one time wanderer

Nothing in this film comes close to Nani- not the other actors, and certainly not the script. I knew it was going to be underwhelming, but I wasn't prepared for how boring it was. I think I only properly zoned in for Nani's part, because everything else was plain meh. My boi deserved a better movie as an antagonist, and I hope we get it one day. Knowing Nani, we probably will, so that's a good hope to hang on to as we approach 2021. He is anyway giving us exciting content- y'all Nani said Happy 2021 already. #Blessed

I didn't really have many thoughts while watching this- it was beautifully shot, as expected (Venkatesh Maha had earlier directed C/O Kancharapalem , which is a masterpiece) and had wonderful actors who managed to keep my interest despite the rather slowly-paced story. I enjoyed the last 40 minutes of the movie more than I did the rest of it though, probably because of the drama and the nice chemistry between Satyadev and Roopa Koduvayur. Speaking of Satyadev, he puts up a fab performance as the lead, and I would recommend that you go watch this movie for him.  I personally found it off-putting that the narrative basically revolved around masculinity. Tchah. Jyothi (Roopa Koduvayur) was practically the only ray of light in that aspect.  That's all, I guess. Oh, and I am very excited to see Suhas in Colour Photo now. Yay.

Boring. So boring. The only bright spot was Alaya Furniturewala- she seems promising in her debut, and I genuinely hope she picks up better scripts in the future that can explore and polish her skills further. Tabu, as always, was entertaining, but her part was too short to make up for how uninterested in what was happening on screen. The story was weak, predictable and honestly, felt like a rip-off of some Hugh Grant movie from the 90s. And as much as I love 90s cinema, we really need to leave it alone now. 2020 is almost over and I will scream if I have to sit through another new movie that feels stuck in the past for no good reason whatsoever. I say this as though I totally don't have plans to watch the Coolie No. 1 remake (thankfully remake of the Hindi one, not the Telugu one- I will actually scream if the Telugu one gets remade), but what can I say, there really is no limit to hypocrisy. Actually, let me amend that and say there really is no limit to masochism.  In short, avo

You really cannot praise Tabu enough for this performance. Even though the story and dialogues have certain glitches, this movie is a must-watch not just for the topic it touches upon (women's sexuality) but also just to see what a queen Tabu is. The scene where she has to tell her husband about her pregnancy, and the last iconic monologue are 2 of the most impactful scenes from that decade, and you cannot convince me otherwise.  My favourite part about the ending sequence is that no man utters a single word once Tabu says her piece. They all fall silent, as they should, and that's the message everyone should take home once they finish this movie- men should not interrupt while women are talking, men should learn to listen, and of course, men should not stop women once it's clear that they have made up their minds. That's it, that's the only #feminism we need from men. As a start, I mean. There's so much more we need to do, and it's a shame we haven't re

Only one meme can sum up my overall reaction for this movie- "they had me in the first half, not gonna lie". I was genuinely very hooked on to what was happening in the first half, but for some reason, I did not vibe with the "explanations" part of it. I don't have any other reason for it except that I just did not like it. And that's about that. But I do feel like it is worth checking out, especially for people who are into thrillers. It feels a little seedy at times, and I wish they had cast someone else for certain roles, but overall, one of the better examples of the genre, at least in the first half which reminded me of RGV's Kaun (1999). Second half, well- I feel like other people were into it more than I was, because I heard/read some good reviews of the movie. Didn't work for me though, which is a pity because I was all ready to be spooked out. Sigh. I feel like it is high time I actually watch Raatri  (1992). HOPEFULLY before this year ends.

I tried really hard to like this movie because Jayaram was hilarious, and so were many of the scenes, but every single time I looked at Kamal and Jyothika together, all I could see was the age gap of 23 years between them. Jyo was literally 23 when this movie I came out, and now my head hurts. Anyway, the icky lead pairing wasn't the only thing that turned me off- I found the film way too long to successfully maintain its comedy throughout, and I'm sorry to say but the PTSD aspect was very shoddily handled. That was my main reason for watching Thenali anyway, so you can see why I'm not very fond of this movie. It feels extremely dated, to say the least. Plus, Jyothika has been under-utilised here and it pains me to see her like that, ugh.  In conclusion, this definitely feels like it was made 20 years ago. Thank god there seems to be some progress regarding the depiction of mental illness in Indian cinema now (keyword being 'some', of course). 

