Karthiks Blog

With his Chennai-based bike-theft story   Polladhavan (2007) and Madurai-based rooster fighting story  Aadukalam  (2011), Vetrimaran entertained the audience as well as allowed them to identify with the characters. In that limited commercial format, he provided great emotional catharsis for the viewers.   It is a rare quality for an Indian or Tamil film-maker, where cinema in the name of entertainment doesn’t allow portraying the truthfulness of human emotions.  Now, with Visaranai ( Interrogation) he masters the balance between the so-called ‘mainstream’ and ‘highbrow’ to offer a stupendous, thrilling examination about the pawns of the ‘system’. Visaranai offers the kind of experience that keeps our senses sharp and elegantly passes on the emotional bruises of the characters to us. The film is partly based on Mr. Chandrakumar’s novel  Lockup ,  which chronicles the author’s real life experience with police brutality. Visaranai   or  ...

Starting with the title, which is a play of words on the couple’s surname, and going on to the recreation of the circumstances of the murders and the suggestive names of key characters, the parallels between the real and the reel are so glaringly obvious that   Talvar sometimes feels like a slickly produced, tightly written and beautifully performed true crime documentary rather than a work of fiction. While flipping through the provocative, extensive and superbly written piece a month ago, I found myself getting more and more engrossed in the web of the details of the horrific crime. I visualized how the house looks, pieced together the minute bits of the puzzle and read into the records of the people on the case until I had a good idea of who, what and when. And the first thing I felt while watching   Talvar   was neither shock nor disgust; it was a strong sense of deja vu. For those who haven't read the book, Meghna Gulzar's   Talvar   will be riveti...

This year this is my first book and what a way to start really...... A Spanish shepherd boy Santiago has these recurring dreams about a treasure hidden at the foot of the Egyptian pyramids. He leaves Spain to find it and journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert, guided along the way by a camel driver, an alchemist and other spiritual guides, and he discovers a far greater treasure (greater than any earthly gold): wisdom, self knowledge and enlightenment. Though the Alchemist is not about Santiago at all. It's an inspirational fable; it's about our own self discovery; it's about awakening your passions; it's about following your heart; embracing life as a journey and finding the courage to chase your dreams. This book is very inspiring and what I really need right now to motivate myself with my everyday endeavours. In the end the boy in the story who was searching for his treasure, despite the long travels and experiences, find his t...

It took him five long years to come up with another movie, but Rajkumar Hirani made the wait totally worth it. ‘ PK ’ is one of those rare films in Bollywood that would appeal to the masses as much as it would win accolades from the critics. The film has a never-thought-of-before concept and the execution is beyond brilliant. The film is a about PK, a stranger in the city who takes everyone by surprise with his inquisitive nature and curiosity. Like the makers believe, the main story is best kept under wraps. Revealing anything about it would be taking away from the experience that ‘PK’ is. In an obvious sort of way, this is also Aamir’s best performance yet. For one, his role has absolutely no reference points, unless you consider Mr Bean or Rowan Atkinson as an unearthly sort of figure. On the face of it, PK certainly derives bits from Mr Bean. For the most part, he seems like a rather original and funny fellow: a short, slim weirdo with overstretched ears, lips red with be...

Recently protest movement against moral policing which was given the name 'Kiss of love' was in news. This protest was given this name because people decided to kiss each other as a form of protest against moral policing. Interestingly this protest started from state of Kerala and rapidly spread in other parts of the India. Agreed, the country should be socialised. How to talk, laugh, teach, dispose waste, welcome guests. This is our culture. Whilst I am happy many people now accept this, there are some people who turned violent. We are part of the most tolerant and flexible religion, not a muscle flexing religion. We say  Athidhi Devo Bhava  but how well are we welcoming guests in our country and giving them nice hospitality? We also say Matru Devo Bhava,   Pitru Devo Bhava and Acharya Devo Bhava thus equating parents and teachers to being the supreme. How much are we respecting them? The greatness of India and its culture can be ...

The thing which immediately works in Cuckoo ’s favour is that we root for the main protagonists right away. The fact that they are visually challenged yet always in good spirits, endears them to us even more. Love, that all-encompassing emotion dominates Cuckoo too, and here it is pure, intense and without any adulteration. The power and purity of the love between two young, visually challenged people, wins over all manner of obstacles and Cuckoo leaves us on a real emotional high.The film features a once in a lifetime performance by young Dinesh. He will no longer be addressed as ‘Attakathi’ Dinesh henceforth. The commitment and respect that he has towards the acting craft and his dedicated efforts are evident for all of us to see. He literally lives as the blind young man Thamizh and his travails and pain in the climax can be compared to what Kamal Haasan exhibited in Moondram Pirai. Along with Kasi’s Vikram, Dinesh’s performance in Cuckoo will be considered as the benchmark...