Lokesh Kanagaraj- The Master Blaster who changed action thrillers and gave Tamil New Wave Cinema a standing Ovation

Lokesh Kanagaraj- The Master Blaster who changed action thrillers and gave Tamil New Wave Cinema a standing Ovation

March 14 1986, A young boy was born in Kinathu Kaduvu Town in Coimbatore. 2 years later, Sathya had released and when It came on VCR this young boy watched it and was inspired to watch a lot of movies. When he was in Second Year College, he watched 2 movies that would inspire him to become a filmmaker; Virumandi and Ghilli. That boy was named Lokesh Kanagaraj. He was a Kamal Fanboy since 1988.

Lokesh worked as a young bank employer but quit his job to become a full time filmmaker. His short film Kalam released in Youtube and got included in Karthik Subbaraj's anthology movie named Aviyal. His debut as a full fledged filmmaker was a hyperlink thriller named Maanagaram which was produced by Potential Studios and starred Sri, Sandeep Kishan and Regina Cassandra with music by Javed Riaz. This movie got him noticed. His Next movie Kaithi starred Karthi, Narain and Arjun Das in the lead roles. This was the first movie to not feature heroine and songs with only the bgm composed by Sam CS. This movie became a huge breakthrough in both the careers of  Lokesh and Arjun Das who would be called the next Raghuvaran because of his baritone voice.

His 3rd movie was Master that featured Vijay, Vijay Sethupathi, Malavika Mohanan, Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, Arjun Das and Gouri G Kishan. This movie had music by Anirudh Ravichander. It was initially set to release on Tamil New Year 2020 but Corona played Spoilsport. After almost a year delay, Master released on Pongal 2021 in theatres. This movie was a trendsetter because Vijay played a flawed character, Vaathi Coming and Kutti Story won Listener's heart. This movie was credited with bringing back the dying Multiplex industry. 

Lokesh who has been idolising Kamal Hassan finally got an opportunity to work with him in Vikram which starred Kamal, Vijay Sethupathi, Fahadh Faasil , Arjun Das and others. This movie is planned to develop into a franchise. 

Lokesh Kanagaraj has given a new breed of Action Thrillers in Tamil Cinema and he also references other films in some of his works. He has also introduced and given breakthroughs to every struggling newcomers. We are waiting for the biggest action thriller to come out very soon and we can't wait to see what you just did.

Fahadh Faasil- The Method Actor of Mollywood's New Generation Movement

Fahadh Faasil- The Method Actor of Mollywood's New Generation Movement

August 8th 1982, A young boy was born to Malayalam Filmmaker Fazil and Rozina. His name was Abdul Hameed Mohammed Fahadh Faasil who would be called Fahadh Faasil or Shanu. He started his career in his 1st and only film named Pappayude Swantham Appu that starred Megastar Mammootty in the lead role on 1994. 8 years later, in 2002 Fahadh joined with his father again in Kaiyethum Doorath under the screen name Shanu along with Nikitha Thukral. Actually speaking, He and Nikitha were not the initial choice as his contemporary Prithviraj Sukumaran and Asin were the initial main roles. The movie released to bad reviews and was a box office flop. Fahadh later went into hibernation in the United States. 

On 2009, Fahadh came back to Malayalam Cinema with Kerala Cafe which had many directors and actors in the lead roles. He later found himself doing Metrosexual Roles where he played characters who were common people. His breakthrough work was Chappa Kurishu in which he shared screen space with Vineeth Sreenivasan who established himself as an actor, singer, director and screenwriter. Since then there was no looking back for him. He even joined hands with Aashiq Abu who directed 22 Female Kottayam in which he played a villain. Anjali Menon's Bangalore Days saw Fahadh play a husband who is unable to get over the past. This movie saw Fahadh collaborate with Dulquer Salmaan, Nivin Pauly and Nazriya Nazim. Fahadh would later marry Nazriya. 

