After spending 43 years working inside Dubai's royal palace, a man from Kottakkal returned home with nothing but gratitude for the life he lived in extraordinary circumstances.
'I was embarrassed that I was learning a martial art form at 55. I thought what will people say? I kept it a secret even from my husband.'
Ayushmann Khurrana, known for consistently breaking conventions with his choice of roles and projects since his 2012 debut in 'Vicky Donor', is gearing up for his new release 'Pati Patni Aur Woh Do'. Ahead of its release, a list ranks his top 10 standout films, highlighting his unique contributions to Indian cinema.
Mammootty's greatness lies not in hiding his flaws, but in turning them into his most powerful acting tools, observes Sreehari Nair.
Sanju Samson expresses his excitement about joining Chennai Super Kings and learning from MS Dhoni, while also reflecting on India's T20 World Cup victory and his personal journey.
'We are Indians irrespective whether we are Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Malayali or Tamilian.' 'I am the best example of this integration.'
From a reluctant engineering student to one of India's most loved viral choreographers, Noel Alexander's rise has been nothing short of cinematic.
'The LTTE were the pioneers of that.'
'You know the situation in Yemen now. There is no government there.' 'The rebels are in control. So, there is no diplomatic channel through which we can negotiate.'
Yukti Thareja is a vision of confidence and grace.
Tamilians and Keralites believe he is one of them, and people from Karnataka also consider him their hero.
Ramanunni had received an anonymous threat letter warning him that his right arm and left leg would be chopped off if he did not convert to Islam within six months.
'In Mumbai, isolation is a very different isolation.' 'It's not about actual physical loneliness.' 'It's the loneliness in the company of others, and I felt that that is a very Mumbai thing.' 'You can be travelling in the ladies compartment squashed against everybody's armpits and still be really, really sad and alone.'
'It made me sad that these people had to spend a minimum of 20 dirhams from the meagre 800 dirhams they get, to pray.' 'God had helped me many times in my life, it was my duty to help these people.' The incredible story of Saji Cherian.
Wonder why this Kerala rani was not invited for the coronation of Charles III.
The 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.
As good as Mammootty is playing Sundaram, we see this facet of his performance through two lenses: That of Sundaram being an offset to whatever we know about James, and that of Mammootty doing quintessentially Tamil tics, including enacting scenes from old Tamil movies like solo plays, observes Rohit Sathish Nair.
'Suddenly the audience pool feels bigger, like everyone is watching everything now.' 'It's no longer limited in terms of boundaries, like a state or a language.' 'Whether it's a series, a movie or even a Korean film, the audience has access to all of it.' 'Slowly, the boundaries are blurring, so that's great for actors.'
'Hope is about being more accepting of each other, the kind of solidarity and friendship that even our families may not be able to give.'
Though the lies hardly go beyond extramarital affairs and conception problems, they are laid out by arresting storytellers who raise the stakes while speaking in tongues not wiped clean to make progressive points (No Made in Heaven-type diddling, here), notes Sreehari Nair.
From dark humour to days of innocence, it's quite an emotional spectrum on OTT this week.
Indian fans wait for Messi's '2011 Tendulkar moment'
Aseem Chhabra lists his favorite 2023 films -- a healthy blend of Bollywood, Hindi indies and some of the best work that is being done in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Bengali cinema.
Ariyippu drives home the point that nothing can force you to leave the path of righteousness, discovers Utkarsh Mishra.
'It took a 75-year-old director to teach the reformist set of Facebook users that Evil is not an aberration, but something that resides in the most regular seeming of human beings,' says Sreehari Nair.
'I have wanted to act since I was seven. I wasn't confident enough.' 'I thought I didn't have the face, the body and the figure because back then, it was all about the body.' 'Now, the industry is changing.' 'People are noticing talent.' 'It has become more than someone just having a good body.'
'The BJP will not be able to create dictatorship of the kind it is perhaps dreaming of.' 'We have Bengal as the biggest example.'
Year after year, Malayalam cinema throws stunning surprises at us. 2022 was no exception.
Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is a masterpiece, and like most masterpieces of the cinema, it's a great act of folly, observes Sreehari Nair.
Sreejesh believes goalkeepers are like vintage wine, which gets better with age
Take a bow, Parvathy, Sai Pallavi, Manju Warrier, Nayantara and Amala Paul!
'I still can't process that he is gone. It feels like a bad dream.'
'I never thought the European audience will love this film, but we had over 2,000 people at the screening.'
Dear Friend is for those who idealised Dil Chahta Hai all out of proportion, and then warmed up to the premise that friendship could be a lot more complicated, and transient, observes Sreehari Nair.
'They thought he can separate the Muslim votes and win, but the Kerala mind is completely different.' 'It is a secular mind because Hindus, Christians and Muslims live together.' 'We don't like somebody coming from outside, contesting in our state, winning and going and avoiding us.'
'People don't like me wearing saris. But I am an Indian drag queen. I will wear a sari.'
'Rajesh Pillai was a child at heart, crying at the sight of an injection syringe or making a fuss over the number of pills he was made to pop.'
The superstar tells Kerala's CM, 'don't let politics affect your governance.'
A look at the seven Malayalam films that scored in the first half of 2016!
It was Soni Somarajan's biggest dream -- to see himself as a proud member of the Indian Armed Forces. When Life brutally shattered that dream, he wove a new one.
