RIFLE RANGE BOY

Jagame Thandhiram (ஜகமே தந்திரம், Tamil, The Universe is Cunning; 2021) Written and Directed: Karthik Subbaraj Do not expect any high brow stuff here. This is purely a masala movie with a 'feel good' element with little cerebral activity involved. Suruli, a gangster from Madurai, Tamil Nadu, is summoned to London to be a consultant to a bigoted white gangster. The kingpin, Peter, is having a hard time with a rival Sri Lankan Tamil gang, and only Suruli seems capable enough to clip their activities. Like a faithful dog and a coolie, showing gratitude to the alms strewn to him, Suruli hunts down Peter's nemesis, Sivadoss. After gunning down Sivadoss, Suruli realises that Sivadoss was actually a modern-day Robin Hood who had made it his life goal to help illegal immigrants who come into the UK from war-torn countries by getting them valid documents. His criminal activity helped to finance his noble intention. He contends that since the UK and its allies are responsible for all...

Nenjam Marapathilai (நெஞ்சம் மறப்பதில்லை, The heart never forgets; Tamil; 2021) Story and Director: Selvaraghavan This film may not resonate with the average Kollywood movie-goer. It is supposed a thriller, a ghost story with corpses, gore and blood, but it is plentiful with hidden messages and symbolism. It is for the viewers to connect the dots and draw their own conclusions. A casual viewer would surmise the whole offering as a poorly made horror flick with poor VFX about an orphan, Mariam, from a Church taking up a childminder's job in a dysfunctional family. The man of the house is a two-faced eccentric tyrant, Ramasamy @ Ramsay. He is married to his bosses' daughter and is under her thumb. He appears to courteous to everyone, but beneath his pleasant demeanour, evil lurks.  Long story short, the minder is gang-raped by Ramsay and his servants, killed and buried in the large home compound. Mariam comes back as a spirit to avenge her bizarre death. In an interview, the dire...

Mookuthi Amman ( மூக்குத்தி அம்மன் , Nose-ringed Goddess, Tamil; 2020) This movie is obviously a bashing against BJP's imminent entry into Tamil Nadu politics. Since the 1930s, Tamil Nadu politics had been secular (read anti-Hindu). From the time of EV Ramasamy and subsequent leaders of the state, they have always claimed to be atheists. They all fell prey to the British's devious 'divide and rule' strategy. They also subscribe to the now-defunct 'Aryan invasion theory'. They believe that the story of Ramayana is the story of Northerners (Aryans and Brahmins), of King Rama, colonising the Dravidians led by Ravana. What they fail to realise is that Ravana actually hails from the region around modern-day Uttar Pradesh, hence from the North too. He usurped the Lanka kingdom from his half brother, Kuberan. EV Ramasamy had always been sceptical of the Hindu hierarchical order. His idea was the Brahmins were out to aggrandise themselves and vilify the lower castes. Be...

K.D. @ Karuppu Dorai (2109, Tamil; கேடி என்ற கருப்புதுரை) This story reminds me of the many stories that I discussed with my fellow partner-in-crime in the not so distant past. Quite many a time, seriously ill patients with advancing age with the myriad of medical illnesses that complements the geriatric population often gets admitted to his unit. Invariably, the patient's children would insist that their moribundly ill elders get all the best treatment that money can buy. The oft-repeated dialogue would be, "money is not a problem". My friend knows it is no use flogging a dead horse but like a good servant he is, he obliges, every time.  The tide would be going against the acutely ill patient. The next of kins would, however, stay hopeful. The life is literally hanging on a thread, living on a prayer. But hope lies eternal in the human heart.  Days move ever so slowly but the patient's condition doe not improve. Slowly, the number of visitors hanging around th...

Nadigaiyar Thilakam (2018) People do a lot of things under the guise of love. They justify wrongdoings and rationalise breaking of sacred bonds with the same excuse. They sanitise guilt by saying that love conquers all. They give love such a status as if it is the one that maintains human civilisation and makes the world go around. In short, love moves mountains. Love is Grace. Love is God. Perhaps love has been over-glorified. If we were to dissect love into subsets, maybe then the true intentions may manifest. A rose in any language may smell the same, but its thorns hurt, nevertheless. To be fascinated, to admire, to have passion, to desire, to have devotion, to like, to lust, to obsess, all denote different degrees of love. The end results in the pursuit of these ambitions may not always be a happy ending.  This film is a biopic drama of the darling of the early 1960s' Tamil silver screen, Mrs Savithri Ganesan. Savithri landed in Kollywood in the 1950s as a starry-eyed y...