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Nodi Swamy Navirodu Heege: A masterfully told humorous take on marriages and the cost of companionship

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Shankar Nag is widely revered as one of the best film personalities of all time for KFI. His films have always been regarded as being ahead of his time. These were stories that were adamant on breaking the norm and doing something that was unheard of in the cinema landscape back then. Multiple films have served as inspiration for film and filmmakers working today. There are many films that can be dissected and broken apart to reveal his genius but there is one film that has always stood the test of time and been the most popular way to witness his genius again. A movie that is a testament to the reason Shankar Nag is held up as one of the greatest talents to ever grace the industry. Humour, messaging and raising cultural questions all done in one single film. Simultaneously a family entertainer and a representation of the youth of 1980s. It is of course, Nodi Swamy Navirodu Heege. His incredible direction and writing genius helps steer this breezy romance film into an out and out maste...
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First Man: Damien Chazelle's exploration of the lunar mission inspires with caution

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Damien Chazelle is a man known for his work on movies that portray the vibrancy of art. His Oscar-winning feature is a film that revolves around a star-crossed love story between two artists. The most recent film he made was a chronicle of the landscape of filmmaking from decades ago. He even debuted with a tense thriller about the cost of being great in an art form. These are all films that revolve around the pain and glory in the creation of art; immaculate portraits of the tumultuous journey one has to undergo to excel in fields unbeknownst to margins of success. In the midst of this rather unconventional filmography lies an even more bafflingly audacious entry. With First Man, Chazelle attempted to tell the story of the first man to make it to the moon: an engineer who defied all the bounds put on man to reach beyond the skies. A story so wrapped up in complex mathematics and quite literally, Rocket Science. This is a film that feels the farthest from the filmmaking language in whi...
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Superboys Of Malegaon: Here's to the ones who dream!

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It's hard to describe the bond that Indians share with cinema. To us, a nation that is still developing along with a huge population, with most of it being a working class that is barely able to make a living. Cinema is more than just a form of artistic expression. Cinema is a documentation of our dreams. We watch the screen light up with stories about people who have the same struggles as us. These stories feature these characters undergoing hardships that we've seen and heard of, and we see them beat systems that are in place to maintain such barriers. They emerge victorious against tyrannical rulers and crime overlords, but somewhere we find ourselves toiling in these situations along with the characters. Their wins are cause for our celebrations.  In a country that has simultaneously developed its film industry, films have more or less become essential. To then ask if the youth have dreamt of being a part of this magical process of expressing themselves through the cinemati...
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Iruvar: Mani Ratnam's retelling of the birth of a state is a testament to his caliber

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There is a feeling that washes over a person once the credits roll on Iruvar. The viewer finds that for almost the past three hours, the film has held their attention to an extent where nothing else has mattered. It is one of the most accurate descriptions of being 'mesmerized'—mesmerized like how Anandan was when he first saw Pushpavalli, mesmerized like those in the cinema halls when they first saw Anandan on their big screens, mesmerized in a way that only cinema can achieve. Mani Ratnam brings his decades’ worth of experience to tell this star-studded tale about the birth of a state and its political superpowers, intertwined with its most beloved artform. He takes this story, which has been inspired by an epic real-life tale, and puts the best filmmaking talent behind it to achieve a stunning display of what sight and sound can accomplish. Every moment that is etched in the history of Tamil Nadu has been presented here, and the heft isn’t lost on any one of them. Santosh Si...
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Creature Commandos: James Gunn's show denies any existence of a superhero fatigue

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There is an opinion amongst the general public that comic book cinema has seen its glory days and is now tumbling down to an unfortunate end. It is a sentiment that finds its origin amongst the myriad of dull and uninspiring films that have recently seen the light of day claiming themselves to be based on popular comic books. These are the films that are structured similarly to and tell the same story as a countless amount of other films. It has become a corner of cinema that merely exists because it is usually a safe bet to rake in box office numbers. However, I believe that it is reductive to claim that superhero or comic book storytelling has reached saturation. There are various distinct and incredible stories that exist between the pages of comic books. Comic books are a visually exaggerated medium of storytelling, and insinuating that the medium is the cause of error is an objectively wrong statement to make. Written by James Gunn, a man who has excelled in this format of cinema,...
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Max: A career-reviving Sudeep and technical excellence help push the star vehicle into success

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Max is Sudeep's much-awaited return to the big screens after about 3 years. It is also Kannada cinema's long-overdue return to a commercial star vehicle that doesn't disappoint fans and general audiences alike. There is a charm in the structure and presentation of Max itself, that serves as a reminder of why this style of filmmaking is popular in Sandalwood to begin with. This is the sort of film that audiences have fallen in love with for years. It gives them the required cinematic highs essential to escape into its world. Once "Max" has successfully gained the viewer's love and trust, it continues to give more such moments while also delivering an engaging experience. One of the major triumphs of Max is that it is made upon the realization that stringing together multiple "mass" sequences will not result in an ultimately satisfying product. All of the moments designed to have fans hooting and cheering are built upon a strong story that serves as th...
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UI: An intense cinematic experience due to the eccentricity of its filmmaking language

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UI is not an easy film to describe. It is its own beast for most of the runtime. The film is a confident display of Upendra's skills at directing a metaphorical and multi layered script. It essentially tries to highlight the downfalls of world politics with a specific focus on Indian politics' unbreakable bond  with caste and religion. However, instead of directly dealing with the issue at hand with a basic level, Upendra's signature style takes the story into a realm 10 or more notches higher.  The universe that he creates is a desolate and concentrated display of mankind's exploitation of the world we live in. Set within this universe is this tale of political uprising. The tale is made interesting by the narrative decision taken to highlight how easy it is to manipulate the public into voting by using the aforementioned weapons. All of the aspects from this point are fantastic versions of a true reality that we see on a daily basis. It never tries to make itself into...
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