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...
In every period of Tamil cinema, there has been a stunt master whose work is sought after for a time and earns him wealth and accolades, but would get replaced by someone else after he burns out. In such a scenario, working in a world-record 1,200 films spanning over three decades and leaving a...
After Rajinikanth re-released his 2002 film Baba in 2022, which unfortunately became a damp squib again, like 20 years ago, his peer Kamal Haasan is set to come back with a digitally toned-up version of his 2001 film ‘Aalavandhan’, also a box-office dud back in the day. The film’s producer...
This story was published in 2018 'Mahanati' Savitri continues to be in the news, perhaps for the reason that she was the greatest female actress of an era in which the 'superstar' tags were alien, or perhaps for the ugly fight between siblings taking pot-shots at each other to keep their...
Hindi film Pathaan was in the eye of a storm before it hit the screens. The saffron bikini heroine Deepika Padukone wore dancing with hero Shah Rukh Khan had got on the nerves of the saffron brigade, which tried its best to protest against the film’s screening. However, the film saw the light...
The acronym MGR still inspires awe even after 35 years since the demise of the Tamil cultural icon Maruthur Gopalamenon Ramachandran (1917-1987). MGR lives on in Tamil cinema and politics. His stellar 42-year-long film career from 1936 to 1977 went hand in hand with his enormous political...
Recently wall posters carrying the faces of Ajith and Vijay appeared all over the state to promote their much-hyped Pongal films Thunivu and Varisu. Not only in posters but also in ads published in dailies, banners and even on social media, the macho heroes alone figured front-and-centre as if...
Films that revolve around social problems strike a chord with people, especially when big stars feature in them. At the same time, films of star value that have the lead playing an anti-hero are hauled over coals. Ajith’s latest film Thunivu does echo some of the anti-heroics of his earlier...
Right from the day it was announced that both Vijay and Ajith films — Varisu and Thunivu — would be released for Pongal this year, fans of the competing actors began to keep track of which of the two films bags more theatres and which gets the privilege of the first show late night or early...
