Recent Reviews by Kirubhakar Purushothaman
News 18
Kirubhakar Purushothaman is a Principal Correspondent with News 18 and is based out of Chennai. He has been writing about Tamil cinema and OTT content for the past eight years across top media houses like India Today, Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle.
Films reviewed on this Page
Amaran
Sai Pallavi And Sivakarthikeyan’s Film Is A Brilliant, No-Nonsense Ode To A Soldier
Rajkumar Periasamy needs a huge salute for making a subtle but incredibly touching ode to a soldier
Towards the third act of Amaran, Major Mukund (Sivakarthikeyan)’s father asks him, “Why is Kashmir always in trouble?" This is a crucial moment, though it is shot with a matter-of-fact tone — reflecting the overall style of the movie. It is significant because it is the only time we gain insight into Mukund’s opinion about the politics behind the bloodshed and violence in one of the most volatile regions of the country. It’s essential to understand what a soldier thinks about the politics that have placed him in a situation where his own life is at risk.
All 6 reviews of Amaran here
Bloody Beggar
Despite Its Flaws, Kavin's Performance And Supporting Cast Stand Out
Kavin’s riveting performance and well-cast ensemble redeem this dark satire on class and ambition.
Bloody Beggar, directed by Sivabalan Muthukumar, is another bold choice by lead actor Kavin. However, it doesn’t fully deliver on its promising premise and ends up falling short in several aspects. At its core, the film struggles to find a consistent tone. It aims to be both a biting dark satire on the bourgeoisie and an emotional drama about the downtrodden, but it achieves more success with the former than the latter. The satire works to an extent, presenting exaggerated caricatures of villains who are repulsive enough to justify the violence directed at them. This offers moments of catharsis and even a few laughs at their expense. However, the emotional core surrounding the nameless beggar’s tragic past feels underdeveloped and fails to resonate in the cold, dark world of the film. Additionally, much of the humour, despite evident effort in the writing, doesn’t land as intended, making Bloody Beggar fall short of its full potential.
Sir
Vemal’s Period Movie Belongs To The Era It Is Set In
Directed by actor-director Bose Venkat, Sir is about a family’s relentless and devastating crusade for rural education. Like many such Tamil films, it has 'only' its heart at the right place.
Sir is one of those formulaic Tamil movies with a strong cause or message it wants to put across and doesn’t mind doing so at the cost of being a didactic and dated. The style, writing, brevity, and everything that makes up for a superior form take a backseat in Sir as Bose Venkat prefers coming across as an activist to a fine filmmaker. While Sir has a noble cause at its core, the execution makes it a yarnfest, and instead of getting the catharsis such social commentary aims to provide, the film invokes a sense of guilt for feeling so.
Vettaiyan
Rajinikanth Is Superb But Out of Place in TJ Gnanavel’s Noble Attempt
TJ Gnanavel’s simple and predictable film leaves us wondering why it needed such supergiants in the first place.
All Rajinikanth films have some default settings. It doesn’t matter who directs him, they have to play by these rules or around it. Experimentations by the director are allowed but within the frame of the boilerplate. The success then comes down to how the proverbial ‘director’s touch’ syncs with the template of a superstar film.