Akshay Kumar

in Cinema Express

The film is at once familiar, flawed and pleasantly fuzzy, embracing a fairytale-like optimism even when its characterisations and screenplay falter

in The New Indian Express

The film is at once familiar, flawed and pleasantly fuzzy, embracing a fairytale-like optimism even when its characterisations and screenplay falter

in Cinema Express

Heartin enjoys a story that could both flirt with moving on from a

in Cinema Express

The film doggedly follows the singular event of what happens to the family that plans to visit the temple on a hillock. This choice pays off to an extent, but ultimately causes the film to come apart at the seams in the second half. It is fascinating to watch films like Kolaiseval that don't bother about too many things. Kolaiseval, the film, is as straightforward as its trailer. The film, despite making it clear it will be about honour killing, with scenes like Anusuya leaving her family for Kaali and retro songs playing in the background expressing concern over people's degeneration, like 'Ethanai Periya Manithanukku', arrives at this central point with a controlled pace. It is understood that the makers have worked on the first half as a set-up, but it is one of the rare occasions where you feel not everything needed such attention to detail.

in Cinema Express

Scintillating sail despite some turbulenceWith powerful performances, emotional exchanges and cultural documentation, the film renews the bond between the sea and the fishers, with the rest making the narrative slips negligible.

in Cinema Express

Linearity is the only thing that works in favour of the film, but that too is mishandled as the screenplay does not sufficiently explain how and why it is important for Kailash and Aazhi to reunite.

in The New Indian Express

To the positives first, Sai Dhanshika looks effortless while performing the stunts, which would seem right in place in any mass Tamil film featuring our superstar heroes. But unfortunately, the positives end there, and the film's biggest blind spot is that the plot is upholstered around showcasing her physical prowess, giving her nothing to chew on as a performer. Similar to the contrivance of whistle-worthy moments, the film doesn't look to be invested in the message it claims to send across. When a woman officer (not the bad commissioner, but the protagonist) yells at her subordinates to 'drape a saree' for being unable to nab the accused, it is not helping the women's empowerment cause. While this is just one scene and one line, the shoddy screenplay that follows doesn't elide the imprint it left.

in Cinema Express

Another good writing choice was the obstacles that stop the narrative from being a straight line drawn on a ruler. The antagonists do not feel contrived but develop organically from situations that Rajkumar puts himself into. The hurdles were essential in establishing that Rajkumar and the thatha-paaties weren't having fun playing with toys but were seeking an emotional closure from the trauma of losing Rajkumar's brother through the process of making the film. When Bioscope starts becoming predictable, Vengayam comes into the picture and we are shown glimpses from the 2011 film, as a kind reminder to keep in mind that Bioscope's sole purpose is to provide answers to all the 'whys' of Vengayam. This is where the narration and our attention hit a slump.

in Cinema Express

The screenplay is largely breezing through one humour trope after the other. There are well-written, enjoyable and elaborate sequences that effectively overshadow the wafer-thin plotline of the story. The narration sags every time the director attempts to tell something serious about breaking the curse of the haunted island and surviving the man-eating killers. Our patience waiting for the next joke or a slapstick sequence grows thin whenever Kissa gets emotional after Hitchcock says he will do terrible things to his family. To the film's advantage, the premise is inherently built on a joke goldmine. Reliefs such as Kissa and Babu's gibberish and diary fight scenes, bid to make Inspector Raghavan and his sidekick believe they are Gautam Vasudev Menon and Redin Kingsley, with their real-life references being dispatched regularly.

in Cinema Express

Housemates scores a winner by introducing an idea new to this genre, where the sky is the limit in identifying a resolution. In fact, with such a unique problem, the sky is the limit for the resolution, and it was interesting to see how Rajavel didn't resort to a formulaic finish. In fact, the emotional connection between the different time periods and how it acted as a seal to the portal of convergence were both moving, and adhering to the film's established rules. Housemates, in a nutshell, is a brave and largely successful attempt by debut director Rajavel to tweak the horror genre to accommodate sci-fi elements while also giving it an emotional treatment, thereby not alienating the Tamil audience.

in Cinema Express

Oho Enthan Baby is another film that promises much and delivers less. It had a pretty decent start for an emotional love story, only to lose itself in the woods. The lack of proper alignment between the characters and their motivations unhooks us from the narrative and lets it stay that way. The film is a classic example of a story that knows its ends but not the means. Surprisingly, out of all the characters in the film, Redin Kingsley's King stays with us for a long time. He personifies the self-awareness of the film with his regular commentary. King wonders if Ashwin has a convincing love story to tell, as he just left, saying he had none. After the film, we attest to King's doubts.

in Cinema Express

50:50 in a relationship comes only in understanding that one partner is 70:30 in a particular situation and vice versa.

in Cinema Express

After a point, we grow restless, waiting for the film to end. Ponram, fancying grand ambitions, fails to repeat his previous successes that required just a simple story plotted with laughs. We forgive the film for what it does when the post-credit scene begins rolling. The evident discordance between his sensibilities and what he tries to accomplish surfaces in that scene. Ponram speaks to the villagers about the benefits of the dam, when the film claimed to speak for the affected. With the skewed messaging, Kombuseevi cuts a sorry figure and serves as a lesson for filmmakers not to sacrifice their strengths at the altar of experimentation.

in The New Indian Express

What happens to the family once they discover that the transformation comes with teeth forms the core of Middle Class. Middle Class' primary problem is its black-and-white viewpoint of ascribing villainy to Chennai (read city) and benevolence to a sontha oor, or native village. Though the film doesn't openly propagandise Chennai hatred, there is a constant 'Indha Madraskaaranungale' taunt throughout the film. The situations in the film also don't justify the bigotry against Chennai. Misfortunes befall the lead characters owing to their own follies and greed, and they aren't being duped in any way by the 'Madraskaaranunga'. This adds to our gripe about the already one-note characters. With that being the case, these characters never really win our empathy at any point during the runtime. To make things worse, the leads don't even stick to their unidimensionality.

in The New Indian Express

Unfortunately, the film has no redeeming factors, either in the performances or the screenplay front, even keeping aside the propaganda. It is a contest between bad cinematic language and the worst political message. When you thought it just couldn't get worse, the film flirts with multiple genres and finally ends as a horror film, to our bad luck. Everything about the film is forgettable. The film only speaks of the ill in Christianity while positioning itself as an anti-bigotry film. Paramasivan Fathima, in a nutshell, is an indignation of Hindus against Christians with no scope for introspection (for Hindus) and the makers feel it is justified when it's not.

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