#CelluloidCritic

Critic - No.147 Director:  Sanjay Leela Bhansali Casts:  Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor Language:  Hindi Genre: Drama / History / Romance SYNOPSIS: Based on the true events set in medieval Rajasthan, Queen Padmavati (Deepika Padukone) is married to a noble king Ratan Singh (Shahid Kapoor) and they live in a prosperous fortress with their subjects until an ambitious Sultan (Ranveer Singh) hears of Padmavati's beauty and forms an obsessive love for the Queen of Mewar.  REVIEW: After recreating many historical moments and classic adaptations in Bollywood cinema, ace director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has taken a poem titled ‘Padmaavat’ written in 1540 by Malik Muhammad Jayasi and added his own visual mastery and melodramatic interpretation. Based on the theme of obsession, war integrity and honour, Bhansali has crafted an engaging epic drama with a team of solid actors.  Deepika as Padamaavati is an epitome of grace and beauty who delivers a knockout

Critic - No.146 Director:  Steven Spielberg Casts:  Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks Language:  English Genre:  Biography / Drama / History SYNOPSIS: A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher (Meryl Streep) and a hard-driving editor (Tom Hanks) to join an unprecedented battle between the press and the government.  REVIEW: Crafted around the few anxious weeks in 1971, it revisits The Washington Post’s decision to publish portions of the Pentagon Papers, an immense classified report that recorded America’s involvement in Southeast Asia from World War II to 1968. In the hands of Spielberg, the story shapes into an engaging thriller elevated by empowering performances by Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.  Streep as Katherine Kay Graham grabs out attention progressively till the final moments where we get to see the full strength of the iron lady. She plays the character with wit, showing us just how cleverly Graham out beat a

Critic - No.145 Director:  Joro Anwar Casts:  Tara Basro, Bront Palarae, Endy Arfian, Dimas Aditya, Nasar Annuz, M. Adhiyat Language:  Bahasa Indonesia Genre:  Drama / Horror / Mystery SYNOPSIS: After dying from a strange illness that she suffered for 3 years, a mother returns home to pick up her children.  REVIEW: Indonesia is famous for its old school horror films that are based on famous folk lore characters and plot. Especially when majority of the population believes in the element of supernatural to a high extent, striking chords through the horror genre is not particularly an uphill task. Released in 1980, ‘Pengabdi Setan (Satan's Salve in English)’ became a beloved cult classic at that time which only stacked up the pressure to remake this old school horror with a touch of invention without spoiling the strong sentiment of mysticism the audience shared with the film.  Joro Anwar takes the challenge quite swiftly by exploring familiar scares further by stagin

Critic - No.144 Director:  Vignesh Shivan Casts:  Surya, Ramya Krishnan, Keerthy Suresh, Karthik, Suresh Menon, Senthil, Siva Shankar Music:  Anirudh Language:  Tamil Genre:  Action / Comedy / Crime PLOT: Loosely based on the Opera House heist that happened in 1987, ‘TSK’ revolves around a team of con artists who pose as CBI agents to conduct raids to swindle money from corrupted businessmen. What happened when they are tracked down by the real CBI agents? REVIEW: After giving two quirky, fresh films, young director Vignesh Shivan has clinched the opportunity to direct a top league actor at a very early stage of his career. However this time, he has adapted a critically acclaimed Hindi film, ‘Special 26 (2013)’ has a source for this next film’s content. Of course, if you have seen ‘Special 26’ , you will know that ‘Thaan Serntha Kootam (TSK)’ is vastly different in terms of presentation, characters and screenplay.  The film starts off with RJ Balaji’s interview s