Familiarity breeds contempt Like most sequels, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is best enjoyed by those who have seen the first. But then again, that isn’t saying much at all. Again, like most sequels. So, in that sense, the title is a give away — it is second best. The first film came with…

Negative attracts Aminor niggle I’ve always had with our police protagonists — from Moondru Mugam to Yennai Arindhaal — is they are all an embodiment of perfection. They are righteous, handsome, stylish. They are what we can call cinema police. How refreshing then to see inspector Pandian (Natarajan, who drips charm in every frame) look…

Nothing new in New Zealand Of all the places in the world, there is no reason why Serndhu Polama is set in New Zealand. The narrator gives you the ridiculous reason that it’s because New Zealand is the ‘most important’ in the list of countries that Indians migrate to. As the film progresses, you begin…

Mediocre film about our mediocre education system Director Ramesh Selvan has made Vajram with the intention of making a few points about our education system. It’s rather ironical then that every conversation in the film feels like a lecture — like the tedious, soporific lectures one gets in bad colleges. For dialogues that are overly…

Suffers from illusions of being grand The talking point of Sandamarutham before its release was that Sarathkumar plays the villain (apart from being the hero, of course). So, naturally, you expect something explosive, something novel from the characterisation. Why else was the actor returning to play the villain after decades? This same thought seems to…