GOATs of Tennis!!

When you have two tennis stars in their absolute prime (Federer and Nadal), how do you march past them and become one of the GOATs yourself with the most number of titles, just ask Novak Djokovic. Having nicknamed the ‘Joker’ for his playful antics, Novak has come a long way to lead the pack with nearly a quarter of a century of grand slams.

Highlights of Novak’s Career

Record 10 time winner of Australian Open to go with his 24 Grand Slams.

Record 428 weeks as No.1 tennis player with 8 end of year No.1 rankings.

Only person to complete Career Golden Masters and triple Career Grand Slam with my favorite: an absolute comeback from 2 sets behind in French Open against Tsipitas in 2021.

 

 

 

It would be a dis-service if one does not mention the other two modern greats in Novak’s company.

Highlights of Nadal’s Career.

22 time Grand Slam winner with a record 14 French Open titles.

‘King of Clay’ had at point in time won 81 matches without losing a game.

Highlights of Fedex Express

20 time Grand Slam winner with a record 8 time Wimbledon Titles.

‘King of Grass Court’ also has a record of 103 WTA titles to his name.

At one point in time, it looked like the Australian Open would be taken effortlessly by Djokovic, the French Open by Nadal and Wimbeldon belonged to Federer (loved the silkiness of Federer’s backhand shots down the line) and all of them were challenging each other for the US Open. Such was the stamina and geniuses of these three athletes that the world stood up in awe and applause. With Alcaraz and Sinner showing signs of the same brilliance of these GOATs, tennis is well served for the next decade.

With yesterday’s 5 set endurance match, Novak is one step closer to winning his favorite Grand Slam one more time. Wishing him and Alcaraz all the best for the finals on Sunday!!

EKO!! – Tables Turned.

As I finished up my last movie post and discussed it with my friends, a unanimous must-watch movie emerged from our group. ‘EKO’ directed by Dinjith Ayyathan, hosting some very fine actors, is trending on social media for all the right reasons and has gained widespread popularity. Eko serves as the third and final installment of Bahul Ramesh's Animal Trilogy, following Kishkindha Kaandam (2024) and Kerala Crime Files 2 (2025).

Spoilers Ahead!!

Highlights

Bahul Ramesh has beautifully captured a very mountainous terrain and lakeside house in all its glory brilliantly utilizing the fog to add an eerie layer to an unpredictable storyline. His writing is crisp and each dialogue or a scene needs to be carefully attended to understand the storyline.

Music by Mujeeb Majeed is fantastically mystical and forebodes the narrative of each scene. Even the silence in each of the scenes adds a layer of mystery to the narrative.

Sandeep Pradeep, Vineeth, Narain, Saurabh Sachdeva, Binu Pappu and Biana Momin have all given their absolute best with my favorite being Biana Momin for the emotions delivered through her eyes. Looking forward to the next part of the movie, if there is one.

Director ‘Dinjith Ayyathan’ has done a wonderful job of creating a visual slow-burn entertainer with quite an unexpected climax twist that turns the story on its head. The performance eked out from the silent stars, the dogs, is very commendable.

Questions Galore.

Will there be a second part for this fantastic movie?

If yes, will Kuriachan emerge from hiding/holding place by deceiving his guards? In fact, is he actually hiding the mountainous terrain or under their home?

Will the Malaysian dog-breeder, make a re-entry in the movie, to find his ‘Soyi’ and ask for forgiveness?

Will the 2nd movie have a climax face-off between Kuriachan and his disciple and Mlaathi Lady and her husband?

With a stunning climax and many more questions swirling, I can’t wait to find out if there is a sequel to this brilliant film-making attempt. If you have the patience to wait for a wonderful story to unfold, the two hours of the movie are worth your time.

Andhra King Taluka!!

Sometimes life plans a pleasant surprise at the most unexpected moment. What started as a 5 or a 10 minute filler watch turned into a fun filled few hours. ‘Andhra King Taluka’ directed by ‘Mahesh Babu P’ hosts Upendra, Ram Potheneni and Bhagyashri Borse and takes you on a roller-coaster ride of mass, emotions and the long-forgotten virtue of movies – to entertain.

