News

The singular styles of filmmakers in the Woche der Kritik (aka Berlin Critics’ Week) often result in some of the year’s most under-appreciated and formally exciting cinema. I’ve covered this section of Berlinale for the past three years and each year, I find at least a few movies that I continue to think about long after watching them. The unfortunate reality remains that many of these films don’t find distribution or seem to get lost in the shuffle––especially the short films––because of their experimental nature. A few movies from the past few years I’d like to single out here as absolutely worth going out of your way to find and watch: Adam Khalil & Bailey Sweitzer’s Nosferasta: First Bite, Ekaterina Selenkina’s Detours, Manoj Leonel Jahson & Shyam Sunder’s Kuthiraivaal, and Kamal Aljafari’s An Unusual Summer.

Now for my favorites from this year...

Boundless Media today announced its first international short film ‘Birth’, featuring Shreya Dhanwanthary and Lillete Dubey in lead roles. Directed by Shyam Sunder and produced by Natasha Malpani Oswal of Boundless Media, Birth also stars Abeer Mehervish, Aanchal Chauhan, and Natasha Iyer in pivotal roles.

Birth is a 25-minute satirical feminist thriller that takes on the journey of a woman faced with motherhood, not as a choice, but as an absolute necessity for women in general. In the film, Meera (played by Shreya), who is pregnant, visits a place headed by Mama Nithya (Lillete) where expecting mothers come to find joy in their pregnancy. However, Meera falls in the trap of a sinister cult that changes her life once and for all. The film explores the role Indian society plays in reshaping a woman’s identity as she becomes a mother.

Sharing her thoughts about the film, producer Natasha Malpani Oswal said,...

ReviewDebutant directors Manoj Leonel Jahson and Shyam Sunder accomplish a daring feat in Tamil cinema weaving together myth, archetypes, maths and psychology.Bharathy SingaravelCourtesy/NeelamProductionsaAndYaazhiFilmsImagine you’re invited to sit in a dark room and watch someone else’s nightmare play out on a screen. In real time. The chaotic flow of dream-events that are confusing enough when the dreams are our own flit by with little explanation. The music and sound effects are precisely keyed to keep you in a state of agitation. The second you think you’ve grasped a hint of meaning, that thread dissolves into something else. Kuthiraivaal is such an experience. This isn’t to say don’t watch the film. Quite the opposite. Debutant directors Manoj Leonel Jahson and Shyam Sunder accomplish a daring feat: a confounding dreamscape that weaves in myth, archetypes, maths and psychology. In this dreamscape, a man wakes up to...

The Censor Board of Film Certification has cleared directors Manoj Leonel Jahson and Shyam Sunder’s much-awaited film ‘Kuthiraivaal’, featuring Kalaiyarasan and Anjali Patil in the lead, for release with a U/A certificate. The film, which was supposed to release on March 4, is scheduled to release this Friday. Director Pa Ranjith, whose Neelam Productions has […]...

Directors Manoj Leonel Jahson and Shyam Sunder’s ‘Kuthiraivaal’, featuring actors Kalaiyarasan and Anjali Patel in the lead, will release on March 4, its makers announced on Saturday. Director Pa Ranjith, whose Neelam Productions has produced the film along with Yaazhi Films, took to Twitter to make the announcement. Ranjith said: “Extremely happy to announce that […]...

Movie ReviewOnce you lose that dying need to reason, you might as well sit back and enjoy the beauty of the frames, and just watch the characters at work.CrisIt sounded like a cosy fantasy tale you could sit and relax with. A man waking up with a horse tail on his back after a strange dream in the night – sounds about right. But you would have been really, really mistaken in assuming it was going to be a relaxing experience watching Kuthiraivaal, directed by newcomers Manoj Leonel Jason and Shyam Sunder, which premiered on Friday at the International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk). Turns out, it is a huge exercise for the brain to even keep track, forget trying to make sense of all that’s presented to you. It can however be a really interesting experience, and what is generally perceived as a psychedelic one. Saravanan (Kalaiyarasan), aged...

