Monthly Review: October’22
October started with rain, and the weather is too cold to type already! I had good time meeting friends, travelling, visiting places, and watching good films.
Let’s get started with the movies.
PS-1
The first movie I watched this month was my second theatrical experience of Mani Ratnam. Enjoyed watching PS-1 in my hometown in a theatre with a bad visual experience and awful sound. Wrote my thoughts on the movie here. Give it a read :)
Kantara
I was in Bengaluru in the second week of this month. With all the gaga around Kantara, I booked a show in a local theatre near Banashankari.
The theatre was housefull, and people were selling black tickets outside the theatre just before the show. I enjoyed parts of it, and on the whole, it wasn’t up to my expectations. Read my thoughts here.
Dasavatharam
After a short visit to Bengaluru, I was in Pondicherry for a week. I visited Chidambaram and had the darshan of Nataraja Swamy and Govindaraja Swamy there. After returning home, I realised the initial part of the film is based on Chidambaram temple and revisited Dasavatharam last weekend.
It was a great experience. Compiled my thoughts here. If you get time, please do yourself a favour by watching that movie.
Sardar
This Diwali, we didn’t have the crowd-pulling Telugu releases, and I had little expectations on Sardar and wasn’t interested in other releases. Went to the theatre to watch the film, and there were less than 20 people in the theatre.
I liked the movie. PS Mithran wrote and directed it well. It’s a treat to watch charming Karthi with an engaging script. Mithran seems to have been inspired by Shankar in delivering commercial movies with a social message. I happened to recall Velaikkaran and his debut, Irumbu Thirai. A good watch.
Bimbisara
Bimbisara and Sita Ramam were released around the same time, and I voted for Sita Ramam and was waiting for Bimbisara’s OTT release. I’m glad I made that decision. Bimbisara is not great, I wonder how it became a blockbuster. It felt completely amateurish and shallow.
There’s no continuity, no intensity, the visual effects look shabby, and the acting isn’t effective. I didn’t like the film.
Naane Varuvean
PS-1 and Naane Varuvean were released simultaneously, and I had to go for PS-1. I’m a fan of the Selva-Dhanush combination and was waiting for its OTT release. I didn’t watch the movie’s teaser, so the film feels fresh for me without any context, and I was pleasantly surprised by its plot and how Selva handled it.
It isn’t on par with the duo’s previous collaboration, but it wasn’t bad, either. There were no dull moments for me except for a couple of complaints. But overall, it wasn’t as intense or emotional as I expected. Reflecting on the movie, I think I liked it.
The cinematography sets up the mood, and close-ups of actors during crucial moments got me chills. Yuvan’s background score enhances the scenes; at times, I was completely immersed in the movie with that haunting and spine-chilling music.
VTK
I was genuinely hyped up for this movie. Not for Simbu, Not for GVM, but for Jeyamohan. I wanted to see a proper collaboration of a writer and a director without the director writing the whole script, and this movie had that promise. I watched the trailer, and my expectations went sky-high.
This movie didn’t have a theatrical release in my hometown, and I had to wait for it to come on Prime. Finally watched it last weekend, and I’m impressed, except for a few parts that weren’t written by Jeyamohan.
After Sujatha Rangarajan’s unfortunate death, there was a dearth of such good collaborations leading to movies lacking depth in character development and world-building.
I think this is one of the examples where all technicians worked in sync to provide a better experience to the audience, and they succeeded. Cinematography, editing, music, costumes, art, and all are brilliant.
Mallipoo song is picturised beautifully. There’s pain, there’s innocence, there’s a vibe, there’s camaraderie, and there’s the authenticity of the voice.
Books
I did start reading 2–3 books, but there hasn’t been any progress yet. When in a reading slump, Yandamoori is the medicine. Purchased one of his books in Bengaluru and will read it soon.
I purchased books at the famous Blossom Book house in Bengaluru and at Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry.
Travel
October has been kind to me. I visited several places. I was in Bengaluru on the weekend and then went to Pondicherry for a workation and visited Chidambaram and Pichavaram Forest.
I attended our college’s alumni meet at IIM Banglore, which was a good meet-up. Met a couple of friends, recalled our fond memories at the college, and spoke to the college seniors and the director.
We have an alumni meeting in the month of December, and eagerly looking forward to it. I went there for two reasons: To meet college friends and visit IIM Banglore.
The campus is great, and a couple of friends took us on a campus tour where we walked across the hostels and academic buildings. The majority of 3 Idiots was shot inside the campus, and our friends took us to the places where the scenes were shot! It was a memorable experience.
I was on an unplanned trip to Pondicherry with my friend, Yeshwanth. It was a workation, and we were there for a week. I’ll try writing a separate blog about my experience staying there for a week.
While returning from the workation, I was in Chennai as my train to Gadwal started there. I had around 2 hours of time and immediately reached out to my friend, Sachin, who’s pursuing PhD at IIT Madras.
Within no time, he arranged for a cycle for me so that he could take me on a campus tour. We had lunch inside the cafeteria and then roamed inside the campus to visit the sports complex, academic blocks, labs, hostels, and the amazing open-air amphitheatre. It was so sweet of him to arrange things that quickly.
While in IIT Hyderabad, during our graduation days, we used to walk around the campus after dinner every night, and we were floor mates — on the 3rd floor. Here, in IIT Madras, we sat in his room on the 5th floor for some time and reflected briefly on how our lives have changed in these 3 years. It feels good to meet your friends :)
Blogs
I wrote and published three blogs this month.
- On PS-1: https://dinnity.medium.com/ps-1-b3ec305bb0ae
- On Kantara: https://dinnity.medium.com/kantara-9b68fd00c2e4
- On Dasavatharam: https://dinnity.medium.com/dasavatharam-4155dc126d6f
Today, I watched this interview. An interesting conversation about cinema, happiness, and short films. Watch it here:
I’ve been listening to this song from Rangeela these days. I haven’t watched the movie yet, but this song sounds great:
October has been kind to me, and wishing the next two months of this year would be kind too! I hope I continue writing consistently in the coming days.
Until next time…
