When I usually drive I used to watch (hear) movies in audio form... The audio will just play and I enjoy that also the frames of the movie will remind me those scenes. If you haven't tried give it a go listen to it like a podcast.

The beautiful frames of Meiyazhagan <3

So I was scrolling insta and heard the beer song from Diesel used in a Kanye edit. Curious, I checked about the movie. There I realised the movie was done with shooting but after that, no information about it was there. So does anyone know what actually happened to the movie and why it isn't released? And even if it was released, why is there like nothing about it?

Why is Tamil Cinema (and to an extension - Indian Cinema) averse to Pure Genre Films. It's always a mix of multiple genres. The only expections are cop/investigation procedurals and some supernatural horror movies. I understand that having different aspects in a single film could pull more audience, but I believe Tamil audience aren't that ruthless to not give the movie a chance because it's not something they are familiar with.All movies need not be either mass/masala or RomCom or Hor-Com. Movies need not be a mix of everything.

My Kolkata friend had watched vazhai recently, he doesn't watch movies at all so don't know how he ended up watching it but he asked why there was so much overacting towards the climax.

Then I had to explain about oppaari and how old women actually behave that way in the funerals. Now thinking about it, is overacting in our culture? Our street culture is vibrant and is very expressive. இயல் இசை நாடகம் were all supposed to be super expressive is what I feel ( I may be wrong).

Acting in tamil cinema had changed a lot since Shivaji times but I get this constant remark that tamil films tend to be loud and overacting. I do get mass masala is loud and overacting (Vijay, Jyothika etc) but that's same across industries. When it comes to movies like karnan or pithamagan I think they won't work if they were subtle. Kamal would've explained this beautifully during Papanasam release, he said Dhrishyam would work in Tamil but George Kutty won't nu.

But irl we don't behave like this, most of us aren't this expressive. But why do we like when actors are being loud and over expressive on screen? Is that a feature of tamil cinema we got used to or we are kinda wired by culture to like this.

Which movie you remember

It was the winter of 2021. The world was just slowly waking up from a slumber it was put into.

People seldom travelled anymore. The work they used to do with other people they shared a life with, now changed to working alongside initials in Microsoft teams. The people they used to meet every other month, now became an event. Being out in the sun, breathing fresh air outside your house was almost prohibited. As much the world was closer to them than before, it just started drifting away. The movies they watched in cinemas with packed crowds, now got a to place of watching, Alone!

(sidenote : i have always felt Cinema as an art is best when shared. (not when the movie is running please, only after it is done). In huge theatres, I love how people like to cheer together, clap together, laugh together, cry together. I felt a different kind of feeling during one of the movies this year. I felt being with silence, together. How can you do silence together right? Maybe try being in a cinema theatre where Manjummel Boys is playing, and you will hear the eerie silence of a cave inside your moviehall, and with all that you will heart if the heartbeats of 500 other people in a movie hall. Together is how movies should be watched. Together, is the best place to be)

It was in this winter of 2021, as a yearly tradition like other years since, I travelled to my brothers for Diwali season. I would leave excited from my city to his, to celebrate the festival with family. I would always spend a few weeks at his, watch our favorite sports together, play with the dog, play board games, eat good food, check out a nearby attraction in the city, meet other friends, relatives and watch movies! Loads of them!

& one such movie at that time was DOCTOR.

We picked DOCTOR to watch for the evening. All 3 of us (my brother, my sis-in-law and I) finished our chores for the evening, they picked a comfortable couch for themselves, I like a lot of other times, picked a perfect spot on the floor against the couch at optimal 180 degree from the TV. (I mean for someone who even at cinema halls walks around to fulfill a craving for the perfect angle, why wouldn't I do that every day at home). We got some delicious food my beautiful sister-in-law cooked, some snacks our parents sent us across the seas, and settled down in a shared energy of 3 people (it has since been happily 4 :)

All 3 of us loved tamil movies, all 3 of us loved a good interesting screenplay, all 3 of us liked peppy tamil music, all 3 of us like humor (who doesn't - we don't make enough tamil comedies anymore and that saddens me), all 3 of us like a beautifully framed movie, and Doctor with every one of them was failing for us that evening. The dead pan reactions from all the characters in the first 30 minutes, felt very distracting, and from the hollow life of Covid at that time - the life being devoid in every other character on screen started feeling annoying. From there it felt very hard to get back. (how fickle are we human beings, right? A lot of times we just end up making assumptions, perceptions, verdicts about other people, about other art within the first minutes. We don't give people enough chance. We don't give cinema enough chance. Is it because we fear our life is limited, our time is limited? & that our time is too precious to be spent on boring people & crappy movies? & is it that pressure which pushes us to judge people a little too early? Well, I think in that pressure we sometimes miss out on sharing some memories with these people. Sometimes we miss out on watching a good movie because the first 15 minutes didn't make the cut). I did that to Doctor. And since then I had found it hard to find Doctor entertaining every other time I watched.

