Bhaskar Oru Rascal: Arvind Swami and the jokes almost make this remake work

“Arvind Swami totally sells the brutishness of Bhaskar, and his lack of manners — which makes for a recurring joke. The film’s strength is the largely innocent brand of humour it peddles, and you realise this never more than in the final act when the jokes all but disappear, and the film turns tedious.”

Nadigaiyar Thilagam: A well-made biopic that’s more in love with its subject than I’d have liked

“Nag Ashwin couldn’t have made it clearer that Nadigaiyar Thilagam deems Savitri to be an angel descended from above, and a hapless victim of her circumstances. She’s shown to be a munificent spirit who can scarcely come to terms with the dark world she’s inhabiting — one full of ungrateful people and opportunists.”