I was looking forward to Retro so much after the spectacular DoubleX. On paper, it has everything to be great: a writer who knows his craft, a music director who knows exactly what works for the movie, the lead actor producing it, a production house that has backed good works of art, and all the hype was positive until the release. It has been two days since I watched it, and I’m still wondering how the hell did this fantastic bunch of people make such a terrible movie.
Are Movies Art or Business? What Should We Care About as Consumers?
I’ve been thinking a lot about movies lately – not just watching them, but really thinking about what they mean to us. You know how sometimes you’re scrolling through reviews before deciding to watch something, and you catch yourself wondering: “Wait, why do I care what others think?” That got me down a rabbit hole of questioning the whole movie-watching experience.
Incredibly bold of Prabhuram Vyas to start his filmmaking career with a movie that doesn’t promise a fairy-tale ending for a couple. In a time when we’re bombarded with loads of violent flicks every week, Vyas stands out with “Lover,” securing its spot on all the year end lists of best movies in 2024.
Mari Selvaraj demonstrates a clear vision in his films, championing equality through his protagonists. However, it is the unique vantage point from which they wage their battles that sets each of his movies apart. Pariyan, an innocent do-gooder fights for his rights from the bottom up. Karnan, a more cognizant individual fights with a violent determination. And Maamannan, someone who seemingly has achieved “equality”, continues to fight for it by embracing new approaches, inspired by his son. Sprinkled with Mari’s quintessential metaphors, Maamannan carries the torch of his previous two movies.
Nelson also probably had the same question when he had to make this movie. Without finding much answers, he stuck with the usual formula that everyone thinks vijay’s fans enjoy for some reason? Action-Sentiment-Comedy-Romance. He ticked all these boxes in the first 10 mins of the movie, starting with Vijay helping a child out and then accidentally killing it, single handedly defeating all of the terrorists in a foreign territory, sexist and inappropriate jokes about women, psychiatry and PTSD, and then followed by the tomboy girl acting cool with the hero and hero wanting to hold the girl’s iduppu. The movie had everything and every single thing was made in the worst possible way.
I always try to not have any expectations from a director based on his previous movies but I couldn’t help it with Santha Kumar. Mounaguru took all of us in such an unexpected ride and Magamuni gives us a very similar experience, if not better. With just his second film, Santha Kumar has created his own genre of films with a hero who is an outcast in the society, always stuck in unfortunate situations and the unexpected ways by which he brings himself out of it. In Magamuni, making it even more interesting, there are 2 heroes, who look the same, who get mixed up in each other’s twisted lives.
The thing with Kumararaja’s films is that they are spectacularly entertaining, aestheticallly pleasing and intellectually thought provoking all at once. Striking gold in even one of these is a high bar, but we all know that Kumararaja is on a league of his own, don’t we? Starting with a guy dying while having sex and ending with a guy explaining how sex is the beginning of life, Super deluxe takes you on a ride that you never would have imagined even in your wildest of dreams.
‘Keladi Kanmani’ and ‘Rhythm’ remain sole traces that demonstrate how to make warm and fun grown-up romances.
Vasanth is probably not making as many films anymore (I hear his latest ‘Sivaranjaniyum Sila Pengalum’ is magnificent). But I can’t think of another filmmaker who is a master in depicting urban relationships — of mothers and daughters (Srividya and Gauthami in ‘Nee Paathi Naan Paathi’), of fathers and sons (Nagesh and Arjun in ‘Rhythm’) and most importantly, between two grown up adults of the opposite sex. The latter is the focus of this piece and I would like to talk about two relationships (each in a different movie) that move me considerably even today.
Karthik Subbaraj joins hands with Rajinikanth in this all-important film of his career and one would expect Sa-Na to be his default pick for the score. I believe he wanted every crew member in this film to have a first experience with Rajini in Petta. Let me now talk about Anirudh’s work in the album.
Vetrimaran continues his exploration into the worlds of Shakespeare and gangsters. Only this time, he is a far superior filmmaker.
Spoilers Ahead..
“Vada Chennai” is divided into chapters and each one is part of a larger jigsaw puzzle that can perhaps never be solved. The best one is titled “Anbu, Rajan and the Hood”. It tells the story of Rajan (Ameer), his brother Thambi (Daniel Balaji) and underlings Guna (Samuthirakani), Senthil (Kishore), Velu (Pawan) and Pazhani (Boxer Dheena). They are smugglers, working for the powerful politician Muthu (Radha Ravi). In a sudden turn of events, Rajan takes a stand for his people, irking Muthu, who plots his fall using Senthil.
Mokkapadam 