I really loved Balti as it genuinely has some great performances (Shane was really good) and great action sequences with a decent story. Yes, I agree it has some drawbacks, but it is really brutal that Balti did not even collect 10 crores when Vismaya Mohanlal's avaratham called Thudakkam grossed 43 crores. Malayalam movie industry is really brutal at times.
No matter how much I try, I just dont get this craze around box-office collections.
I mean, okay, you watch a movie. If you like it, great. If you don’t, well, your money is gone. Fair enough, that partt is fine.
If we think of it, those who are involved in the movie are already making good money out of it. It is their job, and they are doing it and getting paid. What I really don’t understand is why some people get so damn excited seeing actors, producers and directors making crores of money. Most people who talk about and celebrate the box office collection of a film probably don’t even have a job or earn enough to buy a bangle for their own mother or wife, yet they are celebrating someone else making hundreds of crores like it’s their own money or as if they are going to get a share of it.
Seriously, what is this obsession? Why do people care so much about how much money someone else’s movie made? What exactly are they getting out of it?
I genuinely don’t understand how this works. We talk of Malayalis as sensible people and are so proud of us being different from bollywood/telugu fans and their obsession with things. But at the end of the day, we are also behaving exactly like them.
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I might get downvoted for this, but when I see the sudden popularity of A. Rajan's or M. Baiju's sudden rise and popularity, I can't help but think: for how many years before she disappears or becomes less visible?
I feel that in the Malayalam movie industry, especially in this so-called best era of Malayalam movies, our female actors have a much shorter industry lifespan than Bollywood female actors, whom we often tend to mock. Don't get me wrong, Kerala has produced some excellent female actors who have played a crucial role in shaping our movie industry over decades-long careers (like Sukumari, KPAC Lalitha, K. Ponnamma, Kalpana etc). Some actors, like Urvashi and even Shobana and Manju to an extent, have successfully managed to transition from being heroines to good character roles and still act. Some are trying to make a comeback, like Meera Jasmine, while others deliberately act once in a while, like Nazriya. Yes, some great performers like Kanaka and Ranjini did disappear completely from our industry as well, for personal reasons. In the 1990s-2000s, many actresses got married and left the industry completely, but such instances are much less common these days.
But I can't help noticing the relatively short lifespan of female actors in our industry, especially over the last 15 years or so. It is as if we get some good actors, they star in movies very frequently for the first 3 to 5 years, and then all of a sudden either they start getting very few roles, or they move to Tamil or Telugu. I understand the money factor here, but many have also spoken about not getting the kind of roles they wanted in Malayalam. Some examples are Parvathy, Aparna Balamurali, Samyuktha Menon, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Anna Ben, Rajisha Vijayan (she won a state award as well, if I remember), Nimisha Sajayan, etc. It sometimes feels like they lose their visibility all of a sudden.
Why does this happen? Is it because we need fresh faces for female actors to keep audiences interested? If yes, then why doesn't the same thing happen with male actors? Once most male actors have acted in, say, 5 to 8 movies, they continue getting movies regularly. Yes, I do agree some become less frequent, like Sunny Wayne but that seems relatively rare.
When we look at Bollywood, once an actress becomes established and gets frequent roles for 3 to 5 years, they generally continue getting opportunities and remain visible. And interestingly, some actresses who are not necessarily regarded primarily for their acting ability still have very successful careers and continue to get major commercial roles. Disha Patani, Jacqueline Fernandez, Zareen Khan, Pooja Hegde, Rhea Chakraborty, Nidhhi Agerwal, etc. are examples that come to mind.
So am genuinely curious to know why does this difference exist?
Hello PS gamers, i got my PS5 in May, and I decided not to buy any PlayStation subscriptions (i am not into multiplayer gaming anyway). So far I have bought (one disc and the rest Digital editions):
RDR2 for 1149;
Black Myth for 2700;
Forza 5 for 2399;
Hitman WOA Deluxe Edition for 3750;
Street Fighter 6 (1-2 character pass) for 2300;
FC 2026 for 999;
Ghost of Tsushima (Disc, Director's Cut) for 2500;
The Witcher 3 Complete Edition for 599;
Little Nightmares II for 599.
