Here, are the 10 best tamil movies of 2001.
10
Dheena
The very fact that this unabashedly commercial, 'masala' movie made the top
ten is a sign of the extreme paucity of good Tamil movies in 2001. But the
movie was nevertheless an entertaining mix of cute romance, robust stunt sequences
and had an interesting story pitting brothers against each other.
9
Aanandham
Subtle depiction of brotherly love and lack of overt sentiments made this
family drama stand out. Mammootty carried both the family and the movie on
his capable shoulders and Devayani, Murali, Rambha, Abbas, Srividya and Delhi Ganesh
provided able support.
8
Dum Dum Dum
This product of the younger generation started off with a difference as the leads
tried to break off their impending marriage, giving us something different from
a run-of-the mill love story. The music and photography were icing on the cake.
7
Minnale
A standard love triangle was presented slickly in this youthful entertainer.
Harris Jayaraj's music and Vivek's comedy were big factors in making the whole
movie entertaining.
6
Paandavar Bhoomi
Cheran continued his tradition of socially conscious, decent movies with this
tale of brothers confronting their past by returning to their village. His
handling of both the sentimental and romantic portions was polished and the
movie was absorbing inspite of being a tad slow.
5
Dhil
Director Dharani served up the perfect mix of romance, comedy, sentiments and
violence in one the best pure entertainers of the year. Ashish Vidyarthi
made a detestable, ruthless villain and Vikram was convincing as the aspiring
police officer.
4
Nandhaa
Director's Bala's follow-up to Sethu came with a lot of expectations and
managed to live up to most of them. The story about a violent youth who yearns
for his mother's love succeeded in portraying the mother-son relation in a new
fashion though the relationship between Surya and Rajkiran had shades of
Thalapathy.
3
Aalavandhaan
Kamalhassan's ambitious and expensive venture was technologically brilliant and
had several new ideas and experiments but then lost the audience by going
overboard with them. His hallucinatory trip and the animation sequences were
new experiences and the climactic fight between two Kamals was executed
brilliantly.
2
12b
Cinematographer-turned-director Jeeva's debut was a whiff of fresh air in the
cliche-ridden Tamil cinema scene. His depiction of alternate timelines by
showing us the different routes a young man's life takes when he catches or
misses his bus was refreshingly different and the climax was as surprising as
it was clever in the way it brought closure to the difficult story.
1
Kutty
This heart-rending tale of a village girl who becomes domestic help in the city
is not likely to be forgotten by anyone who sees it. The scenes and dialogs were
simple and realistic and Baby Shwetha was amazing as Kutty. The climax was stark
and brutal and the non-melodramatic way it was presented made it even more
difficult to absorb.