Balaji's Thots

Whenever we have no plans for the day, our default option is to head out on a drive along Highway 1 South. Though we’ve driven the route so many times, there are so many state parks, hikes and coastal views that its highly likely that we will stumble upon something we haven’t seen before. So [...]

Director Mithran Jawahar’s previous 2 films with Dhanush, Yaaradi Nee Mohini and Kutty, were both remakes of Telugu films and light romances served up with a sprinkling of comedy. For Uthama Puthiran, their third outing together, he once again goes for a Telugu remake but ups the comedy quotient so that the film seems more [...]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part I is almost like a 2-hour teaser for the 2nd part. It has more drama than action and is a bit slow-paced but like HP5 and HP6, it works wonderfully for those who know what’s coming and how it all ends.
The film picks up right after [...]

An intense hero, a passionate heroine, an obsessive love… these roles have formed the basis for many films since Paruthi Veeran. Mynaa, a different effort from director Prabhu Solomon, who previously gave us more action-oriented movies like Kokki and Laadam, is also built around these same characters. But with a convincing lead pair, memorable characters [...]

Reviews for Ochaayi, Gowravargal, Drohi, Vandhe Maatharam, Vaadaa and Va Quarter Cutting are now online @ the reviews site.

Pushkar and Gayatri made a strong debut with Oram Po, which made a mark with its memorable characters, style and quirky sense of humor. Their sense of style is intact and the quirkiness of the humor is raised a few notches in Va Quarter Cutting, their follow-up, but without strong characters and an engaging storyline, [...]

As someone who grew up before the advent of cable, when Doordarshan was king, New Year is inextricably linked to the image of Kamalhassan riding in on a motorbike screaming “Everybody… Wish you a Happyyyy New Year!”. Starting this year, Diwali also has its own defining image
Happy Diwali Folks!

Vandhe Maatharam’s plot seems straight out of a Vijayakanth film(like, for instance, Arasaangam) with its heroes on the trail of a terrorist with a dastardly plan to attack India. While the film boasts of better production values and fewer distractions, the occasional bouts of amateurishness and the ill-fitting, overblown sentiments ensure that it doesn’t rise [...]

It was another fun Halloween for the kids as they got to play dress-up, participate in two parades, carve pumpkins and go trick-or-treating.

As usual, Kavya didn’t decide what she wanted to be until we actually went to the costume store while Karthik had decided a long time ago what he wanted to be. So our [...]