There is nothing sadder out there, than putting yourself out there , only to be never noticed and slip into oblivion. Especially if it involves art – into which you inputted your blood , sweat and tears. This thought kept gnawing my heart till I decided to embark on a risky endeavour. To try and make a list of EVERY TAMIL FILM which releases every Friday and watch it at random. I obviously cannot watch all but I certainly have an assorted bag of sorts here. The quality isn’t always top notch but some were more worthwhile than the so called ‘ Star Vehicles’.
So in no particular order , I present to you my list of my Not very well known movies : –
- Sawaari – Must be the least known movie of the lot. It released in March 2016. It has a cast of actors no one knows about and it starts very promisingly. It is about a psycho killer who gets into people’s car in the ECR and murders them in a gruesome manner! The movie had so much potential. The first half was particularly engaging. We whirr our heads trying to find who the psycho is but truth be told the possibilities in our head are more exciting than what the truth actually turns out to be. Once the guy is revealed , he becomes infinitely less menacing and just keeps laughing a ‘psycho’ laugh to annoy you. I think the pressure of making a full length script got to the movie and the movie literally goes off rail from the exciting mystery thriller format to a more generic and frustrating black comedy format towards the end. The acting wasn’t particularly engaging either. Verdict – First half was first a watch , second half was just meh.
- Achaaram – This film released in June 2015 and I wish it stayed buried in the oblivion it belongs to. Some movies are so bad that you cannot unsee them and this movie certainly falls in the category.
IDK why on earth Ganesh Venkatraman would choose such a cringe inducing film. He is responsible for his own downfall. On paper it may have sounded like Sivappu Rojakkal and even unique but the execution leaves a LOT to be desired. The movie is about a cop who turns into a psycho after his fiancée leaves him in the marriage hall for her lover. While his plight is brought out in a sympathetic manner , the ‘lovers’ are portrayed as completely selfish and responsible for every over reaction that resulted as result of their action which was admittedly executed in a wrong manner. A more balanced narrative or nuance would have helped the movie. Heck they could have stuck with the Vaali like narrative they have in the first half and made the hero a full on pervert , that would have been more interesting than this moral lecturing. Verdict – I know you will never watch. But still it is my duty to say ‘ PLEASE DON’T WATCH’. - Thottal Thodarum – This movie released on January 2015 and was directed by noted film critic Cable Shankar. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least. First of all , the story was based primarily on the Female lead , who had a proper backstory , ambition and spoke like a normal human being. And in Tamil Cinema nowadays , that itself is an achievement of sorts.
The film starts of simply with a standard love track which was surprisingly natural and enjoyable to watch and a crime conspiracy angle which gets interwoven to the main narrative in the interval. Although dramatic it is engaging and the movie doesn’t slack in pace till the last 15-20 minutes. The climax is very abrupt and badly shot which dampens all the good work the movie did till the end. It is still worth a watch for its engaging story and natural performance of its characters. Verdict – Try it - CSK –
Titled CSK or Charles Shafiq Karthiga , this movie released on March 2015 and is a decent attempt to say the least. The characters and stories are generic in the beginning and I resigned myself to another run of the mill story about a possible love triangle. I was pleasantly surprised when the whole story started to focus on one night in a creepy office building and when it became all about karthiga. The other characters are one note but perform their roles convincingly. The screenplay was taut and I actually felt chills in the ‘thrilling’ sequences because unlike a star movie , I don’t know if the protagonist will make it alive in one shape out of this one. The shafiq story was unnecessary in my opinion. Verdict – Go for it! - Orange mittai / kappal –
I put these films in the / category because they are better known films with proper stars backing them. For me Orange Mittai is a rare misfire from Vijay Sethupathi. While his characters is played well and so is the Ambulance driver’s there is not much happening in the story to warrant the emotional sequences. For a movie which is all about feelings I barely felt anything. Verdict – Should have been a short film Talking about Kappal it is a comedy film which starts very funnily. The premise is so preposterous that it can only be a comedy movie. It is about 5 friends who decide they will never marry and one of the friends is our playboy vaibhav who just wants a girlfriend and runs to Chennai in the pretext of a career. What happens when the friends find out that our hero got his heroine? Actually the movie was fun till that question came up , the female lead is shown in ‘urban’ light without it being a crime. However , the childish antics of the friends are gross and just wrong after a point that it makes no sense that Vaibhav backs them over his (over) supportive girlfriend. The films has its moments where it gets you laughing but the friends and the sudden ‘emotional’ overtures puts me off.
Verdict – Go for it , if you can stomach misogyny and crassness masking as fun.
Assorted Box 