one time wanderer

As messy and dramatic as it was, I didn't really hate it. Or rather, I couldn't bring myself to hate it- Baby Shalini being the prime reason for this. She was way too adorable and precious in this, and I loved her acting and dancing a lot. Her bond with Mammukka warmed my heart up, especially when I remembered that they would later go on to do Kaliyoonjal (1997) together. Mammootty himself was as brilliant as always. I bought whatever he was selling, just because it was him, and more importantly, him in the 80s, when he literally could do no wrong in the looks department. I liked Saritha too, which was a pleasant surprise, since I don't think I have seen her anywhere else. Sukumaran as always was all guns blazing the life of the party, and you know what, I love him for it. Someone's gotta pop up and spice things up, and Suks takes up that responsibility with commendable ease and finesse. Seema though, was a bit of a disappointment. She was either over-acting, or being t...

It hurts to know that neither Venkatesh nor Soundarya got a National Award for their performances in Raja . They were insanely good and convincing; so much so that if the storyline, screenplay or whatever had any flaws, I didn't notice them. I was fully immersed in these two and their journeys, and rooting for them to get their happy ending. I don't know if it was because of the kind of headspace I was in or some other reason, but I was practically sobbing almost throughout the movie- especially whenever someone even hummed "Edo Oka Raagam" or it played in the background. In fact, I listened to both versions again after finishing the movie, and I was full-on crying by the time they ended. It is such a beautiful film, and the two protagonists make it even better.  However, I don't want to give the impression that the movie was a sob-fest all the time. The first half was lots of fun and wholesome too, and I just adored Soundarya's bonding with the kids. HEART RE...

One of the best Bollywood movies from the 80s by a long shot, all thanks to Sridevi and Amrish Puri. It was practically impossible to take your eyes off of Sridevi, she was so good and earnest and all things mesmerising. Yet again, she proved that she could take the most cliché-ridden and cringe roles possible, and create magic out of them.  The writing is tight and dramatic enough for one to easily slip into suspension of disbelief. The movie is not too long, which is a relief considering how much movies from that era tend to drag on. The cherry on top of the cake though is undoubtedly the dynamics between Sridevi amma and Amrish ji. They really do have one of the best protagonist-villain chemistries, and it is such a treat to watch them, even after so many years. And honestly, you can't miss this movie if you're a fan of either or both of them. The entire movie is basically a build-up to the "Main Naagin Tu Sapera" song, and it is so totally worth it. Even the ...

This was so hard to sit through... that I didn't. The concept was amazing I guess, but everything reeked of misogyny and there was too much whining by a man-child from the first scene itself got on my nerves. Plus, the main "twist" aka the premise of the story took way too long in arriving. I had to suffer an hour of pointless women-bashing to get to the main point. I thought it would get funny after that; and it did, for like one and a half scenes. Following them, it was back to "man I wish I was watching something else" hours. The psychiatrist bit could have been really funny and honestly saved the movie for me, but it was mega cringe and plain bad. Zero points. In conclusion, I'm glad they put Sonali Bendre's item song in the beginning only, so that I didn't have to sit through more than an hour of this mess. 

The older I get, the more I despise David Dhawan and his brand of cinema. There is something so deeply cringe about that man, it makes me feel weird to know that once upon a time I used to find his movies entertaining. But well, we grow up I guess. Thank God I did, at least in this context. To begin with, my problem with this movie mostly lies with how under-utilised Juhi Chawla was. This is her forté- a good old 90s rom-com with heavy emphasis on the comedy; and yet, we barely get to see her doing anything fun. Her outfits were all amazing, but apart from that, nothing. On top of it, the rest of the movie was quite underwhelming. Anil Kapoor and Govinda did not have any sort of comic chemistry whatsoever, and their scenes and characters were so sloppily written that it wasn't even hilarious in the wrong way- it was just boring. Thank God for Johnny Lever though, he managed to slip in a few laughs here and there. True king. Rest everything, progressively pathetic. I don't even ...

Easily the best of both Shahid Kapoor's and Vishal Bhardwaj's careers. Shahid's acting prowess is on a whole other level here, and I really can't wait for the day my man starts doing good films again. Yes, I said my man- I am unstable enough to revive my long-suppressed crush on Shahid Kapoor. What about it? As for Vishal Bhardwaj: first of all, I cannot help but admire him for choosing this story to tell. I cannot think of a mainstream Hindi movie that presents such an honest picture of Kashmir, and seeing how things are right now, I don't think we'll get such honesty anytime again soon. Technically too, he is in full control of the narrative, and takes his audience along with him so effortlessly that despite all the horrifying things happening on screen (sometimes graphic in nature), you really never want to look away. Everything else comes together beautifully too- the music is just perfect, and every single person in the cast gives it their 100%. Tabu as Gha...

The way this movie completely lost me in the last half hour is truly legendary. I mean, you would have expected something better from a movie featuring three great performers (Nedumudi Venu, Swathi Reddy and Fahadh Faasil) but nah (special mention to my man Sreenath Bhasi, the real scene-stealer always). Better never to expect anything only, even from a movie that starts off so strongly.  I guess the major reason why I felt let down (apart from the disservice done to the actors) was because of how mental illness and health were treated. I genuinely thought there was going to be some healthy discourse on the topic, but it was tediously run-of-the-mill, and like I said, a great disservice to how good FaFa was as Harikrishnan. I also felt like Swathi and Venu sir were grossly under-utilised: if they weren't gonna give Harikrishnan a full-fledged arc, the least they could have done was to cover it up with the other two solid actors. And the supporting cast... they had Geetha AND Sreena...