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Thiruchitrambalam movie review: Dhanush is effortless, Nithya Menen is phenomenal in endearing slice-of-life drama

Thiruchitrambalam movie review: dhanush's film is an endearing slice-of-life drama, in which he and nithya menen share a kind of relationship that’s been rarely explored before in tamil cinema..

At a time when every movie industry is obsessed with making pan-Indian films, Mithran Jawahar’s Thiruchitrambalam, a slice-of-life drama, comes as a breath of fresh air. It’s a simple film with its heart at the right place. This Dhanush- starrer is a very familiar tale, but one that works like a charm and leaves you grinning as you walk out of the theatre. It’s the simplistic storytelling along with the highly-relatable characters that makes the film endearing and wholesome. Read more: Dhanush serves a fresh comedy as delivery boy out to find love in Thiruchitrambalam trailer

Dhanush plays Thiruchitrambalam aka Thiru, who works as a food delivery boy with no ambitions. His life revolves around his grandfather (Bharathiraja) and his childhood friend-cum-neighbour Shobana ( Nithya Menen ). He has a strained relationship with his father (Prakash Raj), who works as a police officer. As Thiru navigates through life trying to find love and purpose, he goes on a journey of self-realisation as he mends his bond with his father.

Sometimes even the most familiar stories can weave magic if presented well, and Thiruchitrambalam is the perfect example of that. The film, which lets Dhanush shed his hero image, works effectively both as slice-of-life family drama as well as a romantic-comedy.

For most of part of its running time, Thiruchitrambalam treads on thin ice as it could’ve easily become over dramatic, especially with a lot of drama in the second half. Thankfully, the simplistic writing and the regular use of highly enjoyable humour – courtesy Bharathiraja’s inimitable wit and one-liners - never lets a single moment get boring. The comedy is clean and situational, which works very well in the context of the story. Even the casting plays a crucial role in making the characters so relatable and enjoyable.

Nithya Menen, for instance, plays Dhanush’s bestie, and it’s the kind of relationship that’s been rarely explored before in Tamil cinema. Mainstream Tamil heroes are usually seen having male best friends. It was also refreshing to see a family full of men looking after each other and not relying on women to come fix their issues.

Dhanush returns to playing a role that he has championed over the years. You make him play similar characters another 100 times and he would still make it enjoyable every single time. That’s how effortlessly good he gets at playing these kinds of characters. Nithya Menen has always shied away from playing the quintessential heroine and it has always worked in her favour, going by the kind of characters she manages to land. She’s phenomenal in Thiruchitrambalam, playing a key character that she nails to perfection.

Veteran filmmaker Bharathiraja gets a meaty part which he plays incredibly well. Some of the film’s best scenes involve Dhanush, Nithya and Bharathiraja at their best. Anirudh Ravichander’s music is another major highlight of the movie. His work is a heartfelt tribute to the legendary Ilayaraja, and the songs and background score elevate the mood of the movie on so many occasions.

Film: Thiruchitrambalam

Director: Mithran Jawahar

Cast: Dhanush, Nithya Menen, Prakash Raj, Bharathiraja, Raashi Khanna

• Tamil Cinema
• Nithya Menen

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'Vaathi' movie review: A wonderful Dhanush anchors a promising tale bogged down by cliches and deja vu

Even if everything goes downhill in a Dhanush film, one can rest assured his films will always have a poignant father-son scene. Right from the times of  Thiruda Thirudi  and  Sullan  to  Polladhavan  and  VIP  to even  Thanga Magan  and Asuran, a Dhanush film is elevated by the scenes featuring a father and a son. In Venky Atluri’s  Vaathi  ( Sir  in Telugu), Balamurugan (Dhanush) asks his father (Aadukalam Naren), why he is making a big fuss out of not having the money to make his son an engineer. The father says,  “Pasanga kaekkara vishayam kedaikkalena avangalukku oru naal dhaan varutham, aana kaettadhu vaangi thara mudiyalena, pethavangalukku adhu eppavume varutham  (Children are sad for a day if they don’t get what they ask for, but the parents are sad for days together for not being able to fulfill their children’s wishes).”

What follows and precedes this poignant moment in  Vaathi  is a bunch of cliche-ridden scenes that have a tremendous sense of deja vu. In fact, sandwiching a sentimental moment between template scenes is a trademark of this film. However, there is a reason why cliches exist in the first place… they work, and in  Vaathi , they almost do. 

