Illaiyaraja creates history
Isai Nyaani Illaiyaraja announced on Deepavali Day that his Symphony Number 1 will be released in the United Kingdom on Jan 26, 2025. Illaiyaraja had composed the symphony in April and May of this year. The symphony is being marketed as the first full symphony by an Indian composer, but music fans will remember that […]
AMARAN review
For those who have followed Sivakarthikeyan’s career from a TV host to his first big screen appearance and then his graduation to lead role, watching Amaran is like watching your child graduate. It is career redefining role for him and one he delivers with apparent ease. Amaran is an emotionally charged military biopic about the […]
Interview with Jerard Felix
Over the last three years, there has been an increase in the release of Independent tracks. Tamil cinema was, for a long time, largely dominated by film music, but the increase in poplarity of independent tracks heralds a new and welcome era for Indian music in general and Tamil music in particular. In this interview, […]
Interview with Nandhini JS
The growth and popularity of OTT platforms has led to the creation of new markets for good quality serials that go way beyond the soap operas of most Chennai-based TVchannels. I spoke to Nandhini, JS, a film director who made her big screen debut with the romantic comedy Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru (2009) and was […]
Interview with Gautham Vasudev Menon
I got to chat to Gautham Vasudev Menon in the week in which he launched his first original song, Mutha Pitchai in which he sang the vocals to original music which he composed. In South Africa, the song went on to reach Number 1 on the Tamil top 20, a position it held for two […]
Why MR Radha shot MGR – A Quest for the Truth
On 12 January 1967 shortly after 16h00, actor MR Radha walked into MGR’s house and shot him at point blank range before turning the gun on himself in an attempted suicide. Miraculously, both survived, but the truth behind the curious incident has remained a mystery. There are many versions of the incident, but the truth […]
Musings of a film critic
Being a movie critic has its obvious perks, including watching all the latest movies, occasionally before the general public get to see them– but I often ask myself: Of what relevance really is the opinion of a film critic? How is the opinion of a film critic more important than any other film fan? I […]
MOHAM MUPPATHU VARUSHAM review
The Indian weekly magazine Ananda Vikatan is one of Tamil Nadu’s most popular weekly magazines. A popular feature in the magazine is the serialised version of various locally-written stories. The Rajinikanth- Sri Devi starrer, Priya, was an example of one such story being made into a movie. For the film Moham Puppathu Varusham, the debut […]
SALANGAI OLI review
K.Vishwanath’s Purnodhayaa Movie Creations is the production house behind the landmark film, Salangai Oli. Kamalhassan, Jayapradha and Sarathbabu share the lead roles, along with S.P.Sailaja – the younger sister of S.P.Balasubramanyam – making her acting debut. Others in the cast are Arunkumar, Saakshi Rungarao, V.Sathyanaraayanan, Krishnan Chaitanyaa, Premesvara Rao, Misro and Y.S.R.Moorthy. The film also […]
ULAGAM SUTTRUM VALIBAN
Ulagam Suttrum Vaaliban is a lavish production from MGR Pictures (MGR’s own production company), filmed on location in India, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and Thailan. The film has a huge star cast with MGR in a dual role opposite four lead ladies; Manjulla, Latha, Chandhrakalaa and Metaa Roongrath of Thailand. Also in the cast are […]