Sudhir Srinivasan

Anbil Avan Movie Review: How Much Can You Take Before You Fight Back?

Even early into Anbil Avan, it’s hard to shake off a sense of imminent danger, like dark clouds are gathering over the lives of Surya (Ashok Selvan) and Iyal (Preity Mukhundhan). You get small hints of this, like you would in genre films. Surya and Iyal are driving towards their homestay when they suddenly hit…

Meesaya Murukku 2 Review: Irreverent, Infectious, Incomplete

Given how my heart beats for underdog narratives and anti-system stories, it’s so hard not to praise Meesaya Murukku 2. This is, after all, a film about people trying to get through a door that generations of powerful people have guarded. Talent isn’t enough here. Generations pass, gaana changes, and yet, the struggle remains. That’s why…

Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai Review: A Strange Fable

There is a moment in Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai when a rat is given CPR. Yeah, you read this right. Someone presses its tiny chest, desperately trying to get it to breathe again. You see its tender chest compressing, expanding… In another film, this would be a ridiculous visual, a joke perhaps. In this film,…

Baththa Movie Review: The Boy and The Monster

Baththa, played by Vijay Sethupathi, is a frightening gangster. He is driven by ego, and no threat scares him. At home, he casually slaps his wife, throws a plate full of food, yells at his daughter. And he seems to be getting away with everything. So, you really wonder who’s gonna put him in his…

Dorothy Movie Review: The Violence of Denying Yourself

Dorothy is almost a horror film, isn’t it? The setting of period Madurai feels like a ghost town, where anecdotes of murders and suicides are casually shared. “This is where my mother and sister’s bodies were found!” says young Subbu. Something about this young boy being so nonchalant about it broke me, just as it…