Fahadh worked on Iyobinte Pushtakam with Amal Neerad in which he served as producer. Maheshinte Prathikaaram saw Fahadh collaborate with two friends; Dileesh Pothan and Syam Pushkaran who were the Sibi-Lohi-Lal collaboration of the new wave. This was inspired from Kireedam and also based on a real life story. In 2017, Fahadh starred in 2 movies playing supporting characters ;Take Off directed by Mahesh Narayanan in which he shared screen space with Kunchacko Boban and Parvathy Thiruvothu. Thondimuthalum Drisakshigalum in which played Kallan Prasad with Comedian turned Character Artiste Suraj Venjaaramoodu and debutante Nimisha Sajayan. This movie won him a National Award. Fahadh joined hands again with Amal for Varathan and ended the year with Vellaikaran which was his tamil debut in which he played a villain alongside Sivakarthikeyan.  

He played a lazy guy in Njan Prakashan which saw a reunion of Sathyan Antikkad and Sreenivasan. This movie was a highest grosser. Fahadh played a villain in Kumbalangi Nights as Shammi. He later starred in his second Tamil Movie Super Deluxe directed by Thiagarajan Kumararaja who was the reason for Fahadh to admire Tamil Cinema. His dialogue 'Shammi hero da hero' was infact the best. Fahadh joined hands with Anwar Rasheed for Trance in which he shared screen space with his wife Nazriya for the 2nd time. He joined hands with Mahesh Narayanan again for his 1st ott release C U Soon which was Indian cinema's 1st computer screen movie. Following this He reunited with Dileesh and Syam for Joji which was adapted from Shakespeare's Macbeth and was released on Amazon Prime. His Netflix Debut was Irul, A murder mystery. He later joined hands again with Mahesh Narayanan for Malik which won nationwide acclaim. He later starred in Sukumar's Pushpa the rise which marked his Telegu Debut. His future works in Malayalam include Malayankunju while in Tamil; Vikram directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj in which he shares screen space with Kamal Hassan and Vijay Sethupathi, Mannanan directed by Mari Selvaraj in which he stars with Udhayanidhi Stalin, Keerthy Suresh and Vadivelu and Pushpa the Rule in Telegu.

Fahadh has been regarded as M-town's Method Actor and is a legend. I am sure he will continue to impress us with his performance.

Suresh Krissna- The OG Filmmaker of 90s star vehicles

Suresh Krissna- The OG Filmmaker of 90s star vehicles.

On 25th June 1959, A Mumbai based Malayali couple were blessed with a baby boy. His name was Suresh Krissna. He was the eldest child of the couple and had 3 siblings; 2 Brothers and 1 sister Shanti Krishna who was the reigning stars of Mollywood.  Suresh served as an accountant for LV Prasad Productions in Bombay. He was promoted as an assistant when the production house was remaking Maro Chaithra as Ek Dujje Ke Liye which was directed by K Balachander and starred Kamal Hassan and Sridevi Kappor. This movie gave him a chance to work under Balachander on many films at that time. 

In 1988, He debuted as a full fledged filmmaker with Sathya that was remade from Arjun directed by Rahul Rawail. This film starred his idol Kamal Hassan and Amala Akkineni in the lead roles. In 1992, He later went on to make a film titled as Annamalai produced by Balachander and starred Rajnikanth, Kushboo Sundar and Sarath Babu. Annamalai won Rajini Superstardom and was credited as the first film to have a Title card which is infact the father of all intro title cards till date. This movie was adapted from Kudhgarz which was based on Kane and Abel.  They later made Veera that was a remake of a Telegu film.  

In 1995, He directed a gangster drama based on a discarded scene from Mukul S Anand's Hum in which Rajni played the Gangster who locked horns with another don. This Movie was named Baasha and gave Rajni a Demigod Status and thus Rajni was worshipped everywhere. His collaborations with music composers Illaiyaraja and Deva churned out Top Songs that still resonate with each other. He later directed many more films in Malayalam and Kannada but he lost top gear. In the start of the Millenium, He directed Aaha, Alavandhavan and Baba. Alavandhavan was a trend setting movie as it saw Krissna and Hassan back again and also used a motion control rig and introduced animated action sequences for the very 1st time. This movie influenced Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill series. Baba was the last film Krissna worked with Rajni who produced and also wrote the screenplay. It was a box office flop.

