With a predictable second half, ‘Toby’ fails to capitalise its crafty set-up and performances, says Kairam Vaashi

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• With a predictable second half, ‘Toby’ fails to capitalise its crafty set-up and performances, says Kairam Vaashi
• Vignesh Karthick’s ‘Adiyae’ reduces its ‘alternate reality’ premise to a bunch of pop-culture jokes
• Abhilash Joshiy’s ‘King of Kotha’ is tailored for Dulquer Salmaan’s stardom, but there’s more style than substance
• Sai Rajesh’s ‘Baby’, now on aha, is overwritten but it’s also a fascinating study of three individuals in love who keep making foolish choices
• National Awards 2022
• Interview: Janhvi Kapoor
• Readers Write In #623: The void and the whale
• Readers Write In #622: Strand
• My interview with Cineulagam
• In ‘Ghoomer’ (Saiyami Kher, Abhishek Bachchan), R Balki spruces up a predictable underdog sports drama with trademark Balki-isms and a genuine sense of darkness
• Interview: Raj B Shetty (‘Toby’)
• Readers Write In #621: Venns of Jailer and Indian
• Amit Rai’s ‘OMG 2’ (Pankaj Tripathi, Akshay Kumar, Yami Gautam) is a predictable, likeable satire with a few laugh-out-loud bits
• Anil Sharma’s ‘Gadar 2’ (Sunny Deol, Ameesha Patel) is a solid sequel that takes off from its predecessor in a most organic way
• Readers Write In #620: 2047 The first call
• Interview: Mona Singh (‘Made in Heaven S2’, ‘Jassi’, ‘Laal Singh Chadha’, etc.)
• Readers Write In #619: Jailer: A perfect Rajini film for the TikTok age
• Readers Write In #618: The Rhyming Review, of a Rousing Drama / Gadar 2 Is Pure-Old, Hindi Cine Masala
• 10 Questions: Dulquer Salmaan
• Readers Write In #617: Chiranjeevi as Shankar is spectacular, easily overshadowing the original
• Everything about Meher Ramesh’s ‘Bhola Shankar’ is BS, says Kairam Vaashi
• Readers Write In #616: The never ending love affair with Rajini
• Nelson’s ‘Jailer’ is yet another watered-down attempt at fan service, but Rajinikanth is solid and Vinayakan is superb
• My interview with Kumudham
• Interview: Selvamani Selvaraj (the director of ‘The Hunt for Veerappan’, on Netflix)
• Readers Write In #615: An Amrish Size Void
• My interview with Samayam Seithigal
• Kairam Vaashi, welcome to Galatta Plus!
• Interview: Ramya Krishnan (‘Jailer’, Rajinikanth, etc.)
• Readers Write In #614: The Barbie movie – plastic, and fantastic with some toxic (masculinity)
• Interview: Talking Cinema with Vikramaditya Motwane
• Readers Write In #613: Assorted Thoughts / #AskBR on Maamannan
• The Galatta Plus Tamil Cinema Debut Directors Round Table 2023
• Sridevi, The South Years – by Amborish Roychoudhury
• Readers Write In #612: The Sentence
• Readers Write In #611: ஓடினேன்
• Readers Write In #610: गुलज़ार के गीत में अमृता के अक्स
• Readers Write In #609: A Flight’s Unexpected Gem: Exploring ‘Kadaisi Vivasayi’ at 30,000 Feet
• Lenin Balakrishnan’s ‘Article 21’ is well-meaning, earnest, but also too simplistic about delivering its message about the right to education
• Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy’s superbly directed ‘Aachar & Co.’ is a feel-good film about a large family’s ups and downs in the 1960s/70s
• Karan Johar brings the desi family drama into the woke era with the funny and moving ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani’, with Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in top form
• Readers Write In #608: Oppenheimer – Dancing in raindrops
• Readers Write In #607: The new normal in Tamil cinema that’s abnormal
• Readers Write In #606: Visible Aloofness Vs Invisible Discord and Oneness in Kalyug and Tamasha
• Lights, Camera, Analysis: M Sasikumar (on ‘Subramaniapuram’, which turned 15 this year)
• My YouTube Episode 5: Me? An Actor? WTF!
• The Amateur’s Art #50 – ‘Nihon-go no sukitto’, by Severus Snape (Japanese, with English subtitles)
• The Amateur’s Art #49 – ‘Waiting’, by Tridib Bhattacharya (English)
• Nirmal Joshi’s ‘Goodnight Giggles’ is a superb short film based on a sexually active couple
• Balaji Kumar’s ‘Kolai’ is great to look at, but the murder mystery beneath is barely exciting