It's hard to believe that this movie was released 20 years ago- it remains as fresh and delightful as ever, and here I must thank A.R. Rahman for blessing humankind with his genius brain. His music makes the beautiful visuals a hundred times better, and that's the reason why we must recognise him for being the most stannable person there is. No arguments to be entertained on this topic. One of the best parts about Rhythm , and probably the reason why I'll want to revisit it in the future (apart from its other credentials for being an A1 comfort film, of course) is Meena's character, Chithra, who is one of the most sensitively written examples of the "strong female protagonist". I don't want to say anything more about her though, because words will only do her injustice (plus I need a dedicated rewatch to write an essay), but let me just put it out there that Meena herself said that this one of her favourite characters that she ever played. And it shows- he

Spoilers ahead: How I wish films from that era did not have the mandatory comedy and action tracks, which just take your attention away from the main plot. Also, saying "films from that era" makes me feel so old while referring to a movie from 2000.  Had those two aforementioned elements not existed, I would have definitely enjoyed this movie a lot more than I did. Ajith did a brilliant job as the protagonist Sridhar, and my heart went out to him. I even cried a little in the scene where he's pleading with the music director. And even though the ending was conveniently (but also abruptly) happy (it was so obvious that it was stitched together at the last moment), I was actually okay with it, simply because I wanted Sridhar to be happy and successful. Jyothika was a delight as always, and I can never get enough of her bubbly charm. Special mention for Raghuvaran and K. Viswanath, who played Sridhar's elder brother and father, respectively.  I only wish that the filmmak

It is very rare that a 90s Hindi movie fits so well into the well-defined structures of a conventional melodrama, and yet, has enough subversive potential for you to really sit down and think about it. Just to give you an idea about the conventional stuff- one of the major reasons for the vamp character being evil is that she finds the idea of marriage boring and wants to have a career for herself; in contrast, the heroine character is content with being a wife and having a "home". The subversion here is that even when the heroine gets her "home" with the man she has been smitten with for a long time, she does not immediately transform into a "wife". She lays down boundaries very clearly (bonus points for being a communication queen) and tells her husband that she will need some time before she can accept the marriage. To which the husband agrees- this is another vent of subversion I want to go down. There are very few examples of a couple being friends pr

This had full potential to be one of the better masala entertainers in recent times, were it not for the vomit-inducing Brahmin propaganda. Bunny is in excellent form, or should I say, style , the music is good (special mention to Seeti Maar, which has been stuck in my head since April now), and honestly, who doesn't want to see Stylish Star as Telugu Batman of the Masses? But Brahmin propaganda predictably screws this up, leaving you with a lot of disgust at the entire experience. Also, talented actors like Tanikella Bharani, Chandramohan and Rao Ramesh are under-utilised here, which makes no sense considering that such movies usually thrive on the comedy, and not on the "plot".  Ultimately, it's Bunny who saves the day, but even his best efforts fail in front of the mind-numbing mess that this movie is. Sorry boy, sincerely hope to see you in better mass stuff soon (it's what u deserve sweetie).

SPOILER ALERT Disclaimer: I did not watch Vignesh Shivan's bit. I was told that the LGBT representation there is truly pathetic, and I was afraid I'll get triggered. Plus, going by the reviews, it sounded cringe-max, so it's not like I'm missing out on a lot anyway.  I was honestly not even planning on watching this, because I thought I wasn't in the right head space for such a heavy subject but then I came across a Sai Pallavi interview that seemed super interesting but it contained spoilers for this movie, so I had to. Well, well, well. Going to review the films in the order I watched them, and then give my overall opinions about the anthology, minus the Vignesh Shivan short of course. Here we go: 1. Thangam (directed by Sudha Kongara Prasad) Trigger warning: t*ansphobia First of all, I would just like to mention that trans community's criticism that trans characters should not be played by cis actors needs to be taken more seriously by the film industries. Ac