Suresh Krissna has been losing steam in terms of directing movies and has moved to directing TV Soaps like Mahabharatam. We are waiting to see his vintage side return in the filmmaking business as he had been outdated. He also wrote a book called My Days with Baasha. Not just us, Even Tamil Cinema is waiting to see Suresh Krissna come back after a long gap.

Akira Kurosawa- The Samurai of Filmmaking who put Japanese Cinema on the World Map

Akira Kurosawa- The Samurai of Filmmaking who put Japanese Cinema on the world map 

It was on Shinagawa Prefecture, Tokyo City, Japan that a young boy was born on March 23rd 1910 to the family of Isamu Kurosawa who came from a samurai family. His name was Akira Kurosawa. His father was a Physical Education Trainer who was open to western traditions and considered theatre and cinema to have Educational Benefits. Akira who was young at that time studied Kendo as a martial art. His inspirations into entering the world of cinema were his father, art teacher and his elder brother Heigo who worked as narrator for silent films. Akira faced his fears with help from Heigo when he was a child. When Heigo passed away in 1933 of depression, Akira was heavily affected.

It was in the middle of the 1930s that Toho studios was formed. Akira decided to try his luck as an assistant director and wrote an essay on how Japanese cinema had deficiencies and what are its solutions to overcome them. This essay impressed Kajiro Yamamoto who asked him to take the follow up exams which he did and came out with flying colors. Akira officially joined the Japanese Film Industry in 1936. Akira Kurosawa assisted Kajiro who was prominent in making Comedies which would star Enoken. Kajiro also inspired Akira through an advice that would become akira's booster. That advice was that a good director needed to master screenwriting.

Akira debuted as a filmmaker with Sanshiro Sugata which was an action drama. This film released to positive response. Akira was pressured to direct its second part which was average. Akira decided to make movies his own style. Yoidore Tenshi or Drunken Angel saw Akira collaborate with Toshiro Mifune for 15 movies. This movie became a breakthrough for him. Akira worked on Scandal which was the first neo Noir Japanese movie. Akira directed Rashomon which would influence so many Filmmakers and thus it was the movie that gave him national recognition and put Japanese cinema in the world map and would also spark the Rashomon Effect.

Shichinin No Samurai was an amazing movie which spoke of battle. This film serves as a favorite for any cinema passionate person. Yojimbo was another classic and that inspired a loose American remake called A fistful of Dollars by Sergio Leone who was called as the father of Spaghetti Westerns. This resulted in Toho filing a lawsuit. Post Yojimbo, he became less proflic. His Shakespearean Trilogy started with Komunosu-jo adapted from Macbeth, The bad people sleep well adapted from Hamlet and Ran from King Lear.

In the latter years, Akira collaborated with Tatsuya Nakadai on 2 movies Kagemusha and Ran. He then directed Dreams, Rhapsody in August and his last work Madadayo. On September 1998, Akira Kurosawa passed away from age related illness.

Akira Kurosawa was a legend of filmmaking but according to Jacques Rivette of French New Wave, his films were more westernised. Without Akira Kurosawa, Japanese Cinema wouldn't be the same again. Director Mysskin called Akira as a zen teacher in terms of filmmaking. No doubt, Akira is indeed a Zen type Samurai of Filmmaking who changed world cinema. 

Hridayam - A campus love story that brought back our memories

Hridayam - A campus love story that brought back our memories

Written and directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan

Produced by Vishak Subramaniyan

Cast: Pranav Mohanlal, Darshana Rajendran, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Ashwath Lal, Kalesh Ramanand, Aju Varghese, Vijayaraghavan , Johny Antony.etc.

