Balaji's Thots

The teaming up of an actor who is just two movies old and a director whose last film was a much-hyped flop will not usually inspire a lot of buzz or hype. But Paiyaa is different. The build-up around the hero and the track record of the director, along with some smart marketing, has made [...]

Last weekend was another gorgeous one and so we headed out to Uvas Canyon County Park in South San Jose on Saturday. The park had those characteristics we usually look for in a day-trip destination – a reasonably short drive, no big crowds, a child-friendly hike – and as icing on the cake, it had [...]

Reviews for Jaggubhai, Thambikku Indha Ooru and Aval Peyar Thamizharasi are now online @ the reviews site.

Aval Peyar Thamizharasi creates some interesting characters against a unique, interesting backdrop. But it fails to fashion strong interactions between its two main characters. So the film, which aims to be an emotional love story, is neither emotional nor a strong love story.
Jyothimurugan(Jai) is returning to his village after 8 years and once he is [...]

Thanks to all the participants for making this so much fun. It was illuminating and enjoyable reading about your favorites and the reasons behind them.
Now for some statistics (I think this is the first time that I had to use a spreadsheet related to this blog! I just hope I translated the comments into the [...]

Thanks to all of you who sent in your choices for the best of 2009. More on that tomorrow. But first, here are my own picks for the winner in each of the categories.
Best Film – Pasanga
In Pasanga, Tamil cinema finally had a film that treated children as children rather than cute kids wise beyond [...]

After a few years break, I thought I’d restart the Best of the Year picks (this post is about a week late since I originally wanted to do this last Sunday to coincide with the Oscars). Based on a commenter’s suggestion, I’m making this somewhat interactive this time and seeking your inputs. Apart from making [...]

Reviews for Odippolaamaa, Rasikkum Seemaane, Theeraadha Vilaiyaattu Pillai, and Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaayaa are now online at the reviews site.

With our big stars opting almost exclusively for masala and actions films, the only full-length romances we get these days seem to be ones with new actors. Odippolaamaa, which sees actress Sangeetha’s brother Parimal debut as hero, is the latest such romance. Parimal has some distance to go before being a successful romantic hero but [...]

The last weekend saw the weather take a break from the rain and the storms with a couple of warm and  sunny spring-like days. So we headed out to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park after lunch. The first stop was a pretty lake where the kids had fun walking among the large number of birds [...]