So I just realised that I have spent ₹16,995 in like 2.5 months. So I feel I made a mistake by not subscribing to the PS Plans. DO you think i should subscribe now? I have no regrets in buying the games i bought because i really love all of them.
I just finished RDR2 after spending almost 110 hours with it. oh boy, i have to say this is by far one of the best games ever made, not just because of its breathtaking world and thrilling gameplay, but also because of the emotions, moral dilemmas, and philosophy woven throughout the story. The final ride of Arthur Morgan with the song "may I stand unshaken; amid, amidst the crash of the world" really shook me. And Hosea's dialogue, "my Pa used to say if you stare into the fire long enough, you can see the whole world pass by" is so thought-provoking. I guess Arthur stared too much into the fire that he actually did not realise his life passing by so fast. So it is quite a bummer when some people say RDR2's gameplay is slow, boring, and 30fps ruins it. No, it DOES NOT, NEVER. I feel sad for those who decided not to play this masterpiece, hearing all these unwarranted criticisms.
Also, I was genuinely surprised to realise that RDR2 did not win the 2018 Game of the Year award. Interestingly, it lost to God of War. For me, this is gaming's Gandhi-Nobel Moment. As Geir Lundestad (the former secretary of the Nobel Committee) famously commented on why Gandhi never won the Nobel Peace Prize, "Gandhi can do without the Nobel Peace Prize. Whether the Nobel Committee can do without Gandhi is the real question." And in the year Gandhi was assassinated, the Nobel Committee did not give the peace prize to anyone in respect to him. Likewise, for me, RDR2 doesn't need a Game of the Year award or 60FPS to prove its greatness.
I just finished RDR2 after spending almost 110 hours with it. oh boy, i have to say this is by far one of the best games ever made, not just because of its breathtaking world and thrilling gameplay, but also because of the emotions, moral dilemmas, and philosophy woven throughout the story. The final ride of Arthur Morgan with the song "may I stand unshaken; amid, amidst the crash of the world" really shook me. And Hosea's dialogue, "my Pa used to say if you stare into the fire long enough, you can see the whole world pass by" is so thought-provoking. I guess Arthur stared too much into the fire that he actually did not realise his life passing by so fast. So it is quite a bummer when some people say RDR2's gameplay is slow, boring, and 30fps ruins it. No, it DOES NOT, NEVER. I feel sad for those who decided not to play this masterpiece, hearing all these unwarranted criticisms.
Also, I was genuinely surprised to realise that RDR2 did not win the 2018 Game of the Year award. Interestingly, it lost to God of War. For me, this is gaming's Gandhi-Nobel Moment. As Geir Lundestad (the former secretary of the Nobel Committee) famously commented on why Gandhi never won the Nobel Peace Prize, "Gandhi can do without the Nobel Peace Prize. Whether the Nobel Committee can do without Gandhi is the real question." And in the year Gandhi was assassinated, the Nobel Committee did not give the peace prize to anyone in respect to him. Likewise, for me, RDR2 doesn't need a Game of the Year award or 60FPS to prove its greatness.
I just noticed that Black Myth Wukong is almost 2 years old, but it is still very expensive in India. I was in Hong Kong recently, and at Golden Plaza I was getting a new disc for INR 4000, but I did not buy it, thinking that it may not work in India. Did I make a mistake?
Hello Fellow gamers, I have never played Far Cry, but I have heard about it a lot. I saw this Gold version of Far CRY 5 for 854 on the PS store. Do you think it is worth it? This bundle comes with an enhanced version of Far Cry 3, also it seems. I also would like ot know if FC5 works smoothly on PS5 slim. Thanks in advance!
