Sat, March 1 2025

Jiiva’s Aghathiyaa, which marks the debut of lyricist Pa Vijay as director, neither is clear about its genre nor about the ideology it wants to purport.

Abrodolph Lincoler is one of the outrageously funny characters in the American animated series Rick And Morty’s hit episode Ricksy Business. He is a genetically engineered clone with the DNAs of Adolf Hitler and Abraham Lincoln. He is an experiment gone wrong. The idea was to create a more neutral ideological leader, but in reality, he ended up becoming a person with disoriented ideas. Sample one of his lines: “Prepared to be emancipated from your own inferior genes." He is a diabolical cocktail of ideas. Watching Aghathiyaa reminded me of this character as the film’s ideology is as confusing as Lincoler. On one hand, the film, directed by lyricist Pa Vijay, has Dravidian newspapers Kudiyarasu and Viduthalai as some product placements throughout, and at the same time, it is a propaganda film about Siddha medicine that would make Periyar turn in his grave.

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Sat, March 1 2025

Suzhal S2 amps up the intrigue with a gripping crime, a tighter plot, and compelling leads. But its tendency to over-explain and sidestep political sharpness holds it back from true excellence.

At least two Tamil films that released in 1988 get a namedrop in the second season of Suzhal: The Vortex. They are Senthoora Poove and Agni Natchathiram. One is about a dying man who makes it his mission to save two young star-crossed lovers, which is a throwback to season one of Suzhal that unfolds around the death of one such pair. The second film is about parents and children, warts and all, which points to a theme in Suzhal’s second season— about father and mother figures, and their adopted sons and daughters. At the centre is the father, pointedly named Chellappa (Lal), a criminal lawyer known for his righteousness and sincerity, a darling of victims and survivors. There is also a mother with a fleeting appearance but otherworldly deeds and influence. It is a curious thing, those namedrops—one vaguely referring to a dance troupe named Senthoora Poove and the other directly invoking Mani Ratnam’s Agni Natchathiram and its unforgettable climax of strobe lights waltz. Later, the series invokes another 1988 Tamil film title.

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Fri, February 28 2025

Lacks the snap and brilliance of the first season, created by Pushkar-Gayathri, but it still manages to be a decent watch.

Pushakar-Gayathri’s Suzhal: The Vortex Season 1 continues to be one of the very few Tamil web series that’s on par with the global standard of such long-form thrillers. It has set a high benchmark that even the second season of Suzhal: The Vortex also fails to reach. Yet, the new season, streaming on Amazon Prime Video still warrants a watch as it has a lot going on for it. While the problem with season 2, directed by Bramma G and Sarjun KM, is largely due to its predictability and convenient writing, it still holds your attention due to a few good streaks of brilliant writing.

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Fri, February 28 2025

Created by Pushkar and Gayatri, Suzhal - The Vortex 2 is a crime drama that suffers from overstuffed ideas. The show has interesting ideas, but it gets lost in the overstretched screenplay.

Director duo Pushkar and Gayatri were pioneers in making the Tamil web series space a flourishing one. Cashing in on the success of Suzhal - The Vortex, the makers created a sequel to it, which is currently streaming on Prime Video. Suzhal - The Vortex is one of the most celebrated web shows in Tamil. Has Suzhal - The Vortex 2 lived up to expectations? Let’s find out! Nandhini (Aishwarya Rajesh) is sentenced to jail after killing her abuser, while SI Chakravarthi aka Sakkarai (Karthir) is helping her from outside. He is also closely working with activist and lawyer Chellappa (Lal) to fight in court for Nandhini. However, Chellappa is found dead at his cottage with a gunshot to his forehead.

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Fri, February 28 2025

Boban Samuel’s Machante Malakha portrays male characters as victims and perpetuates regressive gender stereotypes, making it a dated and uncomfortable watch.

A certain machine-like uniformity marks the male and female characters in Boban Samuel’s Machante Malakha. While almost all the male characters are good-hearted and submissive, a majority of the female characters are scheming ones trying every trick in their book to make life difficult for the men around them. This unmissable pattern in the writing of the characters serves the purpose for which the film appears to have been made – to put into cinematic form the grievances of the men’s rights associations that have cropped up in recent times. Machante Malakha begins as a typical boy meets girl story, with Sajeevan (Soubin Shahir), a bus conductor, falling in love with Bijimol (Namitha Pramod), a regular passenger in the bus, after a series of fights. But the prologue to this love story, when a fellow bus conductor whom Sajeevan is in love with leaves him to get married to a rich man, signals the film’s intentions. Whether it be due to this underlying agenda of the film or plain bad writing, Bijimol is written with confusing character traits, changing her behaviour multiple times even within a single scene.

