2013 YEARLY ROUND UP

2013 was a good year for Tamil Cinema as we have seen a lot of Promising new talents have emerged and seen a lot of shocks from the elite class.

I have watched most of the A-grade movies in Theatres and some from Torrents. And the below mentioned movies have stayed inside me for some period unlike the mindless Hi-budget comedy flicks. I hope I tried my best to give an unbiased Count down.

TOP 10 TAMIL MOVIES

1.       HARIDAS

This movie made an impact inside for a long period and no other movies were that impactful to me. Kishore splendidly played the role of a cop and a father of an Autistic boy equally supported by Sneha and that boy. The direction was a huge plus, so was the camera of Rathnavelu (of Endhiran Fame) and the music of Vijay Antony.

2.       AADHALAL KADHAL SEIVEER

Suseenthran’s simple approach to complex issues deserves an Hats-off. And he educates the youth about their present approach to love, life and their parent’s struggle to bring them up. For a film which deals into a lot of emotions there should be good BGMs to support but Yuvan’s music was a huge minus.

3.       SOODHU KAVVUM

The best thing which impressed me is this movie is the black humour. The characters will not force you to laugh like the other movies. They all will be serious as hell but the audience laugh to die, which showed the brilliance of debutant Nalan Kumarasamy. Vijay Sethupathy’s portrayal of a middle aged kednaper kidnaper was top notch.

4.       VISHWAROOPAM

Amid the controversies, this spy action thriller is a clear winner of 2013. The expectation of this movie and the ban in Tamilnadu made me to watch it in Kerala. The amount of hard work put in this flick is visible in every frame.

5.       PANDIYA NADU

Again Suseenthran proved his mettle in the same year with another movie and in another genre. The earlier one was a drama and this was a decent action thriller. Cinematography is worth to mention here. Vishal, Vikranth and the villain did their job well.

6.       VIDIYUM MUNN

It’s a vigilante thriller movie with some striking performances where all the knots were loosened at the end. Being a very low budget movie, the Editing, Direction and the usage of After Effects were superb. Except the lead actress Pooja, all the others did acted perfectly, especially that little girl.

7.       RAJA RANI

Even though the movie is heavily plagiarised and the viewers were put in a situation to sit and watch the expressionless wooden face of Arya for 3 hours, I loved the presentation and kudos,to the debutant Atlee. Hummable songs by G.V, cinematography and sizzling Nayanthara were the plus points.

8.       KALYANA SAMAYAL SADHAM

A feel good urban Rom-Com based on Tam-Bram couples. Prasanna did a role which other actors avoid to do. Lekha and the supporting artistes were brilliant and I enjoyed all the black humour in it. The movie targeted only the A-centre audience so it didn't do well in the Box office.

9.       ONAAIYUM AATUKUTTIYUM

The movie featured here only because of the director’s brilliance and the BGM of Ilayaraja. It didn't create any impact in sense of story or screenplay. Some extremely long shots and the acting of Mysskin are the plus points.

10.   NERAM

This movie also featured here because of the technical brilliance and BGM. I found it as a mix of Tarantino and Guy Ritchie movie which is new to Tamil.

Movies which missed the place in Top Ten.

1.       Madha Yaanai Kootam

2.       6

3.       Maryaan

4.       Endrendrum Punnagai

5.       Varuthapadaadha Vaalibar Sangam

6.       Thanga Meengal – Though it was boring

Top 5 Movies from other Languages.

1.       Lucia (Kannada)

2.       Lunchbox (Hindi)

3.       Shutter (Malayalam)

4.       Amen (Malayalam)

5.       Ship of Theseus (Indian English)

Heard Swamy Ra Ra (Telugu) is good but didn't find a good copy in Torrent.

Movies which were unbearable.

1.       Alex Pandian

2.       Moondru per Moondru Kadhal

3.       Ameerin Adhibagavan

4.       Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga

5.       Kanna Laddu Thinna Aasaya

6.       Naiyyandi

7.       Udhayam NH4

8.       All in All Alaguraja

9.       Settai

10.   YA YA

I found a lot of movies post Kanna Ladu Thinna Aasaya with Powersta’s menacing dances and Santhanam’s foul mouthed dialogues. I found myself an alien in the theatre when watching Laddu, Theeya, Kedi Billa, Settai and lots of similar films, as all the others were LOLing and clapping. I am wondering if poops are called comedy classics then what about the movies of Crazy Mohan, Visu, Mouli and K.Bagyaraj etc??

SHOCKS of 2013

1.       Kadal

Before release it set huge expectations with chartbusters of A.R.Rahman and the Maniratam’s previous magic but didn’t meet anything. Story, Screenplay and lots of minuses made people to walk out of the cinema halls in the middle.

2.       Irandaam Ulagam

I hoped a decent movie from Selvaraghavan as I loved all the songs of the movie. But this big budget ambitious fantasy drama didn't attract me a bit.

3.       Yuvan Shankar Raja

Yuvan had a very bad year and not a single album made a mark. Though Biriyani songs showed some variety, they were also not hummable.

4.       Actor Karthi

Back to Back flops made Karthi to feature in this section. 3 bad movies a year will end any actor’s career but this guy has a family production house so he will keep on giving us bad movies.

5.       Paradesi

Two fictions released at the same time, one is Django Unchained and the other is Paradesi. When the earlier one dealt with liberation of slaves the later portrayed the suppression, suffering. When Django ended with a promising new life for the lead characters and the villains looked like stupids, Paradesi’s lead characters were beaten, treated like animals and the movie ended like they were put into more misery. While most filmmakers decide to go non-linear to be different, Bala is a man who goes linear because he’s bored of being different.