Hi everyone, I really want to buy a WWE 2K game as I recently got my PS5, and I used to enjoy the WWE games so much when I was a kid. Now I am confused between WWE 2K25 versus the 2k26 (both are standard edition). Which one do you think is worth it in terms of improved graphics and gameplay compared to 2k25? 2k25 new disc is available for 3k and 2k26 for 3.7k on playstation digital version. Anyone here who played both? Is 2k26 worth considering it is a digital-only? Thanks in advance!
I have been hearing about PS5 shortages for a few months now. Yes, it is definitely not easily available online, but after talking to my friends and considering my own recent experience, I feel most people are simply checking online and don't know how to make an offline inquiry/ purchase. I bought mine (Disc version for 54,990) a few days back in Delhi after talking to dealers and realised that they had a lot of stock. In fact, there are a lot of stores in India which sell PS5 right now. My friends have bought one in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, etc., through even offline stores of Sony, Croma, Reliance and many other dealers. Even the slim disc version is available in shops in metro cities. Dependency on online e-commerce sites for expensive electronic gadget purchases has made us lazy, and i feel we are slowly forgetting the art of buying directly from the local market :(
It indeed has been a long journey for a small town boy who used to steal coconuts from his grandmother’s house so that he could sell it for 20 rupees and play “WWE - Here Comes the Pain” at a local gaming outlet. Yes, that’s me.
I used always be angry at my mother because she could never give me 20 rupees once a week. I felt like she never cared for my happiness when my school friends’ parents were giving them even 500 as monthly pocket money. My little brain could not understand that my mother, after the death of my father, used to make only 500 rupees a month working as a domestic help in the neighbourhood. As I grew up I saw her struggle and I dunno what happened to me because after my 10^(th) standard, I stopped obsessing over video games and started focusing on my studies. I studied so hard that I finished my studies from IIT Bombay and later IIM Calcutta. Last month I happened to watch a YT gameplay of Ghost of Tsushima, and oh boy it took me down the memory lane. That child in me craved the excitement I used to feel while playing video games. After a careful decision, I decided to get a PS5 Slim. I paid 5k as the booking amount, i received the brand new (Jan 2026 manufactured) disc version from a shop in Delhi in just 3 days. I almost broke down in tears when I received the console and made the remaining payment. I could see the younger version of me congratulating me for making the right decision. The only difference is that this time, an INR 54,900 console costs just 6 days of my monthly salary. A few years back, I also fulfilled my mother’s dream of getting a piece of land in her hometown.
To all boys and girls who are reading this post, please don’t be angry at your parents or feel disappointed; they are struggling to provide the best for you. Make the best use of the opportunities they provide for you, and once you get a good job, take care of your parents and buy whatever consoles you dreamt of. Trust me, I am in my early thirties, and I am still as excited as a child when I laid my hands on PS5. As Arnold Schwarzenegger said, “first visualise your dream, then go do it”.
Thank you so much for reading this lengthy post. I have ordered the Ghost of Tsushima director's cut online for 2.5k. So excited to start playing :)
I feel like the Aadu Team saw a big opportunity to make money (i know it's a standard practice now) because the hype was at its peak. After Aadu 2, the Malayalam film industry has shown that hitting 100 crores is quite easy, especially if you ride the hype train. We have seen many recent examples, even a below-average film like Empuraan crossed 268 crores, while a well-written movie in the same genre, like Aavesham, could not cross 160 crores.
I remember Aadu 3 was announced years ago, and I feel that if COVID and all these changes had not happened, we might have gotten a film that stayed true to the original style and humour of Aadu. But now, it feels like the focus was on stretching the story as much as possible, to plan for multiple parts so that you can milk the franchise to its core before leaving for others (like MMT said "others can feel free to make spin-offs of Aadu"). To be candid, the genre shifts and time travel elements felt nothing but gimmicks to build hype and stretch the story into two parts (meaning more money).
But what surprised me the most was how forced the comedy felt. Earlier, the characters were funny because they were unpredictable, but now their stupidity feels very predictable. Even the writing of the characters feels repetitive now. On top of that, the colour grading and overall making gave it a total serial-like vibe. It is hard to believe this is the same team that made the first two films.