As far as gangster movies go, this was a decent one. However, as my friend had warned me, it was way too full of masculine energy for me to enjoy it all the way. It's not just about the action scenes either- the dialogues were mostly full of macho pride, plus the female characters were all uni-dimensional. What's worst was that the moment I started expecting something out of the women, they fell back into their one-note existences.  What worked in this movie for me was how visually amazing it was. The food shots were so satisfactory that I didn't even feel hungry afterwards. I could feel the rice and curry between my fingers, and I could smell the eggs being fried on the roadside stall. In fact, it's making me hungry NOW, while writing about them, so I'll stop. The real winner of the movie, though, has to be the much talked about 12-minute long climax scene shot in a single take. It's not just spectacular to watch - it's also brilliant in what it pulls off w

I was initially a little apprehensive of watching it, because I was afraid it would be chock-full of masculinity, and have one-dimensional female characters. Fortunately though, I was in for a pleasant surprise- both Mithra (Nivetha Thomas) and Shalini (Nivetha Pethuraj) were well-crafted characters, and added their own charm and nuance to the proceedings. I also appreciated how the R3 Batch (Sree Vishnu, Priyadarshi and Rahul Ramakrishna) were smart enough to pull off what they pulled off (spoiler-free zone) and yet stupid enough to do things like lose phones, etc. It made them feel more real, something which is lacking in 90% of comic capers I feel. Plus their friendship was itself so wholesome (R3 batch + Mithra) and I would honestly recommend people to go watch the movie just for that aspect. Rarely does friendship feel so natural in our Indian cinema, and we must appreciate whatever we get. Spoilers ahead: I was genuinely so shook at the #plottwist, which I guess means that the mo

Such a disappointment. I was actually looking forward to a quirky, funny film- this was funny only in the sense of me laughing at myself for watching another Malayalam movie that makes me feel like someone is hammering my head, and not in a nice way. The protagonist and his deep yearning for companionship made me feel something somewhere, but it got lost with the agonisingly slow pace of the movie. I'm serious, I actually played it at 1.25x speed at one point, but stopped because that didn't feel right either. The worst part is that- I don't even know honestly, because just thinking about this movie is making me super sleepy again, so I shall stop.  In conclusion, Dulquer bro, I really wanna support you, but pls, find better scripts. *crying rivers emoji*

I heard Hriday Ranjan at Film Companion South calling it the "Samantha Akkineni Show" and that is honestly the most apt description of this movie. Samantha doesn't just carry the movie on her shoulders- she dances along with it, making her audience dance in the process too.  Actually, I would say it's the "Samantha & Lakshmi Show". Those two ladies make the film shine even in its weakest moments, and it's their massive talent combined into one character that makes it such a treat to watch. I was thoroughly entertained throughout the runtime, and the best part is that the movie doesn't give you enough time to ponder upon its flaws. It's only after you're done (with the movie and with crying) that you start to question why certain things happened, and well, I don't know about you but I prefer this to nitpicking and criticising while watching the movie itself.  As for the flaws- the biggest ones that I can think of are the mother propaga

I really don't think I am in any way compatible with this director. I saw another movie of his a while back called Varavelpu , and that was supposed to be some sort of marvellous satire, but I mostly just found it boring. I reasoned with myself that it's maybe because I don't know too much about trade unionism in Kerala, but then I realised that that's not the point at all. Call me uncultured but for me, a film should be able to stand up for itself even if you have no prior knowledge on the topic. Ideally, a film should make you want to know more about the issues it's addressing, so that you can come back to it and understand it better. So I would like to begin this "review" by taking back my self-doubt about not being able to appreciate Varavelpu . Coming to this movie now- now, why do I keep choosing to do this? This was promised as some sort of clever yet poignant take on issues like rampant unemployment, stagnant economy, etc. but it was just a 2 hour

