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...