1^st Half – Highlights

Cinematography by Siddhartha Nuni and George C. Williams captures each mood beautifully, with my favorite being the scene on the top of the carousel. Editing by A. Sreekar Prasad is super crisp and does not disturb the flow of the movie.

It takes a large heart to accept a second fiddle and Upendra has done justice to his role as a fading star.

Bhagyashri Borse has done much more than the regular ‘damsel in distress’ role and having loved her performance in Kantha, only wish her future movies reflect her true potential.

‘Andhra King’, in this movie’s context, Ram Pothineni was quite a revelation. His mass sequences, dance steps, pause in moments of anxiety and ultimately make believe a difficult storyline highlights his great potential. Wishing him the best for his future movies.

However, it was the song ‘Chinni Gundelo’ by Vivek–Mervin that got me to watch the movie in the first place. Hope to hear more such melodies from the talented music director duo.

 

 

 

 

2^nd Half – Rant

Directors unfortunately write up the first half and move the second half along in hopes that the audience will eventually groove up to it. Unfortunately this movie meanders along predictable lines so much that a beautiful and inspiring climax is put to shade.

What-If Analysis!!

What-if, the second half started by dwelling more stories for Ram Pothineni’s childhood struggles, his village’s struggles to get basic facilities completed and goes back and forth with current and past timelines. The hero watching the old Mahalakshmi theatre being built like his make-shift theatre would have been a great visual to watch.

As with many movies nowadays, the movie entertains magnificently in the first half just to leave you earning for more in the second. But if you have a couple of hours to spend to be entertained, this may be the movie for you. 

White Walker – Vecna Parellels!!

When two other-worldly entities are supposedly wronged by human race and are out to take revenge, we get a cocktail of emotions too powerful to ignore. In this fight to assume supremacy, we have got two amazing web-series, Game of Thrones (GOT) and Stranger Things enthralling us with amazing visuals, attention to minute details, connecting all the dots and an epic finish.

GOT

Set in the mid-century similar to Northern Europe, GOT explores fiefdoms, gory battles and explores the themes of loyalty, friendship, compassion, envious back-stabbing followed by revenge. Each of the characters have had a beautiful emotional arc to them: Hodor, Sam, Stark kids, Cersei and her family, Daenerys and most importantly; ‘little finger’ who dies by his own method: over-smartness along with mystical Dragons.

The highlight however, are the relentless White-walkers, whose leader wronged by the forest people tries to change the equation of the living versus the dead.
 
Stranger Things
Stranger Things, though set up in a slightly different context with an experimentation on opening up a portal, ‘Upside Down’ with imaginable consequences is in a way similar to GOT. Each of the characters, including all the kids (with my favorite Will and Eleven) have a life-story of their own with Vecna coming out there to destroy their world as they know it, quite similar to White Walker’s plan.

LOTR

Even though the ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie series is a touch different from both the above mentioned series, it was and is my favorite movie series with quite a similar good over evil story line with many amazing battles with mystical creatures and beautiful characterizations with the ever present ‘eye’ providing us with a strong enemy to fight against.

With GOT ending on a much unexpected whimper, it is most expected that ‘Stranger Things’ (with many fan theories swirling) will perhaps want to finish this amazing series on a fantastic finish with 4 more episodes to go. If there is any other series that shades in resemblence to the above mentioned ones, drop in a comment.

DUD-e

Pradeep Rangnathan’s hugely expected third movie after phenomenal hits of ‘Love Today’ and ‘Dragon’ is directed by Keerthiswaran and co-stars Mamitha Baiju, R. Sarathkumar, Rohini and many others.

Spoilers Ahead

Highlights

• Music by ‘Sai Abhyankkar’ was a melodious accompaniment for the movie, including the raging hit ‘Oorum Blood’ track.

• Cinematography by Niketh Bommi and Editing by Barath Vikraman provided the necessary impetus to keep the story moving forward.

• Mamitha Baiju’s tamil entry showcased her superb acting and extraordinary dance skills. Her performance in ‘Oorun Blood’ song is the trend-setter of the year.

• ‘Dude’ Pradeep Ranganathan carries forward similar acting skillset to his earlier movie. Hope he chooses different movies to showcase different aspects of his acting skillset.

