Note: This article will cover movies that were available for my viewing between Jan 1, 2004 and Dec 31, 2004. Since I live in the United States and the availability of a movie (either on the big screen or on video) varies anywhere from 1 day to more than a month, the list contains leftovers from 2003 which I managed to see only in 2004. For the same reason, I have left out movies that were released in 2004 but which I saw in 2005 or still have not seen.
Flashback
Several directors took walks down memory lane in 2004 as flashbacks became the most popular
technique they used to pep up otherwise unremarkable stories. Leading the pack was Kamalhassan,
who employed a very unique approach of narrating the same story from two different points of
view in Virumaandi. This approach made the first half fresh
while the majority of the gripping second half took place within the confines of a jail. Cheran
took a more straighforward
approach as his Autograph took us through 3 phases(and 3
women) in the protagonist's life. It was a heartfelt, emotional journey capped off by a subtle
but powerful climax. Manirathnam took the lives of three young men from disparate strata of
society and made Aaydha Ezhuthu out of what happened when
their lives intersected. The lack of emotional depth affected two out of three episodes in the
movie but technically, it was top-notch as always. Selvaraghavan's raw and pushing-the-envelope
style of filmmaking made 7/G Rainbow Colony stand out inspite
of its familiar story. And though the movie started at the end and proceeded as a flashback, he
used this to create expectations and then break them in unexpected fashion. Vijay's
Madurey earned the distinction of having the silliest premise as
it showed him as a vegetable vendor before revealing his past as a collector in Madurai!
Vijayakanth, for a change, had a flashback showing him as a dada in Hyderabad in
Gajendra while Mammootty and Nandita Das, two talented actors,
were wasted in the slow and non-happening Vishwathulasi, that
revealed their past as adolescent lovers via mostly uninteresting flashbacks.
Thrills and Chills
One of the more positive aspects of 2004 was the number of movies that tackled genres away from the
usual masala and romance, with thrillers being quite popular. Simbhu played a serial
killer in Manmadhan, where he was also responsible for the
story and screenplay. It was a slick romantic thriller with Simbhu's surprisingly strong
performance and a neat twist at the end. Thiagarajan was faithful to his source, Ram Gopal
Verma's Hindi flick Bhooth, which he remade as Shock.
The movie relied on atmosphere rather than blood or gore and inspite of dragging a bit, had
enough creepy moments
to keep us hooked. Adhu started off in the same mode but soon
turned into a more traditional ghost story of a wronged ghost taking revenge on the bad guys.
Pace was the problem with Varnajaalam that revealed most of
the suspense early on and then did nothing unexpected to keep us involved. Bharatiraja,
inspite of having a classic thriller like Sigappu Rojakkal on his resume, slipped up
badly with Kangalaal Kaidhu Sei. It was amateurish and silly
and though it had a couple of good surprises towards the end, it was a case of too little too
late. Both Image and Singaara
Chennai had good stories with some unexpected twists towards the end but made a mess of
the stories with screenplays that relied on glamour and silly comedy.
David and Goliath
The theme of the common man going up against someone in power continued to be popular in 2004
also. The most popular of 'em all turned out to be Vijay's Gilli,
which also continued director Dharani's winning streak. Backed by Prakashraj's performance as
the villain and a popular soundtrack, Dharani's screenplay, that concentrated on action in
the first half and comedy in the second, was entertaining throughout. An entertaining villain,
this time played by 'Kalabhavan' Mani, made Bose more entertaining
also. The movie, where Srikanth played an army commando forced to fight a politician, was
marked by some well-choreographed stunt sequences. His Joot
was also entertaining though it reminded us of movies like Dhool and Run.
Kuthu was a typical Simbhu movie that pitted him, with all
his bravado, style and finger-swishing, against a rowdy, whose daughter he fell in love with.
Arul, Vikram's sole 2004 release, brought him back together
with his Saamy director Hari but failed to recreate the same magic. It was packed
with wall-to-wall with fights as Vikram went up against a couple of politicians. A
politician was once again the bad guy in Machi, which threw
friendship into the mix by making Dushyanth stand up for his four friends. Dhanush made
ripples offscreen when he became Rajnikanth's son-in-law but onscreen, he failed to
repeat 2003's success. He was bit by the action bug too, resulting in the disastrous
Sullaan, where the over-the-top stunt sequences only made
the lanky hero look unsuited to be an action hero. The same theme was treated against the
backdrop of the army in Indru, with Karthik going up against
some higher-ups in the army as he investigated his colleague's murder. The amateurishness
of the scenes involving the army made one wish Tamil cinema would never be allowed to make
movies about the army!
The Good Guys
Other good guys littered the movie landscape in 2004, though they didn't have to fight
against a powerful villain. The most optimistic and self-confident of those turned out to
be a buck-toothed hunchback! The character made a wonderful, feel-good entertainer out of
a potentially downbeat scenario in Perazhagan and gave
Surya his best performance to date. Heroes fighting against corruption were popular as
usual though their targets were quite varied. The four protagonists in
4 Students, dubbed from Malayalam, went after corrupt
bureaucrats. With a great soundtrack(thoughly poorly picturised) and a scintillating climax,
the movie was quite entertaining. Arjun in Arasaatchi
targeted only the corrupt among lawyers, because of his past, while
Chatrapathi saw Sarathkumar play an army major killing
rowdies in political parties. Inspite of the name, Edhiri
was also a good guy with Madhavan, a soft-spoken man, forced to act as a rowdy. Though
there were not as many policemen as in 2003, Sarathkumar kept the role alive with
Saamy-wannabe Gambeeram but it was the two
heroines, Laila and Pranathi who made the movie stand out from other cop movies.