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Fri, February 28 2025

Tillotama Shome's towering performance holds the film together – especially one that luxuriates in what is left unsaid.

In another life, Maya (Tillotama Shome) would have lived a different, more comfortable life. A college graduate in Barrackpore, she was set for an ordinary middle-class life like the many girls around her. However, all her parents’ dreams crash and burn when Maya tells them about Sundar (Chandan Bisht) – a pahadi man stationed in the nearby army cantonment. By the time Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi’s Baksho Bondi (English title: Shadowbox) begins – it’s been a few years since Sundar has been dishonourably discharged from the army because of what appears to be a serious case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The rebellion of young love has made way for the caution and weariness of middle age. Both presumably in their late 30s by now, the onus of providing for Sundar now falls on Maya.

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Sun, February 23 2025

In a literal world, ‘Baksho Bondi’ — Bengali words carrying set meanings — need not exist together. When translated to English, ‘baksho’ means ‘box’ and ‘bondi’ is ‘captive’; both denoting the idea of being boxed up. But then again, in a literal world the verbatim translation of ‘Baksho Bondi’ would be a phrase: captive in a box. Yet first-time directors Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi forsake precision in favour of interpretation, choosing Shadowbox (Baksho Bondi, 2025), meaning to fight with an imaginary adversary, as the English title, and in doing so, shrink the subjectivity of a person to the objectivity of an experience. The result is a film that unfolds as an interplay of both titles —imbued with the angst of confinement and the spirit of resistance— while mirroring the ambiguity that comes with it. Maya (Tillotama Shome) lives with her husband and son in Barrackpore, a neighbourhood located at the fringes of Kolkata, a densely populated Indian city. She works constantly although the specificity of her labour takes shape later. She irons clothes and ferries them from door to door on a cycle, and does domestic work for a family. In between, she outlines her husband’s routine and instructs their teenage son Debu to help him with it.

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Fri, February 28 2025

Aadhi and Arivazhagan’s best work remains to be Eeram despite giving their all to Sabdham, which lacks the clarity and simplicity of their first collaboration.

A problem with magnum opuses is the weight of the expectations it creates for future projects from the filmmaker. Eeram continues to be a victory director Arivazhagan is unable to emulate. Sabdham is the second collaboration with Aadhi, which has brought the hit duo back again, but not the quality it had produced with Eeram. Though Sabdham is an unabashed attempt at creating a horror film of a similar pedigree, Arivazhagan falls short due to the lack of simplicity that Eeram wore as a crown. Eeram, his debut, was a straightforward story about the ghost of a virtuous woman haunting everyone who wronged her, using water as her medium. When the protagonist investigates the case, it takes an organic route to move from being a crime thriller to a horror. Everything about the film was lucid and engaging as the film doesn’t take too much on its shoulders. On the other hand, Sabdham (meaning sound) is confusing as it tries to marry science with the supernatural.

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Thu, February 27 2025

The limited series follows the long battle of families in the British town of Corby who fight to hold those accountable after their children are born with disabilities.

Toxic Town is the true story about an English steel town’s toxic waste that led to birth defects amongst the children. But more than that, the series is about the legal fight to get acknowledgement and justice for the pain and suffering they’ve been through. While the four-part series takes place over many years and tracks the arduous legal battle, Toxic Town is noteworthy for the stellar performances from its British cast led by Doctor Who and Broadchurch’s Jodie Whittaker. The limited series revolves around the working-class town of Corby, where the closing of a steel mill leads to other construction opportunities. However, as the site is developed into something different by negligent crews, under the lax leadership of the city council, the toxins seep into the town, affecting future generations. Mothers Susan (Jodie Whitaker), Tracey (Aimee Lou Wood), and Maggie (Claudia Jessie) all suffer different kinds of trauma as they watch their children suffer and, in Tracey’s case, watch them die. It takes much time, nearly 15 years, before any kind of resolution is reached.

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Thu, February 27 2025

Director RaMell Ross adapts Colson Whitehead's award-winning novel in a lyrical way that gives deeper meaning to this poignant story.

