Baradwaj Rangan
The Hindu·Film Companion·Baradwaj Rangan
Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata
2026
Manoj Tapadia's 'Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata' is a moving, well-crafted tribute to the heroines of 26/11.
Dream Girl
2019 · Film Companion · Sep 2019
As always, Ayushmann Khurrana finds interesting ways to spice up his scenes. It would have been easy to make this a ba-dum-dish punch line. But he infuses into it a dash of comic desperation. You laugh at (and with) him.
Super 30
2019 · Jul 2019
A smashingly effective story of a determined educator and his underprivileged wards
Gully Boy
2019 · Film Companion · Feb 2019
A Softer Than Expected, But Hugely Entertaining And Beautifully Made Street-Rapper Story
Thackeray
2019 · Film Companion · Jan 2019
Thackeray is a warts-and-none propaganda film about a man who peddled hate and keenly fostered a sense of otherness (first South Indians, then Muslims). The trailer may be offensive, but it's honest
Vishwaroopam 2
2018 · Film Companion · Aug 2018
A not-exactly-needed sequel, but a solid delivery mechanism for Kamal-isms
Kaala
2018 · Film Companion · Jun 2018
The second Rajini-Ranjith outing is better than 'Kabali', but still an odd fit for both...
October
2018 · Baradwaj Rangan · Apr 2018
There are many wonderful moments in October, but the epiphany never quite arrives. Some will say that's okay, that just the experience is enough. I guess I wanted more from what I found a fascinating experiment rather than a fulfilling film.
Kabali
2016 · The Hindu · Jul 2016
Kabali doesn't pander to his fans. No comedy. No punch lines. And yet, it must be said that Rajinikanth does more for the movie than the movie does for him.
Alice Through the Looking Glass
2016 · The Hindu · May 2016
The overt attempts of feminist touches come across as manufactured. The reconciliation in the end too isn't good enough. At least Alice in Wonderland had Tim Burton's visual artistry. This one isn't remotely interesting in that regard, even if watched with a magnifying glass.
Sairat
2016 · The Hindu · May 2016
An epic reimagining of the typical love story touches (and crushes) the heart...
Manithan
2016 · The Hindu · Apr 2016
Manithan generally hovers in the hmmm-not-all-that-bad-zone because it's such a crowd-pleasing script.
Aarathu Sinam
2016 · The Hindu · Feb 2016
Characters come and go – a journalist who doesn't believe in research, a cop who doubts Arvind, a suspect who worked as a driver for one of the victims. A heavily made-up Aishwarya Rajesh reminds us, grimly, that one Kaaka Muttai does not a Kollywood career make. Even the serial killer's motive is underwhelming. And he won't shut up either.
Kanithan
2016 · The Hindu · Feb 2016
Kanithan, thus, is probably the closest Tamil cinema is going to get to Spotlight – that is, if the journalist was played by Rambo. You cannot have a mainstream movie, especially one whose lead actor is making a big bid for stardom, without action sequences – but these are excitingly staged, especially one in which Gowtham takes on an acrobatic villain who seems an expert in what looks like indoor parkour. But it isn't just thrills. We realise how serious the film is from the body count of the good guys.
Visaranai
2016 · The Hindu · Feb 2016
A powerful, chilling drama about how the System toys with us...
Urumeen
2015 · The Hindu · Dec 2015
Urumeen doesn't have much by way of laughs. It doesn't need any. The way-over-the-top direction is its own comedy track.
Thoongaavanam
2015 · The Hindu · Nov 2015
An okay thriller, with goodies for fans...
Puli
2015 · The Hindu · Oct 2015
Put differently, Chimbu Deven has forgotten to make a movie for adults. His inventions surprise us, delight us for a second or two – and then we're back to the turgid story.
Thani Oruvan
2015 · The Hindu · Aug 2015
Thani Oruvan isn't all that it could have been. If you've wondered why we don't make thrillers like the Bond films and the Mission: Impossible films, the reason is right here. In those films, a few minutes are devoted to detailing who the target is, what the mission is, and then we're up and running. But Tamil films keep trying to transcend the basic thriller. They want to deliver enriching messages. The too-good-to-be-true hero wants to preach — he spouts four lines when he only needs one. All this becomes a lot of extra baggage. The film slows down from time to time.
Orange Mittai
2015 · The Hindu · Aug 2015
The film is basically a road movie. It's also a drama about fathers and sons. The title — mercifully unexplained — may refer to candy but the film is a quiet ode to the bittersweet life.
Maari
2015 · The Hindu · Jul 2015
Some nice bits can't save a grindingly ordinary movie...
Bāhubali: The Beginning
2015 · The Hindu · Jul 2015
In the midst of filmmakers who think they're giving us spectacle by going to virgin foreign locations and shooting mountains and flowers, Rajamouli gives us more… and more. This isn't just about grandeur in visuals. It's about grandeur in ideas.
Papanasam
2015 · The Hindu · Jul 2015
Future film scholars are going to tie themselves up in knots about who is better, which approach is better, but for now, let's just say Kamal Haasan is terrific. And it's terrific to see him play a 'normal' part, something that doesn't ask you to view it through special Subtext Revealing Glasses. As fun as that is, sometimes, more of this, please.
