All stories by Sreehari Nair
Ulajh Review: Diplomatic Doldrums
Rediff.com2 Aug 2024Ulajh strikes you as an attempt at statement-making gone horribly wrong, a punchline that doesn't land, a roar that never reaches the ear, observes Sreehari Nair.
Jasprit Bumrah Beyond Numbers
Rediff.com12 Jul 2024159 dismissals in 36 Tests, 149 dismissals in 89 ODIs, and 89 dismissals in 70 T20s are very good by any standards. And yet they don't speak to Bumrah's true value and his special appeal, notes Sreehari Nair.
The Problem With Ullozhukku
Rediff.com2 Jul 2024People turn a corner and overhear secrets, men change stripes so as to acquire shades of villainy most convenient to advancing the plot, secondary characters confess to past sins just so that the leading women are absolved of all responsibility, notes Sreehari Nair.
Aavesham: The Psycho As Self-Designated Guardian
Rediff.com24 Apr 2024Watching Aavesham is like sprinting through the whole history of our mass-masala movies and seeing it in a new light, notes Sreehari Nair. And this, incidentally, is the story of Fahadh Faasil's career too.
What Makes Malayalam Cinema So Distinctive?
Rediff.com11 Apr 2024The reasons are too private to be discussed at a round table, listed out during a seminar, or uncovered in an academic course. A proud but insomniac connoisseur murmuring in his sleep may do a better job of explaining the phenomenon than an expert on a podium. Sreehari Nair airs his thoughts.
Why Aattam Is A Masterpiece
Rediff.com21 Mar 2024What follows is essentially a long scene set in a single location, and you watch in amazement as the scene grows into one of Indian cinema's funniest and most spectacular pieces of sustained craftsmanship, accumulating emotional power and subtext, growing wings and claws, becoming its own beast, applauds Sreehari Nair.
Bramayugam: Movie Love or Masochism?
Rediff.com13 Mar 2024You will appreciate the Mammootty of this movie better if you do not take the servile reviews to heart, for this is a grand, broad, almost proudly comic performance, assures Sreehari Nair.
Is He India's Finest Director Of Romcoms?
Rediff.com28 Feb 2024Girish AD doesn't make romantic comedies so much as he elevates the genre, observes Sreehari Nair.
Malaikottai Vaaliban: 10 Truths That May Hurt
Rediff.com20 Feb 2024Since nothing irritates Lijo Jose Pellissery more than a throwaway critical judgment, Sreehari Nair carefully presents his opinions about Malaikottai Vaaliban, a good two weeks after he first saw the movie.
Fighter: Blood On The Dance Floor
Rediff.com7 Feb 2024Siddharth Anand's artistry bespeaks an upbringing filled with GI Joes, plastic combat boots and plastic bayonets, fake punching noises and fake sounds of gunshots, rudely interrupted by an adult voice saying, 'Beta, all this is good, but try bringing in some feelings too', observes Sreehari Nair.
Why Merry Christmas Left Me Feeling Shortchanged
Rediff.com27 Jan 2024If you have never seen Sriram Raghavan fly, you would hardly realise that this time, he is happy in his cage, this time he isn't reaching for the skies, notes Sreehari Nair.
7 Cliches Of Movie Criticism & Reporting
Rediff.com19 Jan 2024This isn't a hatchet job, and my excuse for the exercise is my feeling that when you invert some of the clichés mentioned here, you might just arrive at the portals of genuine movie-making energy, says Sreehari Nair.
Kaathal: Demystifying The Indian Superstar
Rediff.com2 Jan 2024'As I watched Mammootty 'try out' Mathew Devassy, I could hear from my theatre seat the ready-made appreciation of the liberal press, their applause for the great actor having flirted with queerness on screen.' 'But it is a flirtation and nothing more, for I could not detect in Devassy any hint of love, not for his homosexual lover, not for his wife,,' observes Sreehari Nair.
2023 At The Movies: A Double Take
Rediff.com27 Dec 2023It was a year of so many contradictions and contrasts that it became dangerous to talk about movies, people lost their heads discussing Friday releases, psychiatrists began dabbling in film criticism, and film critics turned into psychiatrists, says Sreehari Nair.
Chamak Review: Fast Forward To Isha Talwar
Rediff.com8 Dec 2023It's not uncommon for performers to become bigger than the stories they are placed in and Sreehari Nair would happily pay to watch Isha Talwar and Paramvir Singh Cheema riffing on love, bad life choices, psychology, rhythm, and oven-baked Kulchas in Chamak.
Kadak Singh Review: Requiem For The Moaner
Rediff.com8 Dec 2023ITo steer clear of sanctimonious newspaper stories all your life, and then be saddled with movies like Kadak Singh -- now there's a rotten bit of luck worth moaning about, sighs Sreehari Nair.
I Don't Get this Indian Cricket Team
Rediff.com10 Nov 2023They represent a new tribe whose grace and skill-sets lie well beyond my comprehension, notes Sreehari Nair.
Om Puri: The Chronicler Of Cities On The Boil
Rediff.com18 Oct 2023'If it weren't for Om Puri, a whole range of our big city experiences wouldn't have found their honest representations on the screen.'
Our Biopics Are Bad, But There's Hope
Rediff.com13 Oct 2023I do have a dream biopic. It has as its subject Renu Saluja, the cosmically gifted editor, with a special focus on the Vidhu Vinod Chopra-Saluja-Sudhir Mishra love story, says Sreehari Nair.
800 Review: Watch Out For The Spin
Rediff.com6 Oct 2023800 gets so lost in celebrating its grand subject that it forgets something pretty elementary: Cricket is a team sport!, notes Sreehari Nair.