The film begins in 2022, and soon enough, through the wondrous world of VHS tapes, we are transported back to the late 90s and jump right into the crux of  Vaathi  — privatisation of education. On one end, there is dwindling attendance at government schools, and on the other end, there are burgeoning admissions in private schools. Of course, even if the system is a villain, you need a face for it, and that’s where Thirupathi (Samuthirakani) comes into the picture. He is the corporate villain archetype who treats education as a commodity.

Of course, his materialistic world is challenged by the idealistic and rather simplistic world of Balamurugan, or as he is fondly called Bala sir. In fact, it is fun to see Samuthirakani ham like there’s no tomorrow, especially when one realises that  he  is the Bala sir in  Saattai , and his Dhayalan has shifted to the dark side in  Vaathi . Nevertheless, Bala’s utopian worldview can be labelled as impractical, but it is nice to see a protagonist having a want and a lot of heart.  It is this heart that is seen in  Vaathi , even in the most mundane of scenes.

But where  Vaathi  really surprises us is in the sudden burst of ingenuity. Take, for instance, the first time we see Rajendran in the film. He is Bhoopathy, a videographer who moonlights as a theatre owner who runs soft porn films. When his place gains respect among his own people, there is a nice wrap to that arc. The way Venky decided to sketch this character speaks a lot about his intent. 

This heart and intent hold him in good stead as Venky blows hot and cold with the writing, which is burdened by a  Super 30  hangover, in addition to a cocktail mix of films, including  Saattai, 3 Idiots, Nammavar , and a bunch of other films. If coaching centres were the bane of quality education in  Super 30 , it is private schools in  Vaathi . There are a lot of similar beats in both films, especially the camaraderie between the students and the teacher. Honestly, these portions in  Vaathi  were quite enjoyable, and the lengthy sequence where the students defy the odds and rally for their teacher is a mass masala moment that finds its way to the top in a film that managed to stay rooted till then. It is a nice touch that when being exalted as a god, Bala is not really in his senses. This is the perfect amount of masala in a film that wants to be rooted.

However, sensationalism soon finds its way to the fore pushing realism behind, which leads to some uncharacteristic narratives, and unintended humour. Also, the ‘love at first sight’ and the ‘fighting for the girl’ tropes have no place in Vaathi, even if the film is set in the glorious 90s that always had a soft corner for such scenes. The forced humour does more good than harm and has a very bitter aftertaste too.

Also, can’t help but detect points from the makers for naming the film,  Vaathi , and not having the students use it as a term of endearment and respect. Having a superstar like Dhanush at the centre of things also pushes Venky and Co to give us more than the required number of stunt sequences. They work because of the actor’s charisma, but they poke large holes in the narrative.  

Undoubtedly,  Vaathi  is all about Dhanush and his students, and it is impressive to see an unwavering focus on this equation. The biggest strength of Dhanush's performance is his understanding of when to take the back seat, and in more than a few scenes, he doesn’t shy away from letting the children take the wheel. The kids rise up to the occasion too, and most of them get their moment under the limelight, and they use it to the fullest. 

Another smart idea in  Vaathi  is the setting of the film, which allows the inhabitants of the town of Sholavaram to speak a smattering of Telugu. However, the idea isn’t fully developed, and it is also the case with the film being set in the 90s era. Apart from a PCO booth, and a beautiful scene involving hall tickets and a newspaper,  Vaathi  doesn’t really explore the time period, and we are left with the feeling of watching a rather trendy story unfold in a period setting.

Also, Samyuktha is wasted in a role that starts off quite well but doesn’t offer her anything, There is a nice aside where they refer to each other as 'sir' and 'madam' even when they are romantically inclined towards each other, but this arc is largely disappointing, especially since the writer even finds a way to conveniently pack her away during the second act where things don’t always go in favour of  Vaathi . The same holds good for the supporting cast, who are spectacularly one-note and offer nothing new. 

Bolstered by a mostly loud and moderately effective background score by GV Prakash, whose songs are used smartly by Venky,  Vaathi  is a triumphant tale of an underdog who fights against a system that is heavily stacked against him. With the power of retrospection, Venky and the team talk in detail about the education system in the country.

As the credits roll, and we move past the induced mass moments and the warm relationship Bala shared with his Super 46,  Vaathi  becomes the latest film to strike warring bells against the increasingly expensive field of education. Impressively,  Vaathi  presents the problems without offering any solutions. Despite using a 140-minute runtime to teach us a bunch of subjects, including the importance of education, respect in society, caste discrimination, women empowerment, and financial independence, the biggest two lessons that  Vaathi  teaches us are...