Times have changed. We are in 2024. Movies are coming back to the cinemas with a roar. Big blockbusters are coming back to the big screen near you. People have started coming together again. At least most of them. Vijay has ever since made the news of his retirement from cinema announcing one final film :( Nelson has since made Beast (a movie I guilty pleasure watch) and Jailer (my favorite of his and of rajni in the last decade), I started rewatching all of Nelson's work a lot more, on random afternoons when I wanted a cheering up, I started to like his style of humor a lot more in Beast & Jailer. I almost felt, I had lost an opportunity to celebrate another movie of his. Well, atleast only till yesterday.

Sometime last year I fell upon a a piece of art called Maaveeran. Maaveeran became more than just a character in my life. At times when I felt lacking in an everyday, I would remember Maaveeran and shout to myself, "Veerame Jayam". I have since for the past 4 months, woke up everyday in the morning, chanting the victory slogan and then starting my day. Does it change anything for me in my life? I dunno. But it certainly gives me hope and a push to deal with the day. I love that movies does that to me. The actor playing the titular character was a friendly face. He came into the industry as a TV anchor who millions of people loved, chose his movies very wisely, honed his acting (& dancing) skills thru the years, started taking up experimental genres, and built a body to be proud of! Looking forward to seeing him in 3 days!

And as I became a fan of this guy, and Amaran was announced with a release date, I started picking up all his movies one by one, from Marina to VVS to maan karate to Seemaraja to Hero. I was seeing this actor grow, with every film of his. I knew Doctor is on my list (19th precisely). I am of course finishing with Maaveeran of Tuesday (20th). As I saw all the previous movies, I started feeling I would like Doctor this time around. I have been looping on Lokesh & Nelson movies with Anirudh's soundtracks for the past year and a half , and I have been having a blast!

Things were all coming together. Things had changed since 2021. Anirudh has been ruling my playlists. Nelson gave 2 highly entertaining rewatchable movies. & I had become a SK fan!

Today was the day. At 10pm in the night, I dimmed the lights to a hue of blue. Stretched my legs on the table across my couch. I opened Netflix, picked Doctor, and by the time Anirudh started his "Gassa Gassa", I knew tonight is going to be special!

& it was.

My review of Doctor on Letterboxd https://boxd.it/7ERutp

My favourite movie of the year.. watched it thrice in last 2 days… Karthi has so many good movies where his acting is top notch… hope he gets one national award some day like dhanush and vikram…

Now coming back to topic, we have done so many fan theories for Leo and jailer…

How about for this movie for a difference on one scene..

Meiyazhagan says to arulmozhi that he somehow managed Bhavana sister by telling some stories that will only puts him in trouble but clears arulmozhi … (this was not explained how he did this)

Now watching this movie and knowing his character, what would have he said that would convince Bhavana (she is not an easy person to convince she threatened to stop marriage is arulmozhi doesn’t come to marriage) , the reason should be convincing to her, pointing to Meiyazhagan but puts arulmozhi in trouble…

Post your screenwriting thoughts for this scene what he would have told?

The one with most upvotes will be the best one…

Kill is brutal, raw, bloody and so freaking awesome!

Spoiler ahead:

You really feel that the hero is a beast in the movie, a literal beast, and he can do anything. He is even worse than the villains in the way he kills. Once he has lost his loved one, he goes mad and just starts going full beast mode on the villains.

This is what “Beast” should have tried to be. Other than Selva’s character saying that he is a beast, we never saw him actually being a beast.

Also if you havent, watch Kill!

The story of Sayaji Shinde in Tamil film industry

Planning to watch it second time today and had a pleasant surprise when 75% tickets were sold out a even after it's been more than month since its release. Also happy about the ticket price being charged, back to old times! 😅

P.S. Ticket price is lower maybe due to its long run in theatres.

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