Vishnu' s Space

Rajini films were always celebrated for the star’s trademark antics and unmatchable charisma. Anyway, since Lingaa bombed at the box office despite being helmed by Rajini’ s favourite director K.S Ravikumar, the darling of the masses has been trying to reinvent his image by collaborating with young talented directors. Kabali and Kaala featured Rajini playing characters of his age after a long time. Both directed by Pa. Ranjith, were met with underwhelming responses from critics and audiences alike. His next film was Shankar’ s 2.0, the sequel to tamil cinema’s biggest blockbuster ‘Enthiran’. Even though it was a  moderate commercial success upon release and gathered favourable reviews, thalaivar fans still didn’t get their fill. So when Karthik Subbaraj, a self proclaimed Rajinikanth fanatic himself, announced ‘Petta’ with Rajini in the lead, expectations skyrocketed. Before release, the fan boy director had said several times that Petta would be a proper Thalaivar film. After ...

It was the first time he ever slouched. Sweat drops kept pouring down the face, but he was not aware. When they irritated his eyes, he let out the tears. "God, please take this back.. '' he kept murmuring behind. The image of the blood-drenched driveway kept flashing in his mind. Earlier, he rose in his office like most days. A regular thing, even though Badra nagged a lot. ‘A trade off for everything the job has gifted’ in his own words. Otherwise, ending up in the streets like old friends from the ‘children’s home’ would have been the only option.The career as a policeman owes to the tough upbringing. Ruthless in the job, goons feared the attitude to their bones. They named him Choodan. No rogue was spared, the whole circle had to go clean. Once during his early days, there was a plot to finish him off. They rigged the subordinates and made sure he will be alone during the routine night patrol. That night, he was surrounded by a gang at the market. One of them step...

‘Parotta Hut’ grabbed my attention when I was once wandering through Pattom, conducting a survey regarding the Vattiyoorkavu by-election. Within a week, when me and Hari were riding to ‘Zam Zam’ for some Chicken Shawayya as usual, I found ‘Parotta Hut’ again. I asked Hari whether we could stop there for dinner. As we approached, I grew nervous because he normally never likes new food places. I could see Bun Parottas being cooked in a pan, near the entrance. They appeared really delicious, giving me hope to step in. It was a small place with dining on the second floor, separating into a room with a single low dining table and a larger area with five or six tables. The walls had some interesting art like Kareemikka from ‘Ustad Hotel’ and Don Vito Corleone from ‘The Godfather’ having a meal together! While we were skimming through the menu, they gave us a complimentary ginger tea drink as appetizer.‘Stuffed Parotta' of all chicken, egg and beef variants were highlighted in the men...

Almost two years back, me and my two friends Omar and Aswin set out to Kodaikanal on our first trip together. It was Omar’s idea all along, he h ad been to the place once and absolutely loved it there. I never went on any trips except for college and school tours. During then, I had just finished my degree and was keen to go on a journey. I was hooked instantly after hearing the idea from Omar. Aswin also showed interest. After getting consent from our families and also the money to meet our expenses, we left on 11 th of July.  Omar showed me some pictures from his visit to Kodai. Karuna Farm, the place where he stayed was an intriguing sight. The scenic beauty was almost unreal to exist.We tried to book rooms there, but the best one, ‘Shashi Big House’ was not available. So, ‘Shashi Small House’ was picked, another fairly good room. The three of us boarded a sleeper bus to Palani from Vytila, Kochi at night. We reached Palani at 3 am from where we had to catch the bus to K...