• The real dude is however Sarath Kumar, who mixes comedy with his antagonist nature beautifully and showcases his fantastic acting prowess. Hope he continues doing such varied roles in his future movies.

Problems Galore
The core story against caste segregation is appreciable. However, it is the path taken that raises many questions. Keeping the morality code aside, there are many logical mistakes that do not let you immerse oneself into the movie completely.

• For a couple this close and emphasis on my ‘choice’, why would two people allow their parents to set up their marriage instead of speaking of it amongst themselves.

• As my friend pointed out, why would the girl realize that she is using a guy for her motives till very late in the movie, then repent and try to correct it.

 
Even with all these short-comings, the movie is a good one-time watch and is perhaps is aptly summarized by the one symbolism that Pradeep Ranganathan’s friend (well portrayed by Dravid Selvam) shows to him very often.
Do share your thoughts and comments on the movie.

Kantara 1: GODLY!!

A prequel to a very successful movie, “Kantara: Chapter 1” stars a host of actors, Rukmini Vasanth, Gulshan Devaiah, Jayaram helmed and directed by Rishab Shetty.

Spoilers ahead!!

Highlights

• The music by B. Ajaneesh Loknath and cinematography by Arvind S Kashyap take you right to the door-step of the magical Kantara world set up 300 years ago.

• The production designer by Vinesh Banglan is top notch and gives you the feel of a top Hollywood movie. The movie navigates in way to capture the beauty of the masterpiece set as well as its destruction.

• Pragathi Shetty, who is also the director’s wife, has done a fantastic job as a costume designer and royal embellishments as well as the forest-dwellers aesthetics look absolutely true to value. 

• The story and screenplay is truly remarkable, given the limited scope of the Kantara world. However, the forced laughter gags seemed to bring down the beautiful action sequences a touch down.

• Rishab Shetty has totally shouldered this movie on his chiseled body both in action and emotional sequences. If not for some minor improvements, the movie would have a masterpiece like the prior Kantara movie.

Alternate Sequence
The success of the beautifully crafted first Kantara movie was its realistic story with an extra-ordinary climax. The second movie could be well served if the guardian daivas, Panjurli and Guliga, had come through on him in the absolute climax. 

Berme fighting a less than ordinary King, with a vicious daughter and coma-ridden brother, all three coming together with the evil energy of their grand father would have been an absolute fire cracker of a climax. Nevertheless, the movie is quite an entertainer and never lets you take your eyes off even for a minute. Looking forward to Kantara: Chapter 2 with great excitement.

Do share your thoughts, if you have watched the movie.

Coo-LIE!!

Rajnikanth’s ‘Coolie’, directed by Lokesh Kanakaraj hosts a galaxy of pan-India stars – Nagarjuna, Upendra, Soubin Shahir, Satyaraj, Shruthi Hasan and others. 

Spoilers ahead.

Highlights

• Soubin Shahir playing the antagonist, gives it his all in each and every frame and is ably supported by Nagarjuna.

• Rachita Ram's cameo leaves you wanting for more. Unfortunately it is cut short in the end.

• ‘Thalaivar’ Rajni’s screen presence and acting carries the entire movie. His swagger in the flash-back portion was quite on-point.

• Anirudh’s music and BGM is fantastic and truly transforms an ordinary movie into a one-time watch. Chikitu and Monica chart-busters have been on everybody’s playlist for a while.

 

 
 
If Only!!

• If only, the movie was a sci-fi experience where Rajni’s character, after taking revenge on his employer, has his family destroyed and goes back in time to fix it with the time machine invented by his friend (Satyaraj).

• If only, Rajni’s character comes out of the shadows to save his coolies (like before) from a cruel drug mafia (a.k.a Rolex) who has imprisoned them in the darkest of alleys with cameo’s from Kamal and Vikram movie team.

 
Perhaps the greatest LIE we tell ourselves is that the next movie that we will see of Rajni is going to be an earth-shattering experience. Unfortunately, it is the same run of the mill story coupled with an unimaginative screenplay (with many logical mistakes) that takes 3 hours of our time and money and leaves us with a less than desired experience.