Balaji's Thots

After the Suraa disaster, the widespread opinion was that Vijay definitely had to do something different to put his career back on track. Kaavalan is proof that the actor himself realized that. With a film that focuses on comedy, romance and sentiments instead of action and politics and lets us see a different actor than […]

After Pollaadhavan, Dhanush and director Vetri Maaran have moved away from the city to the village for their next film Aadukalam. But the memorable characters, engrossing screenplay, attention to detail and meticulous research that went into their first film are all raised a few notches here, resulting in a film that is thoroughly entertaining and […]

First things first, 2010 was a truly ‘happening’ year for Tamil cinema. The year could be termed truly star-studded as every star, big and small, had atleast one release. So we had films from Rajni, Kamal, Vijay, Ajith, Suriya and Vikram and ofcourse newer and younger stars like Dhanush, Simbhu, Vishal, Bharath, Jiiva and Karthi […]

Considering the love our heroes have for the masala genre, its no surprise that Karthi signed up for Siruthai, a remake of Ravi Teja’s Telugu hit Vikramarkudu. With a dual role for him and ample opportunity for action, romance, comedy and sentiments, it must’ve been an easy choice. But one wishes he had also seen […]

The final collection of reviews for 2010 are now online @ the reviews site. Apart from the reviews posted on this blog, this update includes reviews for Vallakkoattai, Virudhagiri and Thenmerku Paruvakkaatru. 2 recent movies I saw but couldn’t review were Nagaram and Sidhu +2. Considering that Sundar. C’s movies have routinely figured among the […]

Pongal always kicks off a new year’s movie watching on a high with at least a few  high-profile movies and 2011 is no different. While not as diverse or exciting as 2010’s Pongal which served up films as different as a socio-fantasy adventure and a heist flick, this year’s 4 releases are varied enough to […]

Now that we are in the new year, its time to look back on what 2010 had to offer as far as Tamil cinema goes. As always, its nice to kick things off with music and so the first Top 10 list will be composed of my favorite song sequences from films released last year. […]

After he made the trendsetting Subramanyapuram, Sasikumar has seen success both as an actor(Nadodigal) and a producer(Pasanga). But he doesn’t continue his streak with Easan, his return to the director’s chair. The film is engrossing as long as it focuses on the politics-police-business nexus but then inexplicably – and very disappointingly – turns into a […]

Wish you all a wonderful 2011.

Kamalhaasan has always been known to alternate between serious films and lighter fare. With Manmadhan Ambu, he delivers a film that can be said to belong to both genres for the most part.  The film moves smoothly as long as it balances subtle comedy and drama but falters towards the end, when the balance tilts […]