I had to watch this one in honour of Victory V's 60th birthday (not that the man seems to be ageing at all). This was one of the best movies about dance that I've ever seen- especially in the context of Bhanupriya's character. What can I say, I love me a gal who asserts herself and tries to find her own space in the world.  Venkatesh's character meanwhile, was a pretty accurate description of every man ever, aka someone who just needs a girl to save from herself. I kinda hated him here, but of course, my thirsty ass cancelled me for cancelling him, and I ended up taking 500 screenshots of Venky looking like the most beautiful man in existence. I found the caste politics of the movie lowkey problematic too- the more they tried to be subtle about the Brahmin way of (cultural) life, the less subtle they became. Nevertheless, the fact that it was Ilaiyaraaja who composed the music works as a beautiful counter-balance to that aspect. Speaking of which, the music is honestly

To be very honest, I only got invested in the movie once the Madhubala-Dilip Kumar romance started for real. Before that, I was almost ready to give up- I found the pace slow and meandering, and I was unable to build up any real interest in the proceedings. However, those two lit up the screen, and I had no option but to be fully invested in their story.  Bonus points to the song "Dil Mein Sama Gaye Sajan" and the very last line Dilip Kumar says- I honestly thought more about how the movie ended than about anything else. Not exactly an unconventional ending, and not quite a conventional one either. Also, Madhubala looks gorgeous in every single frame from every single angle, but we been knew that already. I really liked the cult angle as well- it kind of gave a new layer to the original text, and made me that much more invested in this Jane Eyre reboot. Now, coming to the topic I lowkey don't want to talk about at all- the fact that this movie is an adaptation of what use

It's so hard for me to decide from where to begin this "review", because honestly, this wasn't just a movie, it was an experience. Bollywood romantic dramas do not get better than this, and this is what you should be watching if you want to know what that genre is like. Or, if you're already a fan, this is what should be on the top of your watchlist.  The main thing one notices about any romantic drama is obviously the lead pair- if you don't have one with excellent chemistry, even the most engaging of storylines feel underwhelming sometimes. However, there is nothing not excellent about the chemistry between Sharmila Tagore and Rajesh Khanna. This was the first movie of theirs that I saw, and I immediately understood why they are considered one of Hindi cinema's most iconic pairings. There was literal magic happening on screen, and I didn't even realise how time passed (I am normally very fidgety) because I was so engrossed in their story. I don't

*puts on clown make-up* Can't believe :) I saw :) a 3 hour long :) movie :) for 10 minutes footage :) of :) Shobana :)  There was so much going on in the movie, I literally lost interest within half an hour, and only zoned in for those ten minutes . No regrets there, Shobana looks exquisite, but THERE IS JUST NOT ENOUGH OF HER. No wonder madam got bored and went on a sabbatical. Mammootty was good to watch, but that's because it's him. Nothing more. Literally, nothing more. I don't even know for sure who the characters were, why they married or whatever. Bah. Goodbye. 

Oh my god, this movie was such a mess. Forget being "bad" or whatever, it was so non-engaging and non-watchable actually, except the scenes with Venky. And let's be honest, Venkatesh is in one of his hottest looks here, which automatically redeems the movie in my eyes and I'm not even ashamed of it. Of course I still hate the movie, and I lament desperately that we should have gotten Gharshana Venky in a better movie, or the Asin-Venky hotness in a better movie, but the past can't be changed.  In conclusion, I am just a humble simp. Khuda haafiz. 

TFI back at it with the amazing comedies that make me forget the need for an "interesting plot" or whatever. Bonus treat: Megastar Chiranjeevi, who made me forget the fact that I had seen the big #plottwist coming from a mile away because he is so damn good at everything from comedy to drama to thrills to romance. Speaking of romance though, while I can't say that Chiru and Suhasini's chemistry was amazing, but both of them were individually cute so I'll let that pass. Also, Suhasini's character was the OG manic pixie dream girl, and a way better one than most contemporary examples. We stan. In conclusion, they should have stopped making James Bond movies after 1986, because who needs him when you can have James Pond? Go and watch it for non-stop laughs, and a few acting indigenius moments by the Megastar himself. 

