Category: Film Reviews
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Mouna Ragam: Why Mani Ratnam’s Classic Still Hits Hard
Written as part of the Pesum Padam – Mani Ratnam Retrospective Series, this piece revisits Mouna Ragam. Click to watch the Mouna Ragam retrospective. A girl, a boy, an arranged marriage, the ghost of a lost love, the divorce papers, the heart that will not quit. That is Mouna Ragam in six beats, Mani Ratnam’s 1986 film that…
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NEEK: A Low-Key, Contemporary Love Story
Dhanush’s NEEK (Nilavuku Enmel Ennadi Kobam) is, as the tagline suggests, a very usual love story. Which is to say, it’s about young people falling in love, misunderstanding each other, and learning something about themselves in the process. The question is not whether we’ve seen this before. We have, many times. The real question is…
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Raayan: Intense, Violent, and Claustrophobic Fast Food
Remember how Vetrimaran’s Aadukalam begins? A frantic crowd tries to breach a brick house from every direction, and a piece of wood splinters as someone smashes it against the door, revealing a man inside watching with eerie detachment. Picture Dhanush in that moment—his face twisted with rage, a bloodied sickle in hand, anger bubbling beneath…
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Of passion, pixie dust and devasena
I was worried about the uber driver. Worried about me. Worried about the woman who had a cigarette stowed in her hand and driving a mini cooper next to us in 405 interstate highway. Google maps on the driver’s dashboard showed 11 more miles to the airport. Today was yet another rainy day(61% chance of…
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O Kadhal Kanmani – Of Millennials and Maritals
Disclaimer: What follows is a stream of consciousness type writing that hasn’t been edited at all. There are extreme indulgences about Mani’s past movies and some personal observations but if you want to know what a die-hard Mani fan felt about OK Kanmani you should probably read it. Each paragraph is a standalone card, so…
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