Sudhir Srinivasan

Why Modi and A Beer is a fascinating film

“It’s a film that beautifully establishes how no matter how liberated and well-informed we may be in one area, we may be found sorely lacking in another. Arun speaks of food politics, of the importance of reservation, of equality… but as a man, is he aware of the innate derision he feels for a woman?”

Anurag Kashyap: I need to step out of Bombay

“I believe that an answer through cinema to propaganda becomes reverse propaganda. We must stick to discussing facts.”

Ponmagal Vandhal Movie Review: This courtroom drama about big issues has big issues

“In Ponmagal Vandhal, a lawyer is permitted to go on tangential, emotional rants. A judge, who looks like a deer caught in headlights, lets out a scream of anguish. When confronted by a professional like Rajarathnam, who says that the judge summoning his client is without any basis, he channels his inner Petta Rap Nagma and screams, “Stop it!””

Better Call Saul Season 5 Review: Ingenius writing sets up a thrilling final season

“Better Call Saul is material worth studying and studying again for how it manages to use fairly straightforward plot points to create visceral feelings.”

RK Nagar movie review: A dull, dull film

Like a drunk man experiencing an occasional, fleeting moment of lucidity, RK Nagar, every now and then, seems to recognise its own astounding mediocrity. The film begins by introducing us to half-a-dozen peripheral characters. There are a bunch of teenage perverts who make secret recordings of naked women and upload them at their internet browsing centre…

Irrfan Khan: A rare artiste departs

“He could help murder someone (Maqbool), and somehow, evoke empathy. This was possible because in playing one of us in a film, he somehow managed to fill the character with every one of us.”

Extraction Movie Review: Dazzling action leaves you wanting little else

“Extraction’s thirst for imaginative violence is almost unparalleled in recent times.”

Maska Movie Review: An interesting premise somehow manages to yield disastrous results

“Given its deceptively interesting beginnings, you’d never guess how low Maska would go on to fall.”

Into The Wild With Bear Grylls and Rajinikanth Review: A so-so peek into the man behind the superstar

The parts I liked in this show are those where this cinema superstar shows a bit of vulnerability. Like when Grylls says that the park has a lot of snakes and Rajini goes, “My god!”, his eyes betraying anxiety. Or how about when he’s about to be harnessed across a rusty bridge, and he almost resignedly says, “Kadavul irukaar.”

Kannamoochi web series Review: A pleasantly surprising web series about unpleasant things

“I’d definitely have liked to know a lot more about the most interesting character in this film: Its villain, a paedophile. There’s a lovely twist about him, and it’s a character whose menace is drawn from how quietly manipulative he is.”

Gypsy movie review: Strong ideology in a not-so-strong film

“You could argue that Gypsy is posited as the ideal man by this film. He’s a man without a last name, without a religion or caste. He speaks several languages and can do many jobs. Perhaps because society and its humans can scarcely understand him, his closest friend is a horse named Che (no points for making the evident connection to that over-romanticised Cuban revolutionary, Che Guevara).”

Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal movie review: A clever film that subverts expectations from start to finish

In a scene which is deep without striving too hard to be, he observes that he had somehow become accustomed to being dominated by her, that he’s now missing her presence. Among heroes who profess their love with total conviction, it’s refreshing when, amid all this fragility, he tentatively offers, “Love panniten pola?”