Nickel Boys, directed by RaMell Ross, is up for two Oscar awards at the upcoming ceremony on March 2. It deserved a few more nominations, including one for its cinematography that details the alternating perspectives of its teenage lead characters, Elwood and Turner. This tragic story, adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Colson Whitehead, hits even harder in this visual format, backed by some exceptional performances. Set in 1960s Florida, the story sees change coming to the US in the form of the civil rights movement and space travel, but in some places it feels like time never changed. Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse), a promising young Black teenager with a bright future, is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Transferred to the Nickel Academy, a reform school for juvenile delinquents, he learns how cruel the world can really be. Separated from his beloved grandmother (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), he makes a friend in Turner (Brandon Wilson), who is desperate to escape from the clutches of the evil wardens.

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Thu, February 27 2025

Created by Aaron Korsh, this redo of Suits in Hollywood's backyard tries too hard to ape the original nine-season cult favourite.

Suits LA is one of the most eagerly awaited shows of the year, and now that it’s here, one can only wonder why it was commissioned. Well, actually, we know why. But this redux of Suits is a disappointment on every level. Creator Aaron Korsh introduces a new shark-like lawyer with Stephen Amell’s Ted Black, aka the new Harvey Specter. But we all know that the original Suits was a lighting in a bottle. This second spinoff from the same universe does not have the same charm as the original nor does it have the characters required to get invested. The spinoff introduces viewers to hot-shot LA lawyer Ted (Amell), who is on the verge of a big merger with his partner Stuart (Josh McDermitt). Amidst the chaos of all this lies the news that his father (Matt Letscher) is dying back in New York. The premiere episode revolves around our introduction of Ted’s world, his fight to keep his firm and glimpses of his troubled past and shaky relationship with his father. A few generic supporting characters flit in and out.

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Wed, February 26 2025

The film was screened in the international competition category at the 28th International Film Festival of Kerala

Human beings are bound to have a breaking point, the limit till which they can take all the pain and sufferings that life throws at them. Geetha, the protagonist of Fazil Razak’s Thadavu(The Sentence) being screened in the international competition category at the 28th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), does not seem to have one. In the short period from the life of the 51-year old that we get to see in the film, she lands in one crisis after another, the latest one being more grave than the previous that it seems impossible that she would overcome it. But, for the woman scarred by two unsuccessful marriages and a series of unfortunate events, including being blamed for a child’s death for no fault of her own, the question of giving in does not arise.

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Wed, February 26 2025

If you dare

Written and directed by Mudassar Aziz, the film does bring tones similar to his previous releases like Khel Khel Mein, Pati Patni Aur Woh, Happy Bhag Jayegi series. While his previous films had some aspects working for them, Mere Husband Ki Biwi falls short on most of them. Led by Arjun Kapoor, Bhumi Pednekar and Rakul Preet Singh, the film attempts to explore a good concept about divorce and separated families but the message is lost somewhere between all the twists and turns that don’t add much. The comic timings often work but the screenplay doesn’t support or appreciate the comedy as much. The film begins with Arjun Kapoor’s Ankur Chaddha dreaming about his monstrous ex-wife, Prabhleen Dhilon played by Bhumi Pednekar. Ankur and Prabhleen have separated for over two years but she continue to haunt his dreams, and his reality. Her memories continue to get in the way of his new relationships, however, his one loyal friend refuses to give up even if it lands them in trouble. Ankur is finally able to move on when he visits his hometown to finalise a deal, where he meets his college’s ‘IT’ girl Antara Khanna played by Rakul Preet Singh.

