Positively dreadful Sometimes, you end up in theatres next to a couple that just won’t shut up. For the first 10-15 minutes of Aaranyam, the chatter of one such couple was driving me crazy. A little after the interval though, when it had become amply clear that Aaranyam was pretty hopeless, I wished I had…

Pulsating fight scenes, but predictable otherwise For the longest time, Deepavali has been synonymous with a screening of Baasha on at least one of the two dozen Tamil television channels. This time, however, the channels seemed to be quite engaged with trying to outdo each other by screening the latest hits, including Baahubali and Maari…

A thoroughly entertaining black comedy Now that I have watched Naanum Rowdy Dhaan , I can safely say, “I knew it!” I was probably among the minority that found Podaa Podi , Vignesh Shivan’s 2012 debut film, quite entertaining. Sure, the story was nothing to write home about, but the dialogues were effortlessly hilarious, and…

Like a mediocre TV soap Imagine you’re stuck in an ATM, and are in mortal danger. You’ve just seen a man murder two people outside the ATM with a crowbar. He’s now sizing you up from outside, but is reluctant to walk up to you, lest he be captured by the CCTV camera. What do…

Another brick in the horror wall Science has proved the desensitising effects of over-exposure (to violence, usually). I understood this theory never more than when watching Unakkenna Venum Sollu … yet another horror film. I almost felt a palpable sense of frustration in the audience I was watching the film with, as everybody realised that…