Karthik Sridhar

Spoiler Filled Directed by the filmmaker who made Suicide Room, The Hater starts as a cautionary tale about how easy it is to alter the perceptions of humans on anything and everything. A small but sinister arc is etched out for the lead character - Tomas, who gets thrown out of his law college for plagiarism (for which he pleads innocence). The actor's eyes are particularly emotive,conveying tons of emotions with silence. The editing and the camera work precisely takes longer pauses where it needs to and cuts-away when needed as well. The writer/director duo make no excuses with regards to how mass mobs, ethno-centric nationalists are portrayed. But what's more refreshing to watch is their portrayal of liberal elites and their hypocrisy when it comes to class and immigration. It is in the last 20 minutes that the movie begins to slip when it goes from cautionary tale to anti-heroic portrayal. If the director intended to show how much the protagonist has changed and the world around him, that didn't really register as the ending is very cinematic (and intentionally sadistic)

The movie pretty much sets up everything within the first 20 minutes of the first half wonderfully. Helped by a terrific trio of Karthi, Narein and Dheena, the movie packs a nice combination of classy + mass moments (watch out for the interval block). The movie suffers quite a bit in the second half with repetitive action set pieces (although innovative, but predictable) and a lack of edge of the seat moments because well - Dilli (Karthi) is someone who can achieve any feat. The climax sequence is so wacky and quirky it's terrific. In short, except for a dull 30 minutes post the second half and a needless twist towards the end - which most directors seem to do these days to milk the sequel cow - Kaithi is probably Karthi's best action movie that goes neck and neck with Theeran Adhigaram Ondru.

With an age old trope of a deadly virus threatening the livelihood of humanity (please let me know if anyone finds the guy who invented this in the first place), physics that would put your Sci-Fi video games to shame, uninspiring screenplay, lead actors (Johnson/Statham) who ironically make lesser impact than Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Hart, Roman Reigns and that Mini Cooper easter egg from The Italian Job put together, Hobbs & Shaw is another passable affair from the Fast and Furious family.

A nice and fleshy screenplay with well written characters (a couple of which had OTT acting), Magamuni seems to aim for greatness and fail gracefully. The bgm, editing and the cinematography was top-notch. Arya is well Arya throughout the movie which left me thinking the protagonists' role could've gone to someone who could cover a much wider emotional spectrum. The filmmaker tries to get all philosophical, touches upon multiple theories and some self-made ones and ends up not exploring anything in depth. The climax was a bummer and felt extremely rushed. Overall watch it for it's gripping first half, the bgm and the technicalities.