Balaji's Thots

My ten favorite films of 2009…
10. Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru
This underrated film navigated atleast 3 different genres expertly by tying them together with subtle comedy. The transitions between the sections were smooth and kept us consistently engaged even if the light-hearted take on everything meant that the film never developed any dramatic tension. The likeable [...]

Since the list of my least favorite 10 films of the year is usually made up of films that very people have actually seen or even heard of, the Bottom Ten now refers to what I consider the 10 most disappointing films. So here, in reverse order, are the 10 films I consider the biggest [...]

As far as movies go, 2010 sure seems to be top-heavy with a string of big movies lined up for release. 2 weeks after Pongal and Aayirathil Oruvan, Goa is now ready for release. The film might be very different from Selvaraghavan’s product with respect to scope and ambition but in terms of expectations, it’s [...]

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger was my latest attempt to expand my reading beyond the thriller and mystery genres. It was the winner of the Man Booker prize and received rapturous praise from the press. Adiga is a wonderful writer and picks a story and narrator that suit his style but the consistently negative picture [...]

There is typically one trend that dominates Tamil cinema each year and in 2009, it was rawness and realism.  Subramanyapuram showed us how much of a trendsetter it was as movies began to follow its raw approach. Renigunta, about a young protagonist pulled into a life of violence, and Yogi, that followed a hard-hearted rowdy as [...]

Compiling this list only confirmed something I’d guessed before – song sequences didn’t have a very good year in 2009. The criteria I typically use for this list is completely unscientific – the number of personal YouTube views. In other words, the deciding factor is simply the number of times I seeked out the video [...]

Whether one likes the movie or not, there’s no doubt that Aayirathil Oruvan is a very  ‘adult’ film. It definitely earned its ‘A’ certificate with its mature themes, graphic violence and overt sexuality. So it was disturbing to see so many children of all age groups at the Sunday 8 pm show, here in San [...]

Considering the kind films that Selvaraghavan has made so far, Aayirathil Oruvan is a huge leap for him. Dropping the emotions and relationships that he usually relies on in favor of adventure and computer graphics, he has aimed for an ambitious, big-budget epic that tackles not just adventure but also history. The film offers a [...]

Reviews for Pazhassi Raja, Yogi, Renigunta, Kandha Koattai and Vettaikkaaran are now online at the reviews site.
After 70 reviews and more than 75 films seen, this update closes out the 2009 reviews. As another statistical landmark, with this update, the number of reviews on the site has reached 800.
Happy Pongal!

Pongal, which kicks off each year’s movie season, is usually marked by the release of atleast 1 movie with a big star (we’ve had Villu, Bheema, Pokkiri and Aazhvaar the last few years). This year is different in that we don’t have releases from any of our big stars(his hat-trick of hits notwithstanding, I don’t [...]