Harish Film views

Director; Lokesh Kanagaraj No movie is perfect when looked through a magnifying lens. As we sit in front of the screen, the mind fights with the film-maker to avoid suspending disbelief. The struggle settles the minute when there is something interesting/ unseen/ or fresh on the silver screen. With the audience in a trance, the filmmaker only has to keep supplying those 'spikes' at regular intervals. Did this happen to me while watching Vikram? Unfortunately, no. It was an inconsistent film, IMO, that kept on breaking the invisible connection between my eyes and the screen. The film begins on a high with the signature step of Kamal. After the dishonest Vishwaroopam-2, it was gratifying to see Kamal enjoying on screen. When the film went into investigative mode, I sat up at the ingenious way the generic investigative procedural was flipped on its head as the past & present walked together. Soon enough the film shifted gear to an action thriller, which is when I started losin...

Director: Kamal Haasan When Wissam (Kamal) and his wife Nirupama (Pooja) enter the elderly care to meet Wissam's mother, an Alzheimer's patient, we see that her world of four walls is adorned only by her son's images. It reminded me of another member of the extended Haasan family's film, OK Kanmani.  There too a key character, suffering from Alzheimer's, had a loved one as an anchor. But Kamal the director pushes this trope further. Through a twist of fate, she isn't able to recognise her son standing in front of her. Akin to how Wissam is hit by flashes of images from the past throughout the film, this plot point took me back to the various moments prior to this scene in the series where Wissam is alienated. Wissam's alienation starts when his father leaves him as an illegitimate baby; the Indian Army disavows him so that he can be an espionage agent; his colleagues want to get rid of him at the drop of a hat; his jihadi brethren feel he has betraye...

Director: K.S. Ravikumar Regardless of the success/failure of his films, Kamal has always been raved for his efforts. Adversely it’s a double edged knife in that; it puts the spot light on the (sub) consciously narcissistic attitude of his. I need not say anything more than the term ‘dasavatharam’ in this context. In his latest offering though there is some respite in this regard.  After going through what seems to be the prologue for the movie Man Madhan Ambu, as we get acquainted with all the characters, there comes a sequence, where a malyali producer couple tries to evade the dreamy eyes of Ambu (Trisha). The Universal Hero who till then only had a calculated ‘fan patronizing’ introductory, silently creeps into the frame to form a picture perfect scene where each character is let free to behave on their own. This subtle setup speaks volumes about the command of writer Kamal over the star. With the stage being set, what could have been a straight forward tale of interceptin...