Indian

Indian was clearly director Shankar's magnum opum and India's entry for the Oscar. This utterly brilliant and gripping film explores the horror of bureaucracy, corruption and bribery in modern India and its effect on society. Even locals themselves will be shocked as reality reflects on their TV screens in this movie. Whats shocking is the quality of the flashback footage in sepia of the colonial times where Indian rebels fought against the British. Such superb quality, story and acting is truly not seen anywhere else in any Indian-made film. However, as an entry for the Oscars, it would need some polishing up. I highly regret not seeing this film in the theatre when it originally released. If seeing this film a decade after it released, on poor quality print, left such a positive impression, I wonder what the impression would have been back then?

Hindustani is a very good film with an unusual storyline. Kamal Hasan rocked in his double role as a freedom fighter and the freedom fighter's son. He is a brilliant actor. I hope that Bollywood directors would try to utilize his talents like S. Shankar did. His Hindi has also improved drastically. Manisha Koirala is good but not great. Urmila Matondkar is a notch above Manisha and she shows a flair for comedy the very first time with this film. I loved her scenes with Kamal Hassan and Manisha though her character doesn't come across as full-fledged at the end. Sukanya as the old Kamal Hassan's wife and Kasthuri as his daughter were good too. Overall, a must watch!

Hindustani is a movie about a man who loses his daughter to the condition that is aroused as a result of corrupt officials. He wants to get things done the right way, but he realizes is that the officials could have prevented only if they cared for a person's life. The result of this he becomes a serial killer of corrupt officials. The movie also contains story of his wife and son and women who he likes. She is a blue cross society member, thus an animal lover. Sadly his son chose's wrong means for his development just like those corrupt officials. This results in ending which shows son killed by his own father.

It is very much true that some people will get better only if nourished with fear. I liked the way how character of Hindustani is constructed. He used to be a freedom fighter who was expert in a fighting art from ancient India, thus capable of killing a person easily. I did not like the masala part which included his son much. I wanted to see more of Hindustani. I liked the way how his justice prevailed even against his family members. He punished his own son for being corrupt, thus setting a new level of fear which was on par despite of any government policy. A film recommended highly.

Rating: 8.0/10

Firstly, I like to say I am a Kamalhassan fan. But you don't have to be Kamal fan to enjoy this film. This is one of his best performances in his career. I rate this film has one of my all time favourites. The climax was very surprising and unpredictable. The film has a great cast. Kamal dominates the film, as father and son. Sughanya also gives good supporting performance. A mixture of a great script, good cast, good songs, and good actions scenes make this a 8.5 out of 10.

The film was meticulously made and its hard to find a flaw in the movie making. Kamal was the best actor in India and Shankar the Best Director and ARR always the best when comes to music. Shankar also should have got a National award for the film. Need more movies from the 3 combination and add to that Vairamuthu, Thotta Dharani etc. The movie should be treated in the genre of "Lagaan". No doubt the film was the biggest hit. The film was more than 3 hours, but not even once the viewers will feel boredom. I have seen that movie lot of times guess more than 10 times still I would like to see the movie again. Its an all time great movie. Nedumudi Venu needs an appreciation. Also full marks to all the supporting cast. Everyone had played their part well. A complete movie that was ever produced by Kollywood.