Towards the end of the Netflix film, Sila Samayangalil, there is a terrific shot. A seated character casts a shadow on the wall and it lingers for some time as a shocking piece of news is delivered. The man and the shadow, one and the same for much of the film, are now distinct. At this moment, the room is awash with light and dark interspersed in measured intervals. The real reason is because people are moving in and out of the light source. But the metaphorical reason is a battle that has long been waged between such dualities — light vs dark, right vs wrong, perception vs reality. That…

Given all the rural films we’ve made over the years, you’d think it’d be hard to think of something new in the genre. But PG Muthiah’s Maduraveeran can’t be so easily dismissed. It has all the typical moments you would expect from such a film, and yet, it also manages to pull away from the trappings of the genre. Take, for example, the hero introduction scene. Kodhandam (a hilarious Bala Saravanan) asks his lackeys to get the hero who is returning home but unfortunately, they end up bringing someone else. You may expect a rousing entry for the hero, but Muthiah will have none of it. He introduces Durai (Shanmugapandian)…

“All the world’s a stage and all men and women merely players.” Meyaadha Maan starts with this Shakespeare quote. The director repeats this line at three different points in the film as the story changes track each time. Everytime you feel like the film is slowing down and veering towards something predictable, this quote and the quirky twists that follow put a smile on your face. One of the highlights is the interval block which involves one long tracking shot in a hospital that changes the perspective of not just the lead character, but also ours when we realise that it is not a romantic story, but a detailed character sketch…