Ifkk‘Kuthiraivaal’ is directed by first-timers Manoj Leonel Jahson and Shyam Sunder, and stars Kalaiyarasan and Anjali Patil.Digital NativeDigital NativeDebutant filmmakers Manoj Leonel Jahson and Shyam Sunder are directing the film Kuthiraivaal, which is bankrolled by director Pa Ranjith’s home banner Neelam Productions. The film will have its premiere at the International Film Festival of Kerala. Announcing the news, Pa Ranjith took to his Twitter and wrote, "Excited for this! Our @kuthiraivaal is having it's India premiere @iffklive on 12th of February :) We welcome you to experience #Horsetail in theatres @YaazhiFilms_ @vigsun @KalaiActor @AnjaliPOfficial @Manojjahson" Excited for this! Our @kuthiraivaal is having it's India premiere @iffklive on 12th of February :) We welcome you to experience #Horsetail in theatres@YaazhiFilms_ @vigsun @KalaiActor @AnjaliPOfficial @Manojjahson pic.twitter.com/jUJ8Mzq61N — pa.ranjith (@beemji) February 7, 2021 It may be noted that the film was recently selected for the Berlin Critics’ Week,...

InterviewManoj and Shyam speak about the struggle to make their first film, a unique story about a man with a horse's tail. Sowmya RajendranThe teaser of upcoming Tamil film Kuthiraivaal dropped last week, creating a ripple. In an industry where film promos focus on punch dialogues, close-up shots of the hero and perhaps a few seconds from a song featuring the heroine, the Kuthiraivaal teaser showed a man with a horse's tail. The intriguing premise is only one of the many reasons to be excited by this film which has Kalaiyarasan and Anjali Patil in lead roles. Speaking to Tnm, directors Manoj Leonel Jahson and Shyam Sunder say that they both studied at the Lv Prasad Film and TV Academy where Manoj was Shyam's senior by a year. "Manoj was making a short film back then and I was acting onstage. He was an important link to me moving from theatre to cinema.

KollywoodDirected by Manoj Leonel Kahson and Shyam Sunder, the film stars Kalaiyarasan and Anjali Patil in lead roles.Tnm StaffOn a wall painted blue is a rough sketch of former Chief Minister Mg Ramachandran’s face in black, beneath which one can make out the words ‘Puratchi Thalaivarin…” (revolutionary leader’s…). As a man (actor Kalaiyarasan) walks past this wall, we see that his shadow is cast on the wall but it takes the shape of a man with a horse’s tail. Above him looms the title Kuthiraivaal (horse's tail). This film, directed by Manoj Leonel Kahson and Shyam Sunder, is being presented by director Pa Ranjith. Sharing the first-look poster on social media, Ranjith wrote that the film will include magic-realism elements. Here's the Intriguing First Look Poster of #Kuthiraivaal Magical Realism Movie#KuthiraivaalFirstlook@officialneelam @beemji @Vigsun @KalaiActor @AnjaliPOfficial @manojjahson @shyamoriginal @karthikmuthu14 @Gridaran @naanVPR @anthoruban @YaazhiFilms_ @kuthiraivaal @pro_guna pic.

In today’s Bollywood there is only one star of rap “Raftaar”. A man whose lyrics are clear, but not clean. Whose powerful versus strike at the heart of all listeners while his beats entertain on the screens of streaming media platformers. When music director Sneha Khanwalkar wanted a title song for her latest album Manto, she turned to him to bring his talents. What Raftaar delivered was Mantoiyat: an idealisation of the man behind the story.

Manto the album backs Manto the film, a biopic of the famous Urdu playwright Saadat Hasan Manto, a pre-independence script writer whose films annoyed everyone because he wrote stories that portrayed people, especially girls and young women, as they were treated in that time from his perspective. As he says in the movie “Agar aap meri kahani ko bardaasht nahin kar sakte, to iska yeh matlab hai, ke yeh zamana na kaabile bardaasht...