Balaji's Thots

Yeidhavan follows the Bairavaa route in exposing the seedier side of our education system. But instead of a superstar like Vijay, its Kalaiarasan who has to fight the system. This works well initially since the lack of image-enhancing songs and fights allow the network and the way the system works to be shown better. But Kalaiarasan does turn […]

Director Ezhil started off working with stars like Vijay and Ajith but had a long break in his career after 2007’s Deepavali. He returned in 2012 with Manam Kothi Paravai and has since found success on a smaller scale with rural comedies headlined by actors with much less star wattage. I was not a fan of Manam Kothi Paravai or his next […]

Director Radhamohan is the Vikraman of this generation, steadfastly sticking to simple, feel-good movies that place emphasis on subtle emotions and comedy over masala and action. Brindavanam, his latest film, isn’t any different. Jyothika played a speech and hearing impaired character in Mozhi, Radhamohan’s best film so far. In Brindavanam, its the hero Kannan(Arulnidhi) who is  […]

Wild imagination and gripping storytelling combined with a huge canvas, terrific VFX and stunning visuals made Baahubali – The Beginning  an exhilarating experience. After ending the film as a cliffhanger and making us wait for 1 1/2 years to know the answer, director Rajamouli is back with Baahubali 2 – The Conclusion. A solid story packed with drama and intrigue and […]

It looks like Dhanush is fast becoming the T.Rajender of this generation! After trying his hand – and being very successful – at acting, singing, penning lyrics and producing films, he has now turned director with Pa Paandi. It is a simple, feel-good film about a unique protagonist and like everything else Dhanush does, it works because it […]

Director Siva’s films so far(Siruthai, Veeram and Vedhalam) have all been mass masala films. While his success rate tells us that he has learned the art of making a hero-centric masala film, he didn’t seem like the kind of director who would be suited to directing an action thriller. His films were loud, didn’t possess the style […]

The title refers to the 8 bullets in the gun that is stolen from Sathya(Vettri), an inspector. Sathya, who spent his younger years in a juvenile school after being convicted for a crime he did not commit, is an interesting character who stands apart from the cop characters we’ve seen in Tamil cinema over the years. […]

P.Vasu brought his film Apthamitra from Kannada to Tamil as Chandramukhi and delivered one of Tamil cinema’s and Rajnikanth’s biggest BO hits. He travels the same route with Shivalinga, a remake of the Kannada hit of the same name which also he directed. Raghava Lawrence lacks Rajni’s star power but more importantly, the film, a murder […]

Nayanthara is truly in a league of her own when it comes to Tamil cinema heroines today. While the Samanthas and Kajals are showing up in inconsequential and sometimes downright insulting roles in hero-centric films, Nayanthara is getting films where she not only gets top billing but does many of the things we usually expect […]

Kadamban falls in the same category as films like Kaththi. It addresses an important, topical issue and builds a hero-centric story around it. The issue here is deforestation and though the film itself is simplistic, hero Arya’s lower star wattage allows it to be more focused while the issue itself leads to a unique setting and good action […]