This Week in Tamil Cinema: February 2, 2015

Chennai hosted quite a few Bollywood stars in the last two weeks of January. Abhishek Bachchan made an impressive case for sweat suits at a promotional event; the team of Shamitabh made a quick stop in the city to promote the movie, and in what looked like a bonus dose of good luck, Taapsee Pannu modelled a nice watch for us.

A bevy of Tamil film stars also turned up in their best for the Ritz Style Awards. While Dhanush and his Maari meesai didn’t make an appearance, Dulquer Salman more than made up for it. On the same day, we were also present at the audio launch of Sagaptham, which marks the debut of Shanmugapandian. Two heroines, several ’80s heroes and of course, Powerstar Srinivasan in one unique gallery.

Yennai Arindhaal dominated the news as well, as it neared its release date. Gautham Menon and producer AM Rathnam told us some really cool stuff about working with Ajith Kumar and making a movie with…err Ajith Kumar.

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CS Amudhan and Janani Iyer were kind enough to speak to us. While Amudhan entertained with tales from his past, Janani spoke about her fondness for the colour blue and director Bala. Also on the cards was our special birthday tribute to Vittalacharya, a debate on Jallikattu and a story on the men behind Minimal Kollywood Posters.

Because we’re big fans of facial hair, we made beards and the men that sported them the focus of This Week in Pictures.

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Three years away from the film industry, and SJ Suryah hasn’t changed at all. In Isai, the director’s ‘penchant for women’s waists‘ comes to the fore yet again, tempered only by Sathyaraj’s performance. SA Chandrasekhar too made a comeback – as a director and as an actor. Neither of which is a good reason to watch his Touring Talkies: two tales for the price of your peace of mind. Dharani wasn’t all that bad, though. Strangely reminiscent of Cheran’s films, some performances won our favour quite easily.