A new generation of filmmakers will write their stories without the assumption that the protagonist is a male, without the assumption that a female role attains fulfillment when she finds a partner.
Category: Columns
My take on anything cinema
Simbu? Silambarasan? STR?
It’s Ilaiyaraaja, not Ilayaraja; S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, not S.P. Balasubramaniam; Arvind Swami, not Arvind Swamy; and Prabhu Dheva, not Prabhu Deva. You’re welcome for this life-changing lesson.
The Baashha I knew
For months after the release, Baashha was all you discussed. If you wanted to watch a film, you went and saw Baashha again. You watched it till you could run the film in your head during classes, scene by scene, dialogue by dialogue.
Night of the stars
Darkness in many of these films isn’t just of the day; it’s of character itself. The disloyalty of Troy in Fences. The bloodlust of Tanner Howard in Hell or High Water. The violence—inner and outer—of Lee Chandler in Manchester by the Sea. The treacherous conformism of Kevin in Moonlight.
Why do we love Baashha?
Remember that this was during a time when an onscreen rebuke addressed at Rajini’s character resulted in mobs thronging your house with vengeance in their hearts. Ask Vadivukkarasi about it.
Sudhir Srinivasan 