RIFLE RANGE BOY

Jailer (2023) Director: Nelson Dilipkumar This is a Thalaiva movie. Period. Nobody else matters. A trip down memory lane of what stunts he could do and how he managed to maintain a fanbase after all these years is all that made the difference. It did not matter that the services of all the great Indian actors from all char dhams of Indian cinemas had made a cameo appearance here. It is immaterial that Padaiappa’s arch nemesis, Neelambari, is made to look like a lizard on the wall, clicking occasionally. Who cares about the holes in the fantastical storyline that would make a schoolboy cringe? It is Rajnikanth. Superstar is back! This is what I missed wondering why everyone was praising Rajni’s latest release to high heaven. Even the usually level-headed ones are also pulled into the merriment. It is not about the story or realism. It is an experience, an immersion, and something entrenched in the psyche. Blame it on Tamil Nadu’s early politics and the involvement of screenwriters, musi...

Met up a couple of guys during my last trip to a God-forsaken (definitely not God's country as it had suffered too much carnage to be under the patronage of any supernatural force) place. Cracking up small talks amid this idyllic setting and too much time to spare, I came to realise that they were in no hurry. In fact, they had no plan. They decided their life as they went along, depending on the side of the bed they got up on that day. A few were on long sabbatical with no job to go back to. One particular couple had been disillusioned with the trappings of modern living and the lie perpetuated by their employers, the pharmaceutical companies, to the rest of the world that they decided to go on a soul-searching experience in Indo-China, Thailand, India and subsequently plan to settle down manning a simple guesthouse somewhere in Central America! Another guy decided one day when he got up from bed to have a revelation that he was wasting his time with pressure cooker work...