Music: Hesham Abdul Wahab

My Review

When Vineeth Sreenivasan announced that he was planning his next directorial, We were going gaga over the fact that it would feature his regulars; Nivin Pauly as the Lead Role, Aju Varghese as Comedian, Ranjan Abraham as Editor, Shaan Rahman as Music Composer and Jomon T John as the cinematographer but we actually didn't realise that this movie Hridayam has been announced and this time, it will star Pranav Mohanlal, Darshana and Kalyani Priyadarshan in the lead roles along with Vishak as the producer under Merryland Cinemas which marked the comeback for the iconic studio after a 42 year break. It retained only Ranjan Abraham and Aju Varghese while the music was composed by Bahraini - Malayali musician Hesham Abdul Wahab and the camera was cranked by O. Vishwajith who was a Debutant.

In terms of performance; Pranav Mohanlal has done an outstanding job as Arun Neelakandan, Darshana Rajendran's performance was totally amazing. Kalyani Priyadarshan who played Nithya is spectacular. Kalesh Ramanand has done a great job as Selva. Ashwath Lal and Aju Varghese have done total justice to their roles.

Vishwajith might have been a newbie but his outstanding cinematography reminds us of Santhosh Sivan's work with Mani Ratnam. Hesham has delivered a breakthrough musical in terms of songs and bgm. Vineeth's decision to treat every scene musically has paid off. The lyrics from Kaithaparam, Arun Alat, Guna Balasubramanian, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Bullleh Shah and Thyagaraja are really great and wonderful. Ranjan Abraham scored a six with editing. There is only one flaw and that is when arun goes in a dark phase that there are some cringe worthy dialogues but vineeth made up by bringing up Kalesh's character selva to transform arun into a new person. This is one such film that will go down in history as one of the best campus romance films ever seen in Malayalam New Wave Cinema. Vineeth is here to stay. 

Shakthi Soundar Rajan And D. Imman- An amazing Combo between an Urban filmmaker and the saravedi musician

Shakthi Soundar Rajan And D. Imman- An amazing Combo between an Urban filmmaker and the saravedi musician:

Shakthi Soundar Rajan and D.Imman are referred to as the next amazing collaborations of the late 2010s and early 2020s after the legendary combo of Mani Ratnam and his collaborations with Illaiyaraja and AR. Rahman as well as Gautham Vasudev Menon and Harris Jayaraj. 

Before Teaming up:

Shakthi Soundar Rajan: 

Born on March 10 1982, Shakthi served as an assistant to filmmaker Venkat Prabhu who was well known for making comedy thrillers. Shakthi got a start with Naanayam, a heist thriller in Tamil cinema that starred Prassana and Sibi Sathyaraj with S.P Balasubramanyam. This film had music by James Vasanthan who composed the album songs while the background score was by Sai Sreenivas Thaman. His next Film Naaigal Jaakirathai had Sibi Sathyaraj playing the lead role with music by Dharan Kumar.  

D.Imman:

Born on January 24th 1983 as Immanuel Vasanth Dinakaran, D. Imman started out as a composer for TV serials running in Sun TV. He was born as a son of J.David Kirubakkara Dass who was a headmaster and would later serve as his manager and Manjula Dass who died on 2008. He was noticed by Kutti Padmini who gave him his chance as a composer for a film titled Kadhalae Swasam that starred Karthik in the lead role. Though the movie had not released, The movie discovered an audio launch. D. Imman's 1st released film was Majith's film Tamizhan. The movie starred Vijay who had become a star. D.Imman worked on movies that fit into B and C Grade. His breakthrough as a musician was Mynaa which was directed by Prabhu Solomon. He later went on to compose for more movies. D .Imman had also composed for not just Tamil but also in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi Movies. He recently won the Kalaimamani Award from the Tamilnadu Government and also The National Award for Best Music Direction in terms of Songs for Viswasam. His songs continued to enthrall music lovers. Late Actor Puneeth Rajkumar revealed in an Audio Launch of his project Natasarvabhouma in which the music was composed by D. Imman and the movie was directed by Pavan Wadeyar that He has been Imman's fan since Kumki and his favourite of Imman's Kannada songs is Saaluthilave from Kottigoba 2.