Arjun, the action king, was on full display in Giri, director
Sundar.C's proof that he too could make an entertaining masala flick while
Dhanush crossed international borders with the ease of crossing a neighboring fence in
Pudhukottaiyilirundhu Saravanan as he attempted to
rejoin Aparna with her family. Satyaraj, probably the busiest actor in 2004, took some
rather sharp shots at actors and politicians in Mahaanadigan,
as he gained a cinematic change of heart to become a good politician. But his
Azhagesan seemed like a weak retread of 16
Vayadhinile while Sound Party tested our patience by
stretching a single plot point for a solid two hours. Jairam
mixed romance and politics but the rather amateurish scenes dealing with the latter reduced
the effectiveness of the former. Ajith attempted to do a Baasha in
Janaa while it was never clear what Vijay was attempting to
do in Udhaya. Jai added another
to the long list of Prashanth's clunkers with its hero worship, ridiculous portrayal of
college life and an over-the-top villain.
Love All!
Romance never goes out of style in Tamil cinema and this was proved once again in 2004 as
several young and not-so-young lovers tried to romance their way to success. A subtly
funny script, a cute romance and a short, sweet and clever climax made
Azhagiye Theeye a very enjoyable love story. The prize
for the most unique romance goes to the one between Satyaraj(playing his age) and Rathi
Adithadi, with Satyaraj using the mismatched romance as
a base to take satirical shots at actors and politicians. Parthiban's look at love was
unique as well as he focused on a single man and the effect love had on him in
Kudaikkull Mazhai. Using a minimalist style with only
few characters and locations, the movie was not an entertainer but manages to strike a
chord, especially in the powerful and surprising climax. But his acting style did not
suit Kaadhal Kirukkan, which failed to match both its
English and Hindi originals in thrills. Hari, tackling a love story after
the action flick Saamy, disppointed with a predictable story of lovers from two
different religions in Kovil but managed to restrain Simbhu.
Chellame was a slick romantic thriller with Bharath unable
to give up Reema Sen, whom he knew from his childhood. Good characterization and a great
soundtrack made this one very entertaining. Iyarkai, another
love triangle, seemed different by virtue of being set in the Andaman islands and had some
beautiful visuals of the island and the surrounding sea. Both
Unnai Paartha Naal Mudhal and
Enakku 20 Unakku 18 brought back memories of Kaadhal
Koattai as Srikanth and Aarti in the former, and Tarun and Trisha in the latter, looked
for each other after falling in love in their first meetings. P.C.Sriram's
Vaanam Vasappadum dealt with the harsh topic of rape
as it looked at the life of a rape victim after the incident. The movie was depressing but
the attitude of the heroine and her husband and his family was refreshingly different from
usual Tamil movies. Vignesh appeared to hope Soori would do for
him what Sethu did for Vikram but his overacting, a predictable twist and a weak climax
dashed those hopes. Abbas had to choose between love and his ambition in the neat
Sindhaamal Sidharaamal while Telugu hero Naresh got on
our nerves with his overacting as he learnt about true love and money in
Kurumbu. Anbe Un Vasam had
the moronic love story and capped it off with a miscalculated, irritating climax while
Kavithai lost our interest because of its predictable twist.
Its all relative!
Sentiments are invariably attached to family ties in Tamil movies and we had movies that banked
on such ties in 2004 too. Motherly affection reigned supreme as always with the most refreshing
of this staple relation being seen in M.Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi.
The mother and son as friends concept allowed the relation to be portrayed in a jolly way rather
than the usual sentimental way and Nadhiya, looking like she could give heroines a run for their
money, was radiant as the mother. Though glamour had the upper hand in S.J.Surya's controversial
New, the sex comedy was still based on a son's initial dislike of
his mother's anger and his subsequent yearning for her love.
Attagaasam had a small twist on this traditional relation as
Ajith, after trading places with his twin, attempted to destroy his mother's livelihood. Fathers
were not neglected either in 2004. The reallife father and son pair of Satyaraj and Sibi carried
their relation to the screen in Jore and shared good chemistry to
make their scenes together quite fun. Kamalhassan tried to become a doctor in order to mend his
father's broken heart in Vasoolraja M.B.B.S but the film failed
to mix sentiments and comedy successfully and was not as effective as its Hindi original.
At the other end of the scale was Sarathkumar, whose father hated him enough to try and kill
him in Maanasthan.
Ennavo Pudichirukku followed the Vaali route as
a scheming brother tried to sabotage the romance between his brother and the woman he loved but
came nowhere near the quality of its source.
With movies like Rajnikanth's Chandramukhi, which is coming after a two year gap and with which he hopes to erase memories of Baba, Kamal's bilingual Mumbai Express, which reunites him with Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, and Shankar's Anniyan with Vikram, 2005 is definitely a year to look forward to for the movie lover. So lets get ready to sit back, relax and enjoy the show...
. © 2005 Balaji Balasubramaniam