence to describe the movie, let this be it). I think I would have enjoyed this movie a lot more, had Bhai not been there. Venkatesh, one of my favourite Telugu actors, was in the original, and I am honestly so salty that there are no subtitles for it. Is there really no justice to be found in this world? PS- this movie was ahead of its time, thanks to the antibiotic resistance message. I'm right, and I should say it. Also, my obsession with middle-aged actresses just got real, with Revathi's addition to the list. Not that I'm complaining AT ALL. I mean, the woman...

I would have enjoyed this movie more had it been better paced- I found it a bit too slow at times, and my attention just wandered off. Shobana in 90s aesthetics kinda made up for it though. But the real star of the fashion department was undoubtedly Mammootty, whose shirts made me feel nostalgic (and also made me laugh). The story was just fine- the climax had some loopholes, although I'm not entirely sure if they can be called that. Things didn't add up perfectly for me, like they were supposed to, and I just felt hella confused. To be completely honest, the background score conveyed more than the script. There were also a few regressive dialogues and stuff, which again, made me reconsider my resolve to sit through in its entirety. The romance angle was subtle, but sweet, and honestly, had a little more attention been given to that, the movie could have been loads better. Feeling very meh. Need to watch something spicy next. Probably Raat/Raatri (1991), by none other than...

TRIGGER WARNING FOR ATTEMPT TO SUICIDE. KPAC Lalitha has been in 4/5 of the Malayalam movies I've seen, and god knows I am not yet close to having had enough of this vastly talented woman.  Coming to the movie itself, as progressive as the overall story is, there are still some bits that haven't aged well (of course, it's a product of the 90s). I found it very sweet and engaging, a feeling that was heightened by K.S. Chithra's song Maangalyapoovilirikkum. I was personally cringing the most at the Brahmins, which is but natural after a lifetime of listening to this crap. But again, it's annoying how the issues raised in the movie, be it inter-religion marriages, or the concept of paternity leave, are STILL radical ideas, 30 years after this movie came out. Where are we going as a society, I just don't understand. In my opinion, Shobana was kind of underutilised here- this is not to say that she didn't do a very good job anyway. Balachandra Menon t...

More than 12 hours after finishing this movie, I'm still shook by how Sriram Raghavan's brain functions. He's one of the few "auteurs" I don't despise on principle, primarily because both the movies I've seen of his (this one, and Andhadhun ) have pretty much blown my mind away. In an interview, Tabu said that whatever happens in a Sriram Raghavan movie can only happen in that world he creates, and I agree with it. His worlds are so engrossing, so all-consuming, and more than anything, so INSANE that you know from the beginning of the film itself that you'll lose out if you let your attention wander for even a second. Another thing that I really appreciate in his movies is the music, which doesn't just add to the narrative, but also becomes an intrinsic part of it. It's hard to imagine both Johnny Gaddaar and Andhadhun without the music, that sometimes lulls you into a false sense of security, and sometimes heightens the tension that's p...

Tabu delivers one of the finest performances of her career in this little gem, and it's a shame that it isn't talked about more when examining her filmography. To be fair, almost every performance of hers demands thoughtful analysis- seriously, how does this woman do it? How does she manage to astound her audience every damn time, even when the script doesn't do justice to her immense talent? Coming back to the movie, I don't think I have the mental capacity to delve into its politics too deeply. All I can say is that while emotionally moving, it seemed a tad overly simplistic for me, especially when compared to the last Gulzar movie I'd seen, Maachis (1996). It somehow reduced the vast problems in Indian politics to a moral treatise on good parenting. Not that there's anything inherently wrong in that, it just didn't work here for me, probably because the links between the broader context of politics and the narrow sphere of family seemed too clichéd and...

First and foremost, Queen T looks like a snacc from the first shot to the last. She is also undeniably the best part about this movie, and the most memorable one. Had the script been a little better, this could have been one of the most hilarious movies to come out in the last decade, especially considering the comic geniuses it has in its cast- Tabu, Sharman Joshi, and Ayub Khan. Vatsal Seth was just average, and Yuvika Chaudhary below average. The kid who played Shlok was funnier than these two combined. Sharman, Tabu, and Ayub though, have effortless comic timing, which gave the movie enough funny moments to keep me hooked till the end, but not enough, because of which I was impatiently waiting for it to end. The casteism was of course, all too apparent, and really made me wish that I could slap whoever had forced those dialogues in. The movie also tries to be weirdly #feminist, mostly through Rajeshwari (Queen T, who else), and had that been explored with more nuance, it could h...

If I had to describe this movie in one sentence, I would say that it's the Tamil version of an Abbas-Mustan movie, in almost every single way. And that is pretty much it, I guess. Except, of course, Dulquer makes it SO MUCH BETTER. And this was way funnier. And definitely less cringy (it was objectively quite cringy though).