Their Line-up  

Miruthan was the 1st Zombie Movie in Tamil Cinema and starred Jayam Ravi and Lakshmi Menon in the lead roles. The music was composed by D.Imman in his 1st collaboration with Shakthi Soundar Rajan and that changed his carrer. What we didn't realize was that this movie was the starting point of their future collaborations. One of my favourites from Miruthan is infact Munnal Kadhali.

Tik Tik Tik was the 2nd tamil movie in the space adventure genre. It marked their 2nd collab with each other. It also boasted of Jayam Ravi, Nivetha Pethuraj as well as his son Aarav Ravi. This is infact D.Imman's 100th album. For the title song, He roped in Yuvan Shankar Raja along with Sunitha Sarathy and Yogi B. He returned Yuvan's favour as Yuvan roped him for a song named Ethirthu Nil from Biriyani which marked Yuvan's 100th Album. Kurumba is indeed a tribute for Fatherhood.

Teddy is the 2nd live action animated movie that featured Arya and his wife Sayyesha together. This movie had a amazing story but had only weak dialogues. The music was overall the best. Nanbiye is a tribute to friendship. Maranthaye is infact my favourite.

Captain is infact the most avaited as it boasts of an ensemble cast led by Arya, Simran, Aishwarya Lekshmy while the music is by D. Imman. I can't wait to see how the music has come out along with the movie.

Gautham Vasudev Menon - The Filmmaker who redefined Love Stories

Gautham Vasudev Menon - The Filmmaker who redefined Love Stories

It was in Ottappalam, Kerala that a young boy was born in a Malayali - Tamil Family on February 25 1973. He studied Mechanical Engineering and was also influenced by films like Nayakan. He started his movie making career as an assistant for cinematographer turned filmmaker Rajiv Menon in Minsara Kanavu. His debut as a film maker came with Minnale which starred Madhavan, Reema Sen and Abbas in the lead roles with Vivek and Nagesh in supporting roles. The music was composed by a 1st timer named Harris Jayaraj. The movie released on Valentines day 2001. He directed a hindi remake which was average in terms of box office but became a cult classic. 

He later brought out the Police Trilogy with Khakka Khaaka that starred Suriya, Jyothika and Jeevan that brought Kalaipuli S Thanu back as a producer. His second film Vettaiyaadu Vilayadu saw Kamal Haasan, Jyothika alongside Daniel Balaji and Salim Baig. This 2nd film was the first one to have gay characters though they were the villains. The final part Yennai Arinthal starred Ajith Kumar along with Arun Vijay who got a break through after 2 decades of struggle. His film Pachaikilli Muthucharam was an average movie. His magnum opus Vaaranam Aayiram was based on his father who passed away in 2007. This film showcased Suriya in double roles with different shades as a father and son. This movie was the last collaboration with Harris Jayaraj. It later won him a National award for best film. He later collaborated with Simbu in Vinnaithandi Varuvaya which had music by A. R Rahman. His film Achcham Yenbathu Mathumaiyada introduced Malayalam Actress Manjima Mohan who would earn a name in Tamil Cinema. 

Gautham Menon introduced youngsters who would dominate Tamil Cinema; Harris Jayaraj who became The Melody King, Darbuka Siva who made our hearts soar with Ennai Nokki Payum Thotta, Arun Vijay who was the hottest villain, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Manjima Mohan and Megha Akash who would become actresses in their own right. His dialogues were in Tamil and English. He has also become an actor himself. As a director, he reshaped romance but from the middle of the 2010s, he seems to have lost his steam. He has infact become an actor and won us over with performances. I am waiting to see the vintage Gautham make a comeback as a filmmaker since he had been losing stock. 

Without Gautham Menon, Romance was never the same again.