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Language: Malayalam Director Nadirshah struck gold at the box-office with the comedies Amar Akbar Anthony and Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan in the past decade. Love them or hate them, the one thing you could not accuse them of being is hollow. His new film though is running on empty. Keshu Ee Veedinte Nathan (Keshu Is The Lord of this House) stars Dileep – who appears to have changed the spelling of his name to Dilieep, going by this film’s credits – and Urvashi. Both are known for their comedic talents. Here they play Keshu and Rathnamma, a bickering married couple living with their two children and the man’s mother (Valsala Menon) in urban Kerala. Keshu is an eccentric old fellow who runs a driving school. Early on we are introduced to his sisters and brothers-in-law who are as wary of him as he is of them. They are not excessively fond of each other either, but bond over their demand that the family property should be partitioned. One thing leads to another and the entire exte...

Language: English I was seven or eight when I was first invited to a Harry Potter-themed birthday party. Over the years, I have attended several. People in my school were obsessed with Harry Potter . The cool kids had HP-merch: pencil boxes, wands, t-shirts. We stood in line early in the morning at Oxford Bookstores for the first copies of the books we had pre-ordered, and we watched the movies as soon as they released (my school even organized a screening of Goblet of Fire for us in a theatre, the week it released). We were the Harry Potter generation.  As we grew up and read more, learnt about the world and about ourselves, we realized just how problematic the Harry Potter universe really was and how problematic JK Rowling's politics had grown to be. It was one of our first attempts at understanding concepts like art vs. artist and "the death of the author". We grappled with holding on to the stories and characters that felt like home, even when we had to objective...

Allu Arjun’s Pushpa: The Rise continues its performance at the box office. The Hindi version of the film is inching its way towards the Rs 50 crore mark, as per the latest figures by trade analyst Taran Adarsh. The film earned Rs 2.75 crore on 27 December, followed by Rs 2.50 crore and 2.40 crore on 28 and 29 December, respectively. It collected Rs 2.24 crore on 30 December, as per the updated figures. #Pushpa shows its stamina in Week 2… Trends very well over the weekend *and* weekdays… [Week 2] Fri 2.31 cr, Sat 3.75 cr, Sun 4.25 cr, Mon 2.75 cr, Tue 2.50 cr, Wed 2.40 cr, Thu 2.24 cr. Total: ₹ 47.09 cr. #India biz. #PushpaHindi screen count higher in Week 3… Next tweet… pic.twitter.com/pSId5gNlzd — taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) December 31, 2021 According to Adarsh, the film has earned Rs 26.89 crore in its first week and Rs 20.20 crore in its second week to take its box office collections to Rs 47.09 crore. The Hindi version of Pushpa will also increase its screen count i...

The first teaser of actor Vijay Deverakonda’s upcoming movie  Liger is out. The movie marks the Telugu actor's debut in the Hindi film industry. In the first glimpse, the makers of the movie show Deverakonda’s journey from being a ‘chaiwaala’ in Mumbai to becoming a professional boxer. The movie is said to be a sports film about a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, who eventually competes in the United States. As the teaser clip opens, it shows an announcer standing in a ring introducing the actor as a ‘boy from India, slumdog from Mumbai and the chaiwaala, Liger.’ Throughout the video, snippets of Liger’s struggle from making ends meet to fighting in the streets of Mumbai leading to his epic fight in the boxing ring is shown. In some of the snippets, ace actor Ronit Roy’s character is captured while Ananya Panday is missing. Taking to his social media handle, film producer Karan Johar shared the first glimpse on Instagram. “Presenting the #LigerFirstGlimpse - packed with action...

As 2021 is coming to an end, everyone is looking forward to welcoming the New Year with pomp and zeal. The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is, however, forcing people to alter their plans for New Year Eve at the last minute. With several states in India imposing strict restrictions and night curfews to curb the spread of the virus, people are considering celebrating the occasion within the comfort of the four walls. If you don’t have any plans for New Year’s eve, here are some movies and web series to binge-watch. Grab a bucket of popcorn and watch these amazing movies at home. Emily in Paris 2 This Golden Globe-nominated series is worth watching. Emily in Paris narrates the story of a woman (Emily) from Chicago who gets sent to Paris to be in charge of social media for a luxury brand company. The series is created by Darren Star and is available on Netflix. Atrangi Re Atrangi Re is available on Disney+Hot Star. The movie narrates the story of Vishnu, a Tamilian man and how he me...

The Underground Railroad (Amazon Prime): This is one of the greatest cinematic experiences of all time. After spending 10 precious hours of my life on Barry Jenkins’s certifiable masterpiece, I am rendered numbed and speechless. I can only say this for those who have yet not seen this monumental classic: go for it immediately, your life and your understanding of human suffering will be profoundly enriched. Set in the 19th century in the thick of slavery in the plantations of Southern USA, The Underground Railroad is the story of a very young very determined girl named Cora (Thuso Mbedu) and her repeated resilient attempts to escape slavery. I don’t know how much Cora suffered within herself. But her physical torture is beyond endurance for us. Some of the episodes came with a warning about graphic violence. Still, nothing, absolutely nothing prepared me for the savagery of the violence perpetrated on the black people. God, it seems, is busy elsewhere. In case you have forgotten how...