I almost started to deal with the morality of Intlo Illalu Vantintlo Priyuralu once it ended, but stopped myself just in time. It was a delightfully amoral 90s comedy movie, and that was just perfect for the mood I was in. And when I say comedy, I mean the kind where your stomach and head hurt from laughing too much.  It's interesting how the two E.V.V. Satyanarayana movies I've watched (the first being Aavida Maa Aavide ) have similar elements- the husband with two wives situation and the subversion of Ramayana (shhh, don't let the bhakts in). However, the two movies are genuinely very different, and at no point do either of them feel stale, which is saying a lot, considering how thematically close they are to each other.  The best part about this movie was everyone's excellent comic timing, and just how insane and over the top everything was. Also, I would just like to know which genius decided to base part of the movie in Nepal, without doing even the most ru...

If only this movie was just  about Neena (Shobana) and her ultimate stannability, with her daughter Nikitha (Kalyani Priyadarshan) playing just a minor role, it would easily have been one of my favourite movies to release this year. But as it is, after being subjected to that storyline, I am choosing to remember this movie only for the complete heartwarming experience that is Shobana. And of course, inspiring too. It's almost as if two parallel movies are going on here- one where Neena is a middle-aged single mother, whose story doesn't merely revolve around that fact; she has her dance, her French classes, her easy charm that endears her to everyone, and most importantly, she has the "I don't give a fuck" attitude that "woke feminist" movies try so hard to portray, but Shobana does it so easily it's magical. She has no shame about accepting and admitting the fact that she's always been a romantic, and yes, it led her down a very dark path onc...

The only reason for one to watch this movie is Konkona Sen Sharma, and that is it. Another instance of a Hindi horror movie that could have been goosebumps-raising horrifying, but it just does not live up to the hype that Konkona's bit creates in the first half. Sigh. The biggest question of course is, why does Bollywood suck SO BADLY at making horror movies? I am so exasperated, if Bulbbul does not live up to the hype, I am officially writing off the horror movie genre in Bollywood. Never again. The only reason I even have expectations from Bulbbul is because of the fact that it's written and directed by a woman, and produced by a woman, and has a woman as the lead. It does not take a genius to figure out that women just instinctively get horror better than men (who ARE the horror of our lives), and therefore, COME THRU LADIES. PLS. 

This was more entertaining than I was expecting from the premise- a guy in his 20s trying to juggle between his romances. Yeah, nice Ranbir Kapoor reference. Howeverrr, I was pleasantly surprised? The movie felt more like an Indian version of (500) Days of Summer (2009), in that it tried to expose the man-child behaviour of the male protagonist instead of blaming the female protagonist(s) for... basically, the guy facing the consequences of his own actions. Also, another thing that I liked about the movie was that it didn't go over-the-top in its treatment of the millennials- you know what I'm talking about right? The KJo-ification of millennials, if you will: the whole notion that they're all commitment-phobic immoral assholes who just do what they want, without a flying fuck for other people and their feelings. Uh huh. The characters in this movie, on the other hand, feel normal and familiar. I am so sure I have heard this convoluted tale of cheating before, and well, ...

I was both excited and nervous about watching Nuvvu Naaku Naachav for various reasons, and oh man, now I have no idea where to begin with this "review". Do I start off with the fact that half a day later, I'm still chuckling at some of the most iconic scenes (I actually went back right now and saw two of them #noragrets); or that I'm still shook (pleasantly) by Sujatha's (Suhasini) feminism (more on this later); or that I had the widest smile on my face after this movie got over? Okay, so I will try to be as coherent as possible, but I can't make any promises. If there's one thing that I will tell people while recommending this movie is that it is just so relatably funny- like there are no over-the-top gimmicks or anything, it's just a bunch of these quirky people who collide with each other and get themselves into ridiculously hilarious situations that your stomach ends up hurting somewhere around the middle of the movie because you have laughed so...

Confession: I have not seen Léon: The Professional (1994), and hence, have no views about it. Now that that is out of the way, let's focus on Guddu Dhanoa's Bichhoo . Not that I could, but okay. The first thing I want to say, and the thing that irritated me the most, was that I did not understand the significance of the "bichhoo", neither as the title, nor as Jeeva's (Bobby D in another iconic role) pet. Was it supposed to show how J's "edginess"? It didn't really succeed in that, if that was the intention tbh. Also, this barely escapes the "god-tier" cinema list, because of the fact that I completely zoned out in the last half hour or so, and only zoned back in towards the end. Probably because I knew that I'd have to rewind (#closureissues) and no way in hell was I prepared for that. It was just so... eh. And the reason, I believe, is because of the weird transformation that Kiran (Rani Mukerji) goes through. From this incredib...