Eli
2015 · The Hindu · Jun 2015
No one seems to know what to do with this material. The director keeps adding masala elements like action scenes and songs. You'd think these would be comic action scenes, comic songs. But only occasionally. The rest of the time, it's all played depressingly straight. Even Vadivelu is stranded — the gags he's in are shockingly weak. He gets a scene where he romances Sadha (she's the moll, I think) to the strains of Mere sapnon ki rani. He lip-syncs the whole song, as if the mere idea of Vadivelu in a Rajesh Khanna scenario is automatically funny. It is — for about ten seconds. But like the rest of the film, this bit too goes on forever.
Romeo Juliet
2015 · The Hindu · Jun 2015
A preposterous mix of 'comedy' and melodrama...
Kaaka Muttai
2015 · The Hindu · Jun 2015
It is so entertaining that it's easy to forget how sad the undercurrents are. CM and PM no longer go to school because there's no money.
Masss
2015 · The Hindu · May 2015
As for fun-loving family audiences, what do I pick? The scenes of drinking at a TASMAC bar? The beeped-out F-word? The stretch where a mother and her little girl are burnt alive? The film's U-certificate may be its spookiest accomplishment.
Uttama Villain
2015 · The Hindu · May 2015
Kamal Haasan's writing is so dense and allusive and overstuffed and layered and indulgent that it's always a question whether even the best actors and directors in the world can come up with the kind of wit and timing needed to fully make the transition from page to screen — in other words, the best Kamal Haasan movies are probably locked up inside his head, where they reside in the most perfect possible manner.
Valiyavan
2015 · The Hindu · Mar 2015
his is the whole why of the movie, it's what we've been building towards. But these conversations are drowned out by the rah-rah background music, which is readying us for the final fight, where Vinod will rip his shirt off and reveal a six-pack. At least when it comes to ogling at physical assets, there's no gender discrimination in Tamil cinema.
Kallappadam
2015 · The Hindu · Mar 2015
It's as if the director got cold feet about portraying producers as uncouth hoarders of black money who deserve to be looted — and we wind up with a dedication to… producers. Survival, I suppose. Who wants to antagonize the people who run the business? This cop-out is its own little meta-commentary.
Kaaki Sattai
2015 · The Hindu · Mar 2015
As overlong, utterly generic, badly written, indifferently made action-comedy star vehicles propelled by Anirudh's growling guitar riffs go, Kaaki Sattai is as disposable as they come. The laughs aren't great. The romance is perfunctory — you could use the word also for the drama and the attempts at punch lines. The big action sequences look odd because they are choreographed with a mega-star in mind and on screen, we see Sivakarthikeyan.
I
2015 · The Hindu · Jan 2015
A story this pulpy should have been way more exciting.
Meaghamann
2014 · The Hindu · Dec 2014
Meaghamann could have used a more charismatic hero, but it helps that Siva is a grade-A brooder, not given to effusive displays of emotion. Anupama Kumar compensates somewhat as a cop given to declarations like "The game is getting deadlier." Indeed, the director actually makes us believe that Siva is in danger. Given the general invincibility of the hero in our cinema, this is no mean accomplishment — a stretch involving enemies closing in on Siva is particularly well done.
Lingaa
2014 · The Hindu · Dec 2014
...it's harder to forgive the near-complete lack of entertainment, save for a late-in-the-day action sequence where Rajinikanth jumps on a motorbike and does what we pay to see Rajinikanth do. The theatre erupted at this point – out of sheer relief, it seemed to me, at finally having something worth cheering about.
Appuchi Gramam
2014 · The Hindu · Dec 2014
Less Bradbury than Bharathiraja, but that's part of the charm...
Kaaviya Thalaivan
2014 · The Hindu · Nov 2014
There is no denying Vasanthabalan's desire to make "good cinema," but like his other films, Kaaviya Thalaivan makes us give him an A for effort, even as we rummage down the alphabet when it comes to aspects of the execution.
Vanmham
2014 · The Hindu · Nov 2014
Watching something like this is punishment enough without making it seem like a two-and-a-half hour underwear commercial.
Jai Hind 2
2014 · The Hindu · Nov 2014
Forget coherence or plausibility, but the action's not bad...
Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe
2014 · The Hindu · Nov 2014
Could have used more tension, but well-written and keeps us guessing...
Kaththi
2014 · The Hindu · Oct 2014
A lot of flab, but some solid masala moments...
Sigaram Thodu
2014 · The Hindu · Sep 2014
A good thriller towards the end, after much wasted time.
Jigarthanda
2014 · The Hindu · Aug 2014
Films like Jigarthanda, targeted at Twittery youth, fight a mighty fight to bridge that divide, striving to make commercially viable entertainment with truckloads of auteurist artistry. If nothing else, you have to respect the man on the unicycle.
Kochadaiiyaan
2014 · The Hindu · May 2014
Part of the problem is surely the generic revenge-oriented plot, which plays out between two warring kingdoms. This may still have worked in live action, but in this animated form (and with hardly any expressions on the characters' faces), the excitement is muted. Scenes that should have been shaped with the peaks and valleys of high drama end up flat as a plain.
Children of War
2014 · The Hindu · May 2014
A worthy film based on fact, but lacking the zing of good fiction.