K Manikandan seems to be carving a niche for himself by sensibly selecting well-written and unique indie scripts, which has found him on a deserved hot streak in the industry. Coming off the success of yesteryear’s rom-com darling ‘Good Night,’ Manikandan’s latest release is ‘Lover,’ a romantic drama directed by debutante Prabhuram Vyas. The film also stars Sri Gouri Priya, whose work in the first episode of Modern Love: Chennai ‘Lalagunda Bommaigal’ proved her capability to perform. These two stars shoulder the painful romantic drama deftly between them.
Nine years since her last film, Aishwarya Rajinikanth returns with ‘Lal Salaam,’ a film that unsuccessfully melds numerous genres. It stars Vishnu Vishal, Vikranth and the director’s father Rajinikanth in an extended cameo.
Landing on the scene with hyper-violent art film 2021’s ‘Rocky,’ Matheswaran swiftly followed it up last year with the equally violent ‘Saani Kaayidham.’ The Keerthy Suresh starrer was a tightly written revenge film with stunning cinematography, performances and score. Matheswaran proved himself to be a highly capable director, and looked to expand his vision and scope with this year’s release ‘Captain Miller.’ Starring Dhanush and scored by GV Prakash, Matheswaran had his eyes set on entering the commercial zone.
‘Ayalaan’ stars Sivakarthikeyan, is scored by AR Rahman and tackles the extraterrestrial sub-genre of science fiction. In every department, ‘Ayalaan’ is a bigger film than its predecessor. However, whether it is a better film is certainly up for debate.
The podcast miniseries ‘You Have Been Told a Lie - Blood, Borders and Biloela’ has won best podcast in the News and Current Affairs category. Centring around the Nadesalingam family, who hit the headlines and became referred to as the ‘Biloela family,’ the miniseries deconstructs the narrative over six episodes.
The deconstructed mechanical procedure of visiting a museum/gallery is similar to that of going to a Hindu temple: one enters, spends a little time at each piece/God, perhaps spends a little more time with those that interest you/you have a personal connection with. Looking through Tamil Sydney based artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran’s latest exhibition, ‘Idols of Mud and Water,’ this is what initially came to mind.
‘Japan’ starring Karthi in the titular role, sees Murugan venturing into new territories, yet holding onto some of the same stylistic threads.
Debuting with 2012’s horror ‘Pizza,’ Subbaraj has slowly but surely been improving his craft. There has been a steady development of his technical craft, as is now evident with the spiritual prequel to 2014’s ‘Jigarthanda.’ With ‘Jigarthanda Double X,’ Subbaraj may have delivered his best film yet.
Seeing success in every feature since his 2017 debut ‘Maanagaram,’ Kanagaraj has quickly become a directorial darling in Tamil cinema, featuring acting titans of the industry in his last three films. Kanagaraj joins hands once again with actor Vijay, following their 2021 film ‘Master,’ for one of the most highly anticipated releases of the year ‘Leo.’ Unfortunately, the film fails to live up to expectations.
‘Chithha’ tears out the viewer’s heart and holds it ransom - an impressive feat. SU Arun Kumar has delivered a gut-wrenching thriller, displaying a little horror whilst insinuating a lot.