Top Ten Movies that changed Tamil cinema forever.

While googling best movies to download, you come across not many lists related to South Indian films. Ever wondered why? Even fewer when it comes to Tamil who along with the Mallus make some of the best movies in the country each year (though the former has been making more potboilers than poignant movies of late.) Agreed, Tamil cinema is on the decline and I had given up on it a long time ago until I saw a movie that brought back to me the reasons why I loved Tamil films so much. It gave me my most needed push to start blogging about movies-my first and only love (at least for the time being xP)

Every movie buff (I’m a self proclaimed one) starts off with movies in his/her own mother tongue. And so did I with Tamil films. I adore Martin Scorsese now, but it was Mani Ratnam who introduced me to meaningful cinema. Al Pacino maybe the best actor in the world but it was Kamal Haasan who taught me to tell the difference between the good and the bad. Nolan’s uncanny ability to narrate complex storylines in contrast to K. Balachander’s seemingly simple problems set in a common man’s living room. I enjoyed both. The simplicity of the latter made me appreciate the complexity of the former better.

Here’s my list of ten movies that I think changed Tamil Cinema forever. The list is in chronological order and not the order of the magnitude to which it affected the industry. Also, these aren’t the movies that were commercial successes or darlings of the awards circuit. These are movies that consciously/sub-consciously changed mindsets and gave generations of film makers the courage to try out similar/bolder themes.

1.      Apoorva Raagangal(1975):

I still remember the first time I saw the film, borrowing it from a friends’ Dad’s collection of movies. So I see the film, go back and Google the year of release cuz I couldn’t understand how a movie like this was made in the 70’s and how the audience actually received it well.

A young boy in love with an older woman, a young girl in love with a man twice her age, two weddings on the cards and a twist in the tale and what freakishly awesome twist it was. Nobody protested calling it unethical, nobody shunned the film and this movie set the stage for every bold love story thereafter. From, Alaigal Oivadhilai to Mozhi. Its love and love happens in whacky scenarios and ridiculously complicated situations not just on mountain tops or around the trees in the rain.

2.      Aval Appadithan(1978):

You wanna talk feminism? Go watch what this director, the flag bearer of feminism actually did. Feminism today is PC and DP drinking, smoking up, sleeping around and not being judged for it. Sripriya did it all and in style. And nearly half a century earlier. No regrets. No strings attached. And she never once compromised on her integrity

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 The classic ending dialogue wherein she when she asks this other girl what her thought on women empowerment were and she replies that she doesn’t think about such things and Sripriya comes up with the classic “No wonder you’re happy”. Peppered with intelligent dialogue, Kamal and Rajini’s contrasting take on women-one worships them and the other objectifies them.

It’s the docile versus the chauvinist. This was a tribute to women empowerment in an age where the word was unheard of.

3.      Mullum Malarum(1978):

A product is always appreciated by the way it differs from its predecessors. In an age where high melodrama, over-the-top-acting, political ideologies all ruled the roost in Tamil films, there came a movie which tried a subtle take on a novel. Movies are a medium of storytelling and Mullum Malarum did just that. Human emotions were ably beautified with apt dialogue, scenic poetry and lilting music.

It concentrated on the story and emotions which were supported by its cast giving superior performances. Be it Shobha or the great Rajinikanth. This is a masterclass on how and why cinema should always be a medium of storytelling and Mahendran, probably the best story teller the industry had seen. The director had already proved his mettle in Uthiripookkal but this deserves a place on the list because it was more proclaimed.

4.      Moonram Pirai(1982):

Easily the most parodied climax ever. And you know what they say; Imitation is indeed the best form of flattery. And every blonde who enters the film industry says Sridevi’s role in this film would be her dream role. Silence (before Mani Ratnam became its poster boy) spoke more than words here. People learnt to appreciate camera angles and BGM’s starting from this movie, I should say. Subtlety gained the upper hand over the melodramatic (well, until the climax at least). It made one embrace the beauty in sorrow and the closest that I had come to experiencing poetry on celluloid.

The actors easily gave the best performance of their lives (up until that point in time, at least and being the legends that they were, went on to break it by superior performances in the future). I remember wondering why the hell they didn’t give Sridevi the National Award for the film (until I realized that the award went to a master class on subtle acting-Shabana Azmi in Arth).

5.      Agni Natchathiram (1988):

You might even be rolling your eyes as to why I’d pick this movie over Nayakan or Thalapathy. But remember I spoke about changing mindsets in the very beginning;

If there ever was a movie that brought in a certain kind of cool, then this was it. It broke all the conventional definitions of … well, frankly everything! The women were skinny, wearing leotards and grooving seductively; they stunned with their in-your-face-sensuality; this movie was youthful in every sense of the word.

