Balaji's Thots

While I used to read everything written by John Grisham earlier, the author hasn’t been on my must-read-authors list for a while now and the novels I did read(like The Confession) did nothing to change that impression with their flimsy storylines, biased writing, downbeat outlook and rushed endings. While the pacing and suspense that made [...]

When director-turned-actor-turned-director Sundar. C returned to direction with Nagaram after a rather long stint as hero, the gangster-themed, serious film came as a surprise since the director had earlier been known for his comedies like Ullathai Alli Thaa and Naam Iruvar Namakku Iruvar. But with Kalakalappu, his 25th film as director, he returns to familiar [...]

It does seem to be a good time to be a successful actor in Tamil cinema. Our actors must be humming Kaadhalaa Kaadhalaa’s Kaasu Mela Kaasu Vandhu… as in addition to their salary for the movies they appear in, they are using their stardom as a springboard to earn money from several other areas.
First of [...]

The Avengers had a really long set up leading up to it as we had a series of movies introducing us to 4 of the superheroes(the Hulk, Iron Man,  Thor and Captain America) making up the group before they, along with 2 others, Black Widow and Hawkeye, were brought together  in 1 movie.  The team-up [...]

David Baldacci moves away from his favorite setting, Washington D.C, for his latest stand-alone(for now!) novel Zero Day. It starts off with the murder of an entire family in Drake, a coal mining town in West Virginia. John Puller, a military investigator, is sent alone to investigate the killings. With Samantha Cole, the town’s cop, [...]

Agent Vinod is Bollywood’s attempt to bring James Bond to Hindi cinema. The titular hero, played by Saif Ali Khan, is a suave, wisecracking RAW agent who is out to save the world from a deadly weapon and the man who intends to use it. The film has a decent plot and packs in some [...]

In both Kaadhal and Kalloori, director Balaji Sakthivel seemed to fashion a climax picked from the headlines and then develop the story leading up to it. He follows the same style in his latest film Vazhakku Enn 18/9. The two romances told in his trademark down-to-earth realistic style are engrossing because of the tight screenplay [...]

For me, waterfalls definitely occupy the top spot when it comes to enjoying nature. The itineraries of many of my trips are decided by the waterfalls in the vicinity of my destination and I try to see at least one on every trip. So one of my favorite local places is Uvas Canyon County Park, [...]

With his first two films Siva Manasula Sakthi and Boss Engira Baskaran, director M. Rajesh earned a reputation for making light-hearted films where comedy and romance, in that order, dominate the proceedings. The formula worked twice and he makes no effort to deviate from it in his third film Oru Kal Oru Kannaadi. But it [...]