Instead of writing an actual "review" for the movie, I just want to reiterate my love for TFI and how brilliant it has been in maintaining its high standards of comedy. It's amazing how it's not just the comedians who bring the movies alive with their antics, but the leads themselves are so hilarious and good that it makes for the most entertaining experience possible. Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu is a good example of this- both Savitri and NTR (Sr) are bursting with crazy energy (Savitri a little more though; NTR has other stuff to do like being a freedom fighter and moral science teacher) and so is the rest of the cast. I was laughing everytime someone said "Ek Niranjan", and well, isn't that what we all want at the end of the day? Also, the songs were amazing, and I am relieved they are on Spotify for me to go back again and again.  And lastly, Savitri Maa <3 <3 <3 <3 Can't wait to watch more films of hers and fall deeper in love with her Ma

The only appropriate way to begin this "review" is by stating that Brahmanandam garu should have won the National Award for Best Actor for this performance. It's a SHAME the way Telugu cinema has been ignored all these years by the National Awards, and reparations must be made at the earliest.  Now, at the risk of sounding overly sentimental, there really is nothing like watching a proper comedy movie with a best friend (obviously, you need to have a similar sense of humour for this to work), especially when you end up going back to your favourite scenes after it's ended and laughing all over again. This is probably why Adhurs will always have a special place in my heart, apart from giving me a whole new outlook on the phrase "guru garu" (in Chari's voice of course). Also, Tarak was redeemed in my eyes thanks to this movie, considering that I'd just seen Naa Alludu a couple of weeks back. And honestly, I'd go back and watch this movie just for N

Okay so first of all, I was NOT prepared to see the late Reema Lagoo (may her soul rest in peace) do bedroom stuff. Not kidding, my soul screamed "SAASU MAAAAA" in Supriya Pilgaonkar's voice (if you do not know the reference, that's on you). Coming to the actual movie now, which is Shashi Kapoor and Rekha supremacy all the way. Not that the other actors aren't amazing, but these two prove why they're G.O.A.Ts. Rekha in particular- she has very few dialogues, but man, the way she can act more with her two eyes than most people in their entire filmographies. From her very first scene, she arrests your attention, and makes you look out for her in all the subsequent scenes, anticipating her restrained but brilliant performance. Shashi Kapoor meanwhile, is pitch-perfect. Seriously, there is no other way to describe it. As soon as I knew he was going to play the Karna character, I was pumped because I knew that no one could do this role justice like him.  The other

It's hard to find fault with a movie that has actual dream boy Shashi Kapoor in a double role. However, I must say that Johnny Walker was completely wasted in the parallel comedy track- he deserved to be a full-fledged part of the main story in some capacity, or at least have a comedy track that did justice to how hilarious that man could be. Also, I had zero idea about the plot before I started watching it, not even about the double role, because I only wanted to see this movie because of the song 'Bekhudi Mein Sanam'. Yes, that's the kind of power Rafi Saheb & Lata Tai have on my soul. So basically, everything hit me fresh, and as a result I was that much more invested in the look-alike drama. I honestly felt as confused as Babita's character, which is just how this movie is supposed to be appreciated, I suppose. It's a good coincidence that I watched this right after Johnny (1980), which had a similar look-alike drama. Also, there were parallels to one of

I know I'm very late to the party, but it's only after watching this movie that I am truly appreciating how good an actor Rajinikanth is. This was definitely one of my top double roles of all time, and I loved how he was so subtle that I had no option but to be fully focused on what was happening on screen. Apart from that, Sridevi was breath-taking. It's hard to believe that she was just 17 when she added so much depth to a role like Archana's, but well- expect the extraordinary when it comes to Amma. And of course, Ilaiyaraaja's compositions bind the whole thing together in a beautiful complete package, which does not make the ending caption "Music the Life Giver" feel cheesy at all. Or at least, not as cheesy as it could have been (or rather, should have been).  I was listening to the album again, and zoned out very pleasantly during "En Vaanilay". Honestly, I watched this movie after hearing a lot about Amma's styling and the music, and I