 It was in sync with the mentality of the youth, portrayed the energy of the 90’s, show cased the change in trends with the turn of the decade. It glorified the naughty, chirpy, skinny heroine, a trend that is yet to be gotten rid off. The hero was HOT (remember Karthik dancing on a platform?!), for, I think the first time ever!!! The dialogues were tacit and this went on be the directors’ idiosyncrasy. As they say, fashion, trends and style may change, but what is COOL would always be COOL. And this movie is an epitome to that statement.

6.      Michael Madana Kama Raajan(1990):

Comedy as a genre made a comeback with this film. Not with sidekicks who did most of the comedy, but the lead himself donning on multiple roles, each different from the other; Kamal Haasan has always been a greedy actor and here he prove his mettle with four roles, with each one of these characters speaking a different slang of tamil.(whoever knew there were so many ways to speak the language that warrant laughter!!!).

 The stupendous success of this movie revived the out and out comedy genre. It gave the David Dhawan’s and Sajid Khan’s their career and this movie/portions of this movie has been ripped off by numerous Bollywood films. If that doesn’t qualify for trendsetting, I don’t know what does.

7.      Sethu(1999):

With this movie, we did not only get a movie that changed mindsets but a brand of cinema that did-Bala’s school of films- Dark, unsettling, poignant, and drastic, heart wrenching, touching your soft spot and a punch-in-the-gut kind of cinema. Very few directors’ have that kind of power; one so captivating that it’s hard to look away even when you can’t bear to look at it anymore.

 Sethu, left me with a weird pain in my gut and that stayed on for a couple of days after the film. Nanda did the same thing to me. After which I decided I’m not going to watch anymore of Bala’s films and have stuck to my decision. It hits you so hard and the feeling lasts days later. His films are the kind of poison that kills slowly. Sethu gave Vikram his career in films and brought him super stardom. And Bala went on to repeat the same for Suriya, Arya and Adharva. He made stars out of strugglers and this movie is on the list as it started the journey.

8.      Kaakha Kaakha(2003):

What are we? Cops

What do we do? Spout punch lines, get “lanjam” and arrive after everything is over.

This was how cops were portrayed until this movie in Tamil cinema. True, there have been uptight cops who are conscientious do-gooders with a page long dialogue on how they serve the nation. But here came a cop, who was decent, taciturn, who fell in love without kuthu-paatu, didn’t take bribes, was educated and wasn’t portrayed as totally invincible.

 Being a cop’s daughter, the amount of interest I got in school after the movie released was glorious. It brought in love, a sense of awe and above all the respect that cops deserved, all the while making it look so COOL. This changed the mindset towards cops and looked at them as detectives rather than thugs who beat people up wearing a uniform. (The director would later go on to make the coolest cop movie EVER with Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu. Here again the beginning of the journey is documented.)

9.      Polladhavan(2007):

Talk about naming your film after classic Thalaivar films and besmirching the name forever. But this is one movie named after a Rajini film that proved to be way better than its name sake. This is a story of the relationship between a boy and his bike and where that takes him. (Inspired from the classic Bicycle Thieves). What’s so special about this you might ask? This movie brought out the underbelly of Chennai, what happens when you go hunting for a lost bike at night on the streets of the city, this was North Madras in all its grit.

Millions of movies have been made about North Madras but this isn’t the documentation of the rise of a Don; this is a story of an ordinary boy who happens to cross paths with the mafia. Gritty, dark, laced with a reality that makes you believe that this could happen to the boy next door. It revived Dhanush’s career and gave us our next promising director to root for. Vetrimaaran’s next, Aadukalam went on to win numerous National Awards. This movie in particular inspired many more Namma Chennai movies and celebrated the “Never underestimate the power of the common man” type of cinema. This is an all time favourite.

10.  Jigarthanda(2014):

That film which gave me the much needed push to start blogging again. I seem to live under a rock and hence couldn’t catch this film as soon as it released (An ashamed movie buff). This Tarantino meets Mani Ratnam movie about an aspiring director wanting to make the next big gangster movie in Tamil after Thalapathy and Nayakan and the obstacles he faces in his journey provide the platform for this thriller-comedy. What a cool genre! Now beat that!

Karthik Subbaraj made the audience sit up and take note of him with his runaway hit “Pizza” easily the best Tamil film in recent memory. Honestly, I expected him to be a one film wonder who got lucky due to a supernatural script (YAARKU DHAN PEI PADAM PIDIKADHU?!) And he proved us all wrong with Tamil cinema’s very own Pulp Fiction. Jigarthanda, definitely is going to change the way movies are made. I still can’t get that haunting “Ding Dong” song out of my head. Reminded me of Kill Bill’s “Bang Bang”.

             This was my list. Let’s agree to disagree. And I’ll catch you in my next blog. Feedback and comments welcome. And I know this was quite a long read. Thank you for sticking till the end. Next time, I promise to keep it a little short.