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- Readers Write In #574: PS-2 and why it is riddled with the same problems that plagued later seasons of GoT
- Interview: Vetri Maaran, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Rajiv Menon (The extended Director’s Cut of Viduthalai – Part 1, on ZEE5)
- My interview on The Shin Pad Podcast
- Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ponniyin Selvan 2’ is more dramatic, sadder and more serious in tone, and a meaty conclusion to the two-part epic
- Lights, Camera, Analysis: Dharani Rasendran (Yaathisai)
- Bitty Ruminations 94 – Mani Ratnam, ARR and the ‘mainstream’
- Readers Write In #573: Objects in the rear view mirror: 90s Kollywood
- Interview: Mani Ratnam / AR Rahman (PS-1, PS-2, 30+ years of working together…)
- Readers Write In #572: Reflections on ‘Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal’
- Readers Write In #571: Web Series Review – Jubilee – Of Mice and Men, Of Stars and Blackholes
- As generic star vehicles go, Farhad Samji’s ‘Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan’ (Salman Khan, Pooja Hegde) is generically watchable
- ‘Spotify: Cinema with BR’ Episode 16: 40 years of Mani Ratnam
- Aashiq Abu’s ‘Neelavelicham’ (Tovino Thomas, Rima Kallingal) nails the retro look-and-feel, but lacks an emotional connect
- Readers Write In #570: Golden Ages and all that jazz
- Dharani Rasendran’s impressive ‘Yaathisai’ is a richly imagined slice of historical fiction about brutal wars and the male psyche
- Interview: Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, Richard Madden (Citadel…)
- Readers Write In #569: Dil Chahta Hai: Narrators and Memories
- Readers Write In #568: Objects in the rear view mirror: 80s Kollywood
- Interview: Rima Kallingal, Tovino Thomas, Aashiq Abu (on Neelavelicham, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, Bhargavi Nilayam…)
- ‘Spotify: Cinema with BR’ Episode 15: Viduthalai, violence, Vetrimaaran, etc.
- Gunasekhar’s underwhelming ‘Shaakuntalam’ needed more cinematic vision to be the epic it wants to be
- Bitty Ruminations 93 – Asking for help (with a little help from lyricist Vaali)
- ‘The Abyss’ – an English translation of Jeyamohan’s Tamil novel ‘Ezhaam Ulagam’
- Interview: ZEE 5 directors Muthukumar (Ayali), Prasanth Pandiyaraj (Vilangu), SR Prabhakaran (Sengalam)
- Readers Write In #567: The Value Journaling Brought into my life
- ‘Spotify: Cinema with BR’ Episode 14: Cinema in Fast-forward Mode
- Sarjun KM’s ‘Burqa’, on aha, is a solid, deliberately theatrical (and gorgeously shot) debate on an Islamic practice
- Interview: Vikramaditya Motwane, Aditi Rao Hydari, Prosenjit Chatterjee, et al (Jubilee, on Prime Video)
- Lights, Camera, Analysis: Priyadarshi, Venu Yeldandi, Harshith Reddy (Balagam, now on Prime Video)
- Interview: AR Murugadoss (16 August 1947, his next with Sivakarthikeyan, his once-proposed Vijay-Ajith combo film, etc.)
- Bitty Ruminations 92 – The friendship equation
- Readers Write In #566: Viduthalai review
- Interview: Soori (Viduthalai)
- Presenting (drum roll)… the second extra from the right in WEAPON
- ‘Spotify: Cinema with BR’ Episode 13: Answering listener’s questions about Vetrimaaran
- Srikanth Odela’s ‘Dasara’ is a solid, subdued star vehicle that favours emotions over “mass” moments
- Vetrimaaran’s ‘Viduthalai – Part 1’ lacks the raw power of ‘Visaranai’, but it’s still a worthy, watchable coming-of-age action-drama
- Readers Write In #565: Book Review: The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
- Ajay Devgn crafts a sturdy (but generic) star vehicle out of Lokesh Kanagaraj’s sturdy (but generic) star vehicle
- Obeli N Krishna’s ‘Pathu Thala’ is a contrived action movie that’s saved solely by Silambarasan
- Interview: Anubhav Sinha, on his sine-curve reactions to ‘Ra.One’, his 2.0 avatar from ‘Mulk’ to ‘Bheed’, and why he is disheartened
- Goodbye, Innocent!
- Interview: SS Karthikeya (Rajamouli’s son, Line Producer of ‘RRR’), on how they did the Oscar campaign
- From the Web (FTW) #6: The New York Times’s AO Scott on quitting film criticism after 23 years
- Readers Write In #564: Thoughts on Tár
- Readers Write In #563: Letters to my Alter Ego: Part 2
- Anubhav Sinha’s ‘Bheed’, based on pandemic-migration, is a solid addition to his series of social cinema
- Interview: MM Keeravani (RRR, Oscar-winner)
- ‘Spotify: Cinema with BR’ Episode 12: Analysing five scenes from ‘Dada’, ‘OK Kanmani’, ‘VTK’, ‘Sarpatta Parambara’, ‘Anbe Sivam’
- Krishand’s crime-comedy ‘Purusha Pretham’ (on SonyLIV) offers a few big laughs, but not nearly enough to sustain its overlong run time