1) Films don't have to be preachy to drive home a point

2) Dhanush can make anything look easy

Director: Venky Atluri Cast: Dhanush, Samyuktha, Samuthirakani, Sai Kumar Ratings: 2.5/5 stars

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samuelshow 1 36 days ago

Wonderful film, heart moving, richly funny.

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It's Nithya Menen movie more than Dhanush movie.

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Rating: ( 2.5 / 5).

Even if everything goes downhill in a Dhanush film, one can rest assured his films will always have a poignant father-son scene. Right from the times of Thiruda Thirudi and Sullan to Polladhavan and VIP to even Thanga Magan and Asuran, a Dhanush film is elevated by the scenes featuring a father and a son. In Venky Atluri’s Vaathi ( Sir in Telugu), Balamurugan (Dhanush) asks his father (Aadukalam Naren), why he is making a big fuss out of not having the money to make his son an engineer. The father says, “Pasanga kaekkara vishayam kedaikkalena avangalukku oru naal dhaan varutham, aana kaettadhu vaangi thara mudiyalena, pethavangalukku adhu eppavume varutham (Children are sad for a day if they don’t get what they ask for, but the parents are sad for days together for not being able to fulfill their children’s wishes).”

What follows and precedes this poignant moment in Vaathi is a bunch of cliche-ridden scenes that have a tremendous sense of deja vu. In fact, sandwiching a sentimental moment between template scenes is a trademark of this film. However, there is a reason why cliches exist in the first place… they work, and in Vaathi , they almost do. 

Director: Venky Atluri

Cast: Dhanush, Samyuktha, Samuthirakani, Sai Kumar  

The film begins in 2022, and soon enough, through the wondrous world of VHS tapes, we are transported back to the late 90s and jump right into the crux of Vaathi — privatisation of education. On one end, there is dwindling attendance at government schools, and on the other end, there are burgeoning admissions in private schools. Of course, even if the system is a villain, you need a face for it, and that’s where Thirupathi (Samuthirakani) comes into the picture. He is the corporate villain archetype who treats education as a commodity.

Of course, his materialistic world is challenged by the idealistic and rather simplistic world of Balamurugan, or as he is fondly called Bala sir. In fact, it is fun to see Samuthirakani ham like there’s no tomorrow, especially when one realises that he is the Bala sir in Saattai , and his Dhayalan has shifted to the dark side in Vaathi . Nevertheless, Bala’s utopian worldview can be labelled as impractical, but it is nice to see a protagonist having a want and a lot of heart.  It is this heart that is seen in Vaathi , even in the most mundane of scenes. Read Also :  Maaveeran's first single Scene Ah Scene Ah to drop on this date

But where Vaathi really surprises us is in the sudden burst of ingenuity. Take, for instance, the first time we see Rajendran in the film. He is Bhoopathy, a videographer who moonlights as a theatre owner who runs soft porn films. When his place gains respect among his own people, there is a nice wrap to that arc. The way Venky decided to sketch this character speaks a lot about his intent. 

This heart and intent hold him in good stead as Venky blows hot and cold with the writing, which is burdened by a Super 30 hangover, in addition to a cocktail mix of films, including Saattai, 3 Idiots, Nammavar , and a bunch of other films. If coaching centres were the bane of quality education in Super 30 , it is private schools in Vaathi . There are a lot of similar beats in both films, especially the camaraderie between the students and the teacher. Honestly, these portions in Vaathi were quite enjoyable, and the lengthy sequence where the students defy the odds and rally for their teacher is a mass masala moment that finds its way to the top in a film that managed to stay rooted till then. It is a nice touch that when being exalted as a god, Bala is not really in his senses. This is the perfect amount of masala in a film that wants to be rooted.

However, sensationalism soon finds its way to the fore pushing realism behind, which leads to some uncharacteristic narratives, and unintended humour. Also, the ‘love at first sight’ and the ‘fighting for the girl’ tropes have no place in Vaathi, even if the film is set in the glorious 90s that always had a soft corner for such scenes. The forced humour does more good than harm and has a very bitter aftertaste too.

Also, can’t help but detect points from the makers for naming the film, Vaathi , and not having the students use it as a term of endearment and respect. Having a superstar like Dhanush at the centre of things also pushes Venky and Co to give us more than the required number of stunt sequences. They work because of the actor’s charisma, but they poke large holes in the narrative.  