There are a few actors whom we expect to shine in everything they do and they’ve managed to live up to our expectations in 2021. Here’s a look at the Mr & Ms. Marvels who went beyond expectations: Konkona Sen Sharma In Geeli Puchchi : This is a miniature masterpiece with a central performance that is hard to put aside. Playing a Dalit lesbian Konkona’s performance adroitly avoids over-burdening the character’s personality. Among this segment from Netflix’s  Ajeeb Daastans , many prominent virtues try this: Abha’s husband is no cad providing an alibi for her meandering heart. He is a caring man who even cooks for her. As she confides guiltily in her new friend Bharti Mandal, “Shiv bachche ki soch raha hai aur main ussey pyar bhi nahin karti.” Having someone love you is not reason enough to love that person back. Geeli Puchchi is filled with an aching passion and bridled wisdom. Director Neeraj Ghaywan has the ever-reliable Konkona Sen Sharma giving a magnificently layered p...

On 1 December, Netflix released Jane Campion’s new film The Power of the Dog , a Western psycho-sexual drama based on a 1960s novel by Thomas Savage. Impeccably shot, with Campion’s signature bleak beauty shining through in every frame, the film follows the fortunes of rancher brothers Phil ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) and George Burbank (Jesse Plemons), after the latter marries an alcoholic widow named Rose ( Kirsten Dunst ), who has a young son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). During several crucial scenes in the movie, Campion interrogates and gradually chips away at certain masculine tropes associated with the Western genre. Phil, played to perfection by a red-hot Cumberbatch, represents the archetype of the endlessly rugged cowboy: a stoic hero undefeated by Man, God or Nature. George is the softer, kinder, more compassionate man who usually gets nothing but ridicule for his empathetic ways, most notably from Phil, who is openly scornful of his brother’s 'weakness.' Perhaps it i...

Language: English Saying f**k you to a year has become a sort of release mechanism. With consecutive years that have globally tested human spirit and patience, Netflix has found a cheeky, cathartic way of summarising the year that has just been. Death to 2020  was a smart, often riotous way of unloading a grim year off the chest. Because 2021 proved equally challenging, if not more, Netflix has brought back Death to 2021,  a screaming, freewheeling conclusion to a dastardly year that, at least in the Indian context, was perhaps one of the hardest in recent history. Death to 2021  may not have the originality of its predecessor but some acutely clever writing and spiky jabs at politicians, cultural oddities, and events that occupied the majority of 2021, makes this one hour a perfect companion to float into a better year – hopefully. Death to 2021  retains some of its original cast, and ropes in some new members. Diane Morgan continues her role as clueless British...

Following the massive response that Ajith Kumar film Valimai ’ s teaser and BTS video got, the makers of the film unveiled the long-awaited trailer on Thursday, 30 December. In just 15 minutes, it garnered a whopping 1.1 lakh views on YouTube. Scores of fans of the actor bought tickets just to watch the trailer of the film on the big screen. About the trailer: In the trailer, Ajith can be seen playing a cop who is tracking a notorious gang of motorcyclists involved in several criminal cases. Huma Qureshi appears as a colleague working with Ajith on the case. Much like his role in Mankatha , Ajith is likely to have an intriguing character arc in the cop drama. Featuring high-octane motorcycle stunts and tracking shots, the trailer of Valimai hints at a gripping action movie. Watch the trailer here: Plot: The film's plot is touted to revolve around Ajith Kumar's cop character who takes up a new case in Chennai and comes face-to-face with Kartikeya Gummakonda, the lead ant...

Language: English Like most holiday/festival movies, Sing 2 is bright and cheerful. It’s family-friendly, and the anthropomorphic characters are cute. What it’s missing is the feeling of warmth that most holiday movies envelop you in.  The sequel of the 2016 movie Sing , this one gets the characters back together to perform a show in Redshore City (the animal version of some kind of Las Vegas and Los Angeles-mix). While the first version showed the creation of the group, this one is more about how they follow their dreams to become major successes in showbiz.  Mr. Buster Moon, the koala (voiced by Matthew McConaughey), is a theatre owner who has put together a group of actor-musicians who now want to play the big league. This group includes Rosita, a pig (Reese Witherspoon), who’s supposed to be the star of the show; Johnny (Taron Egerton), a gorilla; Ash (Scarlett Johansson), a porcupine; and an elephant called Meena (Tori Kelly). When a scout, Suki (Chelsea Peretti), rej...

As human beings remained largely confined to our homes and constrained by masks for a second year in a row due to the pandemic, cinema provided us with solace and talking points beyond COVID-19. The films on my list of 2021’s best from Indian cinema pushed boundaries in terms of their approach to storytelling, their themes and technique. I’ve confined this collection to those that were either released in theatres in the past 12 months or on OTT platforms or both, not just at festivals, to keep it accessible to the public. Here they are:  (1) Best Film: Maadathy – An Unfairy Tale   Director: Leena Manimekalai Language: Tamil  An overwhelmingly beautiful, heartbreaking film about the human willingness to pedestalise in mythology the very individuals and communities that they oppress in reality. Leena Manimekalai’s Maadathy merges folktale, myth and terrifying realism to strike at the root of the woman-is-goddess trope that society uses to soft pedal patriarchy....