Avinash Ramachandran

Tamil cinema often explores the complexities of marriage. From marital discord due to forced marriage to people falling out of love, and hoping the other one falls into love, we have seen various facets of marital life be explored in our films. And when director Nelson Venkatesan introduces a distraught Anand (Atharvaa) and a chirpy but disturbed Divya (Nimisha Sajayan) in his latest film, DNA, the stage was set for yet another exploration of two random people deciding to live their lives together. This is a space Nelson has excelled in, right from his debut film, Oru Naal Koothu, which dealt with the idea of marriage. Even in Monster, although the primary story was a man-rodent conflict, it spoke about companionship, empathy, and loneliness. And it was a culmination of all of these themes in his third film, Farhana. However, in DNA, Nelson lets go of his strong suit to put on an armour of investigative drama, and is unable to balance both with the required panache.

Blood, Brotherhood, Betrayal. From the time world cinema began to be fascinated by the lives of gangsters, these three words have been the bedrock of every iteration of their story. More often than not, these gangsters escape the long arms of the law only to find themselves on the wrong end of the gun barrel. Godfather was no different. Nayakan was no different. And even if we thought otherwise, or were told otherwise, Mani Ratnam-Kamal Haasan’s Thug Life, after a point, is no different. But till we reach that point, the film is a fascinating exploration of the life of an ageing gangster coming to terms with his frailties, and dealing with the same with sardonic wit and insatiable lust. But then, suddenly, Thug Life wants to become a revenge drama fuelled by age-old reasons for betrayal that makes you wonder… Is this really the Mani Ratnam-Kamal Haasan film we were waiting for?

In Ace, multiple things keep happening at the same time. There is so much chaos, and a lot more convenience. But it is that kind of film where we know everything will fall in place, simply because what’s the point otherwise? When we watch Ocean’s Eleven, we want the protagonists to steal and escape. Or closer home, when we watch Sadhuranga Vettai, we want the heist to be successful because it is cathartic to see a well-laid plan come into fruition despite all odds. Just like every Indian heist film, there is a larger reason for the protagonists to indulge in this crime, but writer-director Arumugakumar doesn’t aim for the stars in Ace. His reason is simple, his heist is simpler, and the execution is simplest. Then what holds the film together? The chaos.

Why doesn’t John Wick die? Why doesn’t Ethan Hunt die? Why doesn’t any bullet even graze the shoulders of our heroes when they have insane precision with their shots? How do the henchmen die with a couple of slashes by a machete but the hero survives a thousand blows? Of course, there is no point asking these questions simply because we know the answer. He is the hero, and at the end of the day, he has to walk into the sunset with a girl in tow even if he is a bloodied mess. Director Sailesh Kolanu’s third installment in the popular HIT franchise, follows this template right from the word go, and converts our ‘beloved-boy-next-door’ Nani into a ‘kick-the-door open and innovatively kill and maim 100 people’ Nani.

How does one know their purpose in life? Who tells them? What makes them realise? Does everyone realise their purpose? And why are some happier being the conduit in someone else’s story rather than being the hero of their own? But isn’t that purpose even bigger than the purpose of the ‘hero’? Retro is director Karthik Subbaraj talking about a political issue that is closest to his heart. Armed with immense filmmaking knowledge, supported by a strong technical team that understands the assignment, Karthik asks himself an important question through the actions of his protagonist, Paarivel Kannan, played by a terrific Suriya.

Our world is very cynical. Everything around us screams cynicism, especially in the social media era where everyone is judged, and everything is scrutinised. Probably why our minds love to forget all of that and watch good things happen to good people on the big screen. Even if it might seem ‘cringe’ or ‘boomer-ish’, these films still put a smile on our faces simply because for those couple of hours, we want to feel everything is right and good in this world. It is on this belief that filmmakers like Rajkumar Hirani and Radha Mohan plied their wares over the past two decades. Now, in director Abishan Jeevinth’s debut film, Tourist Family, we find enough evidence to believe that he is a worthy addition to this list of optimists who make the world go round when the cynics believe the world has stopped.