Undoubtedly, Vaathi is all about Dhanush and his students, and it is impressive to see an unwavering focus on this equation. The biggest strength of Dhanush's performance is his understanding of when to take the back seat, and in more than a few scenes, he doesn’t shy away from letting the children take the wheel. The kids rise up to the occasion too, and most of them get their moment under the limelight, and they use it to the fullest. 

Another smart idea in Vaathi is the setting of the film, which allows the inhabitants of the town of Sholavaram to speak a smattering of Telugu. However, the idea isn’t fully developed, and it is also the case with the film being set in the 90s era. Apart from a PCO booth, and a beautiful scene involving hall tickets and a newspaper, Vaathi doesn’t really explore the time period, and we are left with the feeling of watching a rather trendy story unfold in a period setting.

Also, Samyuktha is wasted in a role that starts off quite well but doesn’t offer her anything, There is a nice aside where they refer to each other as 'sir' and 'madam' even when they are romantically inclined towards each other, but this arc is largely disappointing, especially since the writer even finds a way to conveniently pack her away during the second act where things don’t always go in favour of Vaathi . The same holds good for the supporting cast, who are spectacularly one-note and offer nothing new. 

Bolstered by a mostly loud and moderately effective background score by GV Prakash, whose songs are used smartly by Venky, Vaathi is a triumphant tale of an underdog who fights against a system that is heavily stacked against him. With the power of retrospection, Venky and the team talk in detail about the education system in the country.

As the credits roll, and we move past the induced mass moments and the warm relationship Bala shared with his Super 46, Vaathi becomes the latest film to strike warring bells against the increasingly expensive field of education. Impressively, Vaathi presents the problems without offering any solutions. Despite using a 140-minute runtime to teach us a bunch of subjects, including the importance of education, respect in society, caste discrimination, women empowerment, and financial independence, the biggest two lessons that Vaathi teaches us are...

1) Films don't have to be preachy to drive home a point

2) Dhanush can make anything look easy

Dhanush's Raayan introduces street talent Gana Kadhar in Water Packet song

Dhanush has set a new precedent by hiring a lyricist from outside the film industry for the recently released "water packet" song from raayan. .

Gana Kadhar with Dhanush and AR Rahman.

Tamil star Dhanush is collaborating with Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman for his upcoming movie, Raayan. Besides playing the lead role, Dhanush has also written and directed the film, which appears to be a crime drama.

Dhanush has set a new precedent by hiring a lyricist from outside the film industry for the recently released "Water Packet" song. He conducted auditions across Chennai to find someone with a strong command of 'Madras Bashai,' a hybrid language that may sound gibberish to untrained ears. Among 30 candidates, he picked Gana Kadhar to write the lyrics for his movie.

ALSO READ: Water Packet song from Raayan: Santhosh Narayanan and Shweta Mohan croon this charming ‘love gaanaa’

The filmmakers unveiled a video where Dhanush introduced Gana Kadhar to AR Rahman. The music composer seemed pleasantly surprised by the new talent and inquired about his background. "I am a painter. But I write lyrics for my friends in the neighbourhood," said Kadhar.

"Kadhar's writing is good. There is a lot of humour in it," praised Dhanush while introducing Kadhar to Rahman.

Dhanush's efforts to highlight talent from the streets and provide them with such a significant opportunity in major film production have drawn positive responses on social media.

The "Water Packet" song captures the colourful and fun vocabulary of the streets of Chennai and adds a new dimension to the romantic melody. Composers Santhosh Narayanan and Shweta Mohan have sung the song to Rahman's 'love gana' number.

Dhanush has kick-started the promotions for Raayan, which is set to hit the screens on June 13. The film boasts an ensemble cast, including SJ Suryah, Prakash Raj, Selvaraghavan, Sundeep Kishan, Kalidas Jayaram, Dushara Vijayan, Aparna Balamurali, Varalakshmi Sarathkumar, and Saravanan.

Judging from the posters of Raayan, the film seems like a gritty gangster drama with themes of revenge.

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After his family is killed, a young man trains to avenge their murders. Seeking those responsible, his quest leads him through the criminal underworld. After his family is killed, a young man trains to avenge their murders. Seeking those responsible, his quest leads him through the criminal underworld. After his family is killed, a young man trains to avenge their murders. Seeking those responsible, his quest leads him through the criminal underworld.

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• June 13, 2024 (India)
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With the Transfixing The Shrouds, David Cronenberg Finds No End to His Grief

The puzzling new techno-thriller is Cronenberg’s most personal, but most alienating, movie yet.