There is nothing like watching an old childhood favourite, and still loving it after alllll these years. I know SRK plays an insufferable man-child and I know it's a typical "unrealistic" Bollywood romance; but get this: 2 of the most gorgeous people to ever exist have the best damn chemistry, romance each other in Greece and a tiny little Mumbai apartment, there's lots of banter involved, and in the end, love triumphs over everything else (the "joote jagah par rakha karo" line is one of the most iconic things ever). The soundtrack is so beautiful, especially the lyrics- Javed Akhtar really set the standards for romance really high for 7/8 years old me. "Main bhi hun tanha, tum bhi tanha hooooo" asjhdsalcs. Also, the video for "Tauba Tumhare Yeh Ishaare" literally defines my entire raging sexuality. "Raaz yeh kaise khol rahi ho" INDEED. This movie contained another revelation for me- Priya (Rani) and Raj (SRK) do an impromptu...

I pretty much hated this movie from the beginning itself- Karthik (Chaitanya) was one of the most irredeemable assholes I have ever seen on screen, and the story was your average 90s "romantic" trash that should have been left behind in that decade. What was the most infuriating part, however, was that the director tried so hard to make it "modern", with all the kissing and the use of English swear words. If only all that effort had been geared towards writing a semi-decent script, we might have had a winner for the ChaySam shippers out there. But no. No, no, no. Whatever "chemistry" they even have here is ruined, by the script and the direction. Sigh. There really is no justice to be had in this unfair world. Another thing that was outrageous was the weird, jerky camera work that lowkey ruined the visuals of Kerala. And the anti-minority sentiment that prevails over the entire movie? So not subtle. I mean, of course, the Christians are oppressive and p...

Truly horrifying, just not in the way it was intended to be. I was laughing at most of the "scary sequences", and there was only one scene where I felt really spooked out. Otherwise, just pathetic, especially if one considers the potential that it had to be a semi-masterpiece. Most of the actors are under-utilised (Riteish Deshmukh and Amitabh Bacchan, for example), if not completely unutilised (Sonali Kulkarni!!! UGH), and that is the real tragedy operating at the core of this movie.  The Arjun Rampal bit was so lame- anyone who's watched Darna Mana Hai would have known right away how it's going to end. The Suniel Shetty-Rajpal Yadav story looked promising, but suffered from an absence of the scary element right at the end. The first story, which was directed by Ramu himself, finished so abruptly that one didn't even have the time to react to what just happened. I could go on and on, but it's just not worth it. This movie was B A D, plain and simple, and ...

My third Sameera Reddy movie of the year- that's three movies too many than I would ever prefer tbh. This woman somehow has an unparalleled ability to progressively get more on my nerves with every single scene of hers. It's not even the fact that she is a bad actress, it's something else altogether, and I hate it. I hate it so much. Otherwise, this movie was a good one. I was not expecting too much, because I have unfortunately been exposed to what passes as "horror" in Hindi cinema (not that I prefer white horror movies, just to be clear), but this was a pleasant surprise. The weakest links, I would say, were the beginning and the end. For once, it wasn't entirely Sohail Khan's fault- the story that he starred in was just so bleh, even a good actor couldn't have salvaged it. And the ending, which hinged on Sushant Singh, could have been so much creepier, especially when they had such a talented actor to carry it out. What yaa, Ramu. The story th...

Okay SO. I was the biggest fan of this movie back when it first came out, and I am so sure that it was all due to the INSANE crush, love, whatever I had for both SRK and Rani. Yes, being Bollywood trash completely messed up my childhood, and no, I don't really care anymore. But rewatching this, as a 23 year old who has understood (hopefully) some nuances of how "adult" relationships are supposed to work, and who also has a preconceived bias against this movie (almost everyone I know hates it and has given me ample receipts in that regard), I still really can't bring myself to hate it? Maybe it's because it reminds me of simpler times, when Rani and SRK were my favs and I wasn't woke so they weren't my "problematic favs". Maybe because I actually really like the psychological and moral tensions of a story that revolves around two "horrible" people. Or maybe, simply because I am and always will be a complete trash person from the bottom...

So this little gem completed 60 years yesterday, and as it had been on my radar for a while now, I thought, "no better and more appropriate time than now to finally see it". The Apartment  made me realise just why that era of Hollywood is known as the "Golden Age"- the dialogues are exquisite, the performances are the right blend of funny and "cinematic" (for want of a better word), and the story has a real soul, that speaks to you after all these years. The film has aged really well, at least better than what I was expecting after reading the "blurb". It really is a big mirror, as well as a big fuck you to corporate capitalism and its insistence on meritocracy, which of course I appreciated whole-heartedly.  Also, the bit where Fran (Shirley MacLaine) tells Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) why she cut her hair? I-fuckin-conic. As someone who cuts her hair after every heartbreak in her life (not limited to the romantic ones), it's nice to s...