Some film songs that were once irresistibly spellbinding get edged out of public memory with the passage of time. But when composers of those songs or their latest works get recognition anew, those old numbers gush back into memory — like in the case of M M Keeravani. In the wake of the song...
A typical ‘kuthu’ dance-and-song number, peppy and spicy, from an Indian film has won global recognition for the first time. The wildly popular song Naatu Naatu from the superhit Telugu film RRR made history at the 80th Golden Globes as it became the first Indian song to win Best Original Song....
At a time when child marriage was the norm, women’s re-marriage a sin and women’s liberation pooh-poohed, a daring woman rose up — breaking free from the shackles of patriarchy — and stormed the male bastion. T P Rajalakshmi sang and acted in stage plays and films and directed movies, breaking...
How to measure a film actor’s popularity? The parameters used for the purpose are how the following questions are answered: Does he dish out back-to-back hits? Does he act in diverse roles? Is he feted by fans, the media and colleagues alike? What image does he create for himself and how does...
Social media is ablaze with arguments and counter-arguments for and against the recent Tamil film Bakasuran directed by Mohan G. The film is getting more brickbats than bouquets, with the chief criticism being that the film is promoting misogyny and supporting patriarchy, which treats women...
Dhanush has long been typecast as an uneducated person who doesn’t care to hold down a job, hangs out with undesirables and yet gets the glamorous heroine. But recent films Thiruchitrambalam and Naane Varuven are a break from the overused template. Vaathi too makes a shift from Dhanush’s...
It is easier to beat a country on the economic front rather than through military strategies. Economic tools such as embargoes, stock market scams, sham corporations and so on are the usual ammunition deployed to ruin a country. One of the most effective of the sabotage missions is the...
Kasinadhuni Viswanath, a legendary filmmaker and one of the doyens of Indian cinema, may be no more but his oeuvre speaks volumes about him. His 93th birthday was just a little over a fortnight away when he passed away at age 93 in Hyderabad on February 2 2023. The ‘kalathapasvi’ as he was...
Back in the 1970s, Hindi films and songs were de rigueur in Tamil Nadu with several films from the north being dubbed into Tamil. The fad pushed original Tamil songs to the background. Ironically, this happened in a state where anti-Hindi agitations were once strident. Yet as a ray of hope, a...
The illusory ‘dishyum’ dishyum’ sounds in Tamil film stunt sequences get viewers going into an adrenaline rush. The choreography of stunts has been gaining more and more heft in the film industry, which explains why most heroes are vying to be typecast as macho action heroes. How much space...
