Balaji's Thots

After the huge success of Pokkiri, Vijay went with a new director Bharathan for Azhagiya Thamizh Magan. With the film performing poorly, he went back to two directors who had given him the biggest hits of his career – Dharani(who directed him in Gilli) for Kuruvi and Prabhu Deva(who made Pokkiri) for Villu. With neither [...]

First Family is David Baldacci’s latest novel featuring Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, the pair of ex-secret service agents. After a detour into science, buried treasure and a whole lot of others things in Simple Genius, Baldacci is back on familiar territory here with political thriller set around Washington D.C. Combining Baldacci trademarks of a [...]

Vijay opened 2009 with Villu(which was released for Pongal) and now he is ready with his next release Vettaikkaaran to close out the year. Originally slated to be released for Diwali, the movie is hitting theaters this Friday.
Vijay is definitely consistent and one knows exactly what to expect when one goes to a Vijay film(whether [...]

One of Karthik’s favorite phrases nowadays is “by accident”. After a couple of instances where he wasn’t chided or was let off easily with just a light warning  because what happened wasn’t intentional, he seems to have realized that claiming that something happened by accident is like a free ‘get out of trouble’ card. But [...]

This was intended to be a birthday post. Late-a vandhaalum latest-a vandhirukku
Its not easy to find something new to write about Rajni. His rags-to-riches – or rather, conductor-to-superstar – story is common knowledge and enough has been written about his simplicity, his style and his spirituality. But while most such articles touch upon [...]

Happy Birthday to Rajni, Tamil Cinema’s one & only, eternal Superstar…
Looking back, the last year has been a rather uneventful one for us Rajni fans. After 2 successive years where Rajni films graced the screens, 2009 had no film from the actor. Reminiscing about thalaivar’s last film wasn’t a very desirable option either since [...]

Reviews for Saa Boo Thiri, Paalaivana Cholai and Naan Avan Illai 2 are now online @ the reviews site.

As a parent, I try my best to ensure that my children are not exposed to what I think are inappropriate things. But I’m frequently reminded that the  safety bubble I build around them is an illusion. And one day last week, I was dealt a double whammy in this regard.
That day, I was standing [...]

Adadaa Mazhaidaa… is a folksy number that tries but is not able to replicate the simple charm of Sandakkozhi’s Dhaavani Poatta…. Rahul Nambiar’s stronger voice(compared to Vijay Yesudas’ voice) and the more pedestrian lyrics share the blame for this. I’m not sure if Yuvan’s singing has gotten better or he is just growing on me [...]

Following New York, Kurbaan is another terrorist-themed film set in New York. It is sleek, well-paced and constructed skilfully but the loopholes in the story are quite damaging.
Hindi cinema always does the boy-meets-girl routine well and Kurbaan is no exception as Saif is completely charming when wooing Kareena. Things move quickly as they wed and [...]