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…

There are films which make you uncomfortable because they are so bad that you wonder how they got made in the first place. And then there are films like Puriyatha Puthir, which has scenes so raw that you almost don’t want to see what will unfold next on screen for fear of seeing your worst suspicions come true. And this, in a film that for the first 15 mins lulls you into a sense of false comfort by portraying itself as a breezy romance. But that doesn’t mean this is not a romantic movie. Kathir (Vijay Sethupathi) is an aspiring music director and Meera (Gayathrie) is a part-time music teacher.…