Balaji's Thots

At the time when Selvaraghavan had only been associated with raw, earthy movies with flawed heroes, feisty heroines and obsessive romance, he sprang a surprise with Aayirathil Oruvan, a socio-fantasy that combined action and adventure with a very unique take on time travel. He steps more firmly into fantasy territory for Irandaam Ulagam, a love […]

Barring the inconsistencies brought on by the twist ending, 2012’s Pizza was a great horror film that was both scary and suspenseful. Pizza-II: Villa, a non-sequel notwithstanding the misleading title, is none of the former and a little of the latter. It is a straightforward, simple thriller that aims lower than its predecessor but accomplishes […]

When I wrote the preview about Arrambam, I lamented the lack of event movies this year. But the situation is being improved in this last quarter of the year with Irandaam Ulagam, another biggie, arriving this Friday, close on the heels of Ajith’s huge hit. With a talented director at the helm, a supposedly uncommon […]

As the year winds down, its pretty certain that both movies that Karthi appeared in this year, Alex Pandian and All in All Azhaguraja, will figure among the 5 worst movies of the year. That’s a shocking turnaround for one of our most promising actors whose first 2 movies, Paruthiveeran and Aayirathil Oruvan, occupied spots […]

Christopher Nolan showed us in Memento that a story narrated backwards could still surprise us as he started at the end and then took us back in time to show us how things started. Jeffery Deaver does the same with his book The October List, where he tells the story backwards. He employs some cheats […]

Reviews for 6 Meluguvathigal, Onaayum Aattukuttiyum, Raja Rani, Naiyaandi, Sutta Kadhai, Pandiya Naadu, All in All Azhaguraja and Arrambam are now on the reviews site.

Director Suseenthiran has so far conclusively proved that he excels in realistic, down-to-earth films with believable characters(like Aadhalaal Kaadhal Seiveer) rather than superstar-driven, mass masala ventures(like Rajapattai). Pandiya Naadu, a revenge drama headlined by a big star known more for masala films, sounds on paper like it would fall into the latter category. But Suseenthiran […]

Though director Rajesh has delivered three successive comedy hits, the quality of those ventures has been quite uneven. Boss Engira Baskaran worked very well as a light-hearted romcom but both Siva Manasula Sakthi and Oru Kal Oru Kannaadi were marked by some mean-spirited comedy and unfunny patches and were rescued because some of the comedy […]

The combination of Ajith and director Vishnuvardhan, teaming up once again after the blockbuster Billa back in 2007, promised a sleek and stylish action thriller along the lines of their earlier hit. Arrambam entertainingly lives up to that promise in the first half. But it then descends into a cliched revenge saga with all the […]