I guess I’ll have to refuse Christopher Nolan: Suriya

Beneath Suriya’s grin, as he settles for conversation at Studio Green’s office, is a lot of fatigue. Between promoting Vikram Kumar’s 24 in Tamil Nadu and shooting for S3 in Andhra Pradesh, he’s had a hectic week. “But I have no complaints. As Rahman sir recently told me, we’re lucky to be doing what we…

Why Tamil cinema fans need Game of Thrones

After an extraordinarily long year of agonising wait, Game of Thrones has finally returned, and as a source of great relief for those whose staple diet is Tamil cinema, or in other words, a Tamil horror film a week (this week, we have Kalam). Here is why this American series has come to mean so much…

Kalam: A ‘horror’ show

There’s a contemporary saying that goes, “When something goes wrong in your life, just yell, “Plot twist!” and move on.” Kalam is the manifesation of this saying on screen. It’s a mediocre horror film for the most part, until a sudden twist at the end tries to distinguish it from the unimaginative horror films we are…

Jithu Jilladi has made me popular again: Deva

When Deva says ‘Jithu Jilladi’ was a “unique experience” for him, he isn’t simply taking recourse in a cliché. He remembers the composer of the song, G. V. Prakash, as a timid boy who sang for him in Aasai . “Director Vasanth asked if we could use the boy who’d sung for ‘Chikku bukku rayile’. We…

Ennul Aayiram: A portfolio movie

The opening credits of Ennul Aayiram are shown amid quick black-and-white shots of a gun cocking, vehicles hastening in traffic, a woman running her fingers through her hair… It’s all rather dark, literally, and sets you up for a thriller. So, you don’t really mind the rigmarole of introductions: the hero, Ashok (Maha), is part…