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TollywoodWith actors like Samantha, Keerthy Suresh, Nani, Naga Chaitanya, Ravi Teja and several others slated to have big releases in the coming months, Tollywood is all set for a star-studded summer.The race to capture audiences in the summer season has already begun in Tollywood. Several films, both big and small in terms of budget, have blocked release dates in the summer months. Like the festive seasons of Sankranthi and Dasara that create a lot of excitement and buzz around new films, the summer season too is witnessing competition in Tollywood. Taking advantage of the summer holidays, filmmakers release their films so that they reach a wider audience. Actors like Nani, Samantha, Naga Chaitanya, and others are ready with their summer releases. Here is a list of films slated for release this summer, in chronological order as per the announced date of the release. Das ki Dhamki: Starring Vishwaksen and Nivetha Pethuraj,...

ReviewThe film recognises the strangle-hold of grief, yet it asks us to fight for our joys from deep within our darkest moments.Bharathy SingaravelTrailerScreengrab/CourtesyViacom18StudiosDebutant director Ra Karthik sets up Nitham Oru Vaanam on a premise that sounds like a typical Kollywood story - a hero wallows in bitterness because the bride his parents found for him breaks off the marriage, choosing her boyfriend instead. And then, Karthik surprises us with a quirky, moving tale about second chances and what love can really mean. The film opens to Arjun (Ashok Selvan), sitting at a bus stop in Bhubaneswar, ruefully telling a fellow traveller, Shubha (Ritu Varma) about his broken off engagement. Subha is a seasoned solo backpacker, clearly happiest when she’s on the road. Arjun, on the other hand, can barely keep track of his own luggage and hates sleeping anywhere else but in his own bed. How...

KollywoodThe film's weak storyline and loud music prove to be its undoing.Anjana ShekarThe film Antony, by debut director Kutti Kumar, was promoted as “India’s first claustrophobic science thriller”. Claustrophobia is a feeling of being trapped; the fear of being in confined spaces and the film does a great job of making you feel trapped, like there’s no escape. Only, here your wish is to exit the theatre as soon as possible. The film begins with Antony, played by Nishanth, trapped inside a car. At first, he is groggy, unable to recall how exactly he ended up where he is. Soon he figures out that he has been buried alive in his car. This warrants the hero to go on a threatening rant of how he’d be the nemesis of his captors as soon as escapes (and as soon as he figures out who they are, of course). Now all of a sudden actor Lal appears out of the dark, clouds of cigarette smoke swirling around him, with some sinister beats in the background making you think he’s perhaps the villain. The very next scene you’re in for a surprise. Then there’s the girlfriend played by Vaishali, who is...well, in search of Antony. The rest of the film is a constant back and forth between Antony’s guttural panting and overtly scenic shots of the Nilgiris where people are searching for him. Instead of inducing a sense of claustrophobia, Antony’s raspy panting succeeds in giving one a headache. To top it all, every two minutes there’s loud metal music, by 19-year-old Shivathmika, that makes your throbbing head feel worse. As the film progresses, the music becomes highly annoying and distracting. Trapped in his car, Antony goes on a memory trip and there’s a sudden cut to a duet in the beach. He also whips up many things from his car’s boot like how a magician would from his magic hat. Pipes, metal wires, string, bottles, newspapers, lighter, torch - you name it, he’s got it. The way the film progresses, we begin to question if the director even had a storyline in place? The camera angles don't work. There’s very little dialogue in the film and most of its story is told in flashbacks with exasperating music. Of course, you didn't walk in expecting it to be like Ryan Reynold's Buried but the most unforgivable aspect of the film is the complete absence of a sense of claustrophobia - both for the actor and for the audience. If you’ve been able to sit through the climax fight and exit after the end credits roll, you might actually feel more relieved than Antony emerging from his trapped car. Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither Tnm nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film's producers or any other members of its cast and crew.