David Cronenberg once told The New York Times Magazine that his 1986 body horror classic The Fly was not in fact a metaphor for AIDS, but a metaphor for death. “We've all got the disease — the disease of being finite. Death is the basis of all horror,” the filmmaker said.

Fascination with how the human body can degrade and break down, and a fixation on mortality, define many of Cronenberg’s body-horror films. But never has that fixation on death and the finite been more literal than in his latest thriller, The Shrouds , Cronenberg’s most personal, and most strangely subdued and alienating, movie yet.

Vincent Cassel plays a David Cronenberg surrogate in The Shrouds , Cronenberg’s most personal film yet.

In The Shrouds , which is inspired by the death of his wife Carolyn Cronenberg from cancer, Vincent Cassel (with a coif and style that makes him look eerily like David Cronenberg ) stars as an industrialist named Karsh who is not just mourning the loss of his wife Becca (Diane Kruger) to cancer, he’s haunted by her. Becca appears in Karsh’s dreams, naked and slowly falling apart as the disease literally eats away at her body. First it takes her left breast (his favorite, he bemoans to Dream Becca), then it takes her left arm after doctors discover the cancer had spread. Her bones become brittle to the point that an attempt at sex with Dream Becca results in her breaking her hip. In one of his later visions, he sees her limping into the room, describing the steel plates and bolts that are holding her frail body together. She’s a shadow of the woman he loved, but he cannot look away — even after her death.

Consumed by his grief, Karsh invents a revolutionary technology, GraveTech, which allows him to watch over her corpse in the grave. It’s accomplished by the Shroud, a sort of wearable X-ray fabric that envelops the body and connects to a screen attached to the gravestone. Cronenberg (via Karsh) is literally watching his wife’s corpse, much like his audiences watch him make living corpses of his characters. He’s a “graveyard voyeur,” Becca’s twin sister Terry (also Kruger, in a bad wig) accuses, and he can’t deny it. In fact, he owns it, turning the GraveTech technology into a small enterprise, with plans to launch it in burial sites around the world. That is, until the graveyard containing Becca gets vandalized, leading Karsh on an investigation that sends him on a downward spiral of conspiracy theories and strange medical mysteries.

The stilted dialogue and slow pacing makes The Shrouds a puzzling watch.

It’s hard to recommend The Shrouds to anyone who is a fan of Cronenberg’s works. It’s a movie that mostly takes place in sterile, minimally decorated rooms, with people talking about things they have done, or will do. It’s a movie in which its characters become consumed by conspiracy theories — most of them presented by Guy Pearce’s nebbish Maury, Karsh’s tech consultant and Terry’s ex-husband — that chip away at the film’s already-fragile reality. It’s a movie in which the most gruesome scenes are of Becca’s decaying corpse, or the visions of Dream Becca slowly losing limbs and body parts from surgery and chemotherapy. The worst kind of body horror, Cronenberg seems to say, is seeing your loved ones waste away from an illness as debilitating and debasing as cancer.

But even with its oddly stilted dialogue and slow, bordering on lethargic, pace, The Shrouds maintains a dry sense of humor — though it’s a little unclear if the comedic moments are intentional. Every scene with Pearce’s paranoid Maury feels like it’s played for laughs, and even the steamy sex scenes between Cassel’s Karsh and Kruger’s Terry (prompted by Terry getting turned on by talking about conspiracy theories) seems like a weirdly comedic play on the sex scenes from Cronenberg’s Crash . Every scene between Karsh and prospective client Soo-Min (a stoic-faced Sandrine Holt), with whom he falls into a romantic relationship, plays out like a cold business transaction. Perhaps the awkwardness of the film is just Cronenberg’s clumsy way of dealing with his grief, or perhaps there’s a gallows humor to this odd grieving process.

The Shrouds is undoubtedly an unconventional movie for Cronenberg. But it’s also a self-reflective one; an awkwardly intimate, therapeutic exercise for the director, who subverts the expectations for his films to try to reach for something grander and more profound. The body horror gives way to the real horrors of cancer, and any shocks are reserved for eerie scenes with an AI avatar (also voiced by Kruger), who taunts Karsh’s grief. The film ends on an open question, leaving you with a dissatisfied, unresolved feeling. Not everything that Cronenberg tries with the film lands. But The Shrouds still sits with you, showing Cronenberg in conversation with the rest of his filmography in fascinating ways. Maybe grief, in all its complexities, is just as difficult to understand and unpack as The Shrouds .

The Shrouds premiered May 20 at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. It has no U.S. release date yet.