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Wed, February 26 2025

अंकुर चड्ढा और प्रभलीन ढिल्लों (जिसे फिल्म में ढिल्लों, ढिल्लोन, ढिल्लन भी कहा गया) का तलाक हो चुका है लेकिन प्रभलीन के साथ बिताए बुरे दिन अंकुर की यादों से नहीं निकल पा रहे हैं। उसे पुरानी दोस्त अंतरा खन्ना मिलती है, दोनों करीब आते हैं कि तभी प्रभलीन लौट आती है और अंकुर को वापस पाने की जुगत में लग जाती है। कौन जीतेगी इस रेस में? हस्बैंड को छोड़ चुकी बीवी या हस्बैंड की होने वाली बीवी? अपने आकर्षक नाम और अपनी कहानी की रूपरेखा से लुभाती इस फिल्म को पति-पत्नी के रिश्ते की पेचीदगियों के इर्दगिर्द बुनी एक कॉमेडी फिल्म का कलेवर दिया गया है। फिल्म अपने फ्लेवर में है भी ऐसी जिससे हल्की-फुल्की कॉमेडी उपजती रहे और रिश्तों की संजीदगियों पर बात भी न हो। अपने ‘बॉलीवुड’ से आने वाली इस किस्म की फिल्में अक्सर यही तो करती आई हैं। आइए, देखिए, टाइमपास कीजिए और जाइए। जिसे कोई सीख लेनी हो ले ले, हम तो मसखरी दिखाएंगे।

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Sat, February 22 2025

Sun, February 23 2025

The fine line between journalism and sensationalism is fast becoming wafer-thin. Even those not privy to the world of journalism are aware of the falsehoods the media propagates in search of truth. So, what can the showrunner of ‘Crime Beat’, Sudhir Mishra, tell us what we already don’t know, or go beyond what Hansal Mehta’s ‘Scoop’ or ‘The Broken News’ offered? ‘Crime Beat’, like Mehta’s ‘Scoop’, is very much an insider account of investigative journalism. Based on the novel ‘The Price You Pay’ by Somnath Batabyal, who spent a decade covering crime, it takes us into the heart of news gatherers. Set in 2011 in New Delhi, a journalist, Abhishek Sinha (Saqib Saleem), in pursuit of page one stories even recreates the drama for a story. Of course, before we meet the protagonist of the series, we are introduced to Binny Chaudhry (Rahul Bhat). Hailed as a messiah, he is on the verge of surrendering to the police but before we get to know who he is, he is shot dead.

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Fri, February 21 2025

Saqib Saleem holds the fort with confidence in this series. Saba Azad and Sai Tamhankar do the same in a male-dominated show.

A significant addition to the small canon of Indian media industry dramas, Crime Beat, like Scoop before it, is based on a book written by a journalist who was in the thick of the action that forms the core of the series. Even its fictional elements largely flow from fact. The Zee5 series is marked by realism, an attribute that stems from its abjuration of overt generic flourishes. The dialogues co-written by the author of the novel (The Price You Pay, published in 2013)—scribe-turned academic Somnath Batabyal—contribute conversational authenticity to the show. Crime Beat investigates the Delhi underworld, the media’s attritional brushes with it and with men in uniform charged with keeping crime in check in the city. The lines that separate the three domains from each other as well as from party politics are frequently blurred, even erased.

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Fri, February 21 2025

You’ve seen Broken News. You know how rival channels work, ethics versus TRPs. You’ve seen Dhamaka and newsroom ambitions that prevail over national security. You’ve seen Despatch, the print medium giving way to digital. You’ve also seen umpteen movies and shows centred around a dreaded criminal, cops, journalists and politicians. You know that cops on the take, on the payroll of businessmen, ministers and opposition leaders, contribute to regular cinematic fodder. The show begins with someone with a huge following stepping out. Binny Chaudhry has surrendered, scream assorted TV anchors. And Binny is shot. The rest is a flashback to return to this moment at the end. Sudhir Mishra who takes the credit as showrunner and director (along with Sanjeev Kaul), picks up a book titled The Price You Pay and proceeds to build Binny Chaudhry (Rahul Bhat) as an uncatchable criminal with hawala rackets, kidnappings and ransom money that he showers like confetti over Indirapuram, the place he grew up in Delhi.

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Sun, February 23 2025

Over generations, Mahakavi Subramania Bharati has inspired people. But who inspired him? The film Shaktidasan explores this angle.

In his short lifetime of 38 years (1882-1921), Subramania Bharati left an indelible mark on Tamil society. His rousing poetry and prose introduced many to the concepts of patriotism and female emancipation, and enhanced them in those who already possessed it. His love for the country, and towards his Parasakthi, the divine feminine are well-known. The nimirndha nannadai (graceful walk with head held high) and nerkonda paarvai (straightforward vision) he visualised women to possess still serve as an inspiration to some and an aspiration for others. Despite multiple readings of Bharati’s life over the ages, there’s still scope to analyse the various facets of his life. And, that’s what the film Shaktidasan (devotee of Shakti), by director Usha Rajeshwari sets out to do.

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