Caught between the Old Guard standing tall and the New Order coming up, Tamil cinema 2024 finds a new normal

Opening credits

Once upon a time, not so long ago, December used to be a prime time for Tamil films to hit the screens. However, rain played spoilsport one too many times that many are wary of releasing their big-ticket films in that month. We have seen promising films like Parking miss out on the hype train due to the rains spoiling well-laid plans. It was a rather sedate end to 2023, and somehow, it rubbed off on the opening of 2024, which started off with the ambitious biggies Captain Miller and Ayalaan. One is set in the past, one in the not-so-far future, but both suffered from coherence giving way to bigger pursuits, and ended up as films that offered a lot of style, but very middling results. Then, there was Pa Ranjith’s home production, Blue Star, directed by S Jayakumar, that was a rather simplistic but important take on how casteism finds its roots in sports too. Tamil cinema started on the front foot, but faced uneven bounce right in the first month.

Dhanush from Captain Miller and Sivakarthikeyan from Ayalaan

New power structures 

What really worked in Tamil cinema’s favour is the strong voices that came up throughout the year with films that might not have aimed for the stars, but their existence itself was a refreshing breath of fresh air. Just like 2023, Manikandan kickstarted the trend in 2024 with debut filmmaker Prabhuram Vyas’ Lover. The strong showing of debutants continued with Suresh Mari’s J Baby, and Vinayak Vaithianathan’s Romeo. Despite the mixed results at the box-office, Kavin had a strong showing in 2024 too with his 1-2 punch of Star and Bloody Beggar establishing his credentials as a talented actor rightfully knocking on the doors of stardom. Then, there was Hiphop Tamizha Adhi’s films like PT Sir, which stayed true to the template and tried something important, and Kadaisi Ulaga Por, which strayed away from the template to say something important. 

PS Vinothraj established a parallel movement with Kottukkaali, which tried to create a space for newer audiences watching an ‘offbeat’ film. Then, the biggest success story of the year happened with Harish Kalyan’s Lubber Pandhu, directed by debutant Tamizharasan Pachamuthu. Another addition to this list is director Sidharth Vishwanathan, who delivered a rather interesting debut with Sorgavaasal. Soori established his credentials as a leading hero outside of Vetrimaaran’s films with the success of RS Durai Senthilkumar’s Garudan.

ALSO READ: Lubber Pandhu Movie Review: Sports, spice, and everything nice perfectly come together in this riveting family drama

There were ‘small’ films with a ‘big’ heart like Byri, Jama, Oru Nodi, Neela Nira Sooriyan, Rocket Driver, Deepavali Bonus and Family Padam that prove that cinema has a space for every voice. 

Kottukkaali, Lover and Lubber Pandhu are examples of how the new order is taking over Tamil cinema.

The Season of Comebacks

Just like how we love our heroes to stand tall and fight back after a setback, we have often seen filmmakers and actors return with something so strong that we tend to find our peace in their stories. 

Tamannaah Bhatia and Sundar C returned to form and prominence with the blockbuster success of Aranmanai 4, which was one of the first big successes of Tamil cinema that turned its tide after a rather sedate start. Actor Mohan made his much-awaited but disappointing return to Tamil cinema with Sri Vijay G’s Haraa. He received a comparatively warmer welcome with Vijay-Venkat Prabhu’s GOAT, but it just didn’t make the cut. 

On the other hand, Prashanth had a decent return to form with Andhagan, the Tamil remake of National award-winning Hindi film, Andhadhun. After a solid dip, director Ajay Gnanamuthu gave a decent comeback with Demonte Colony 2, which also ensured Priya Bhavanishankar could be part of a successful film thereby shutting down the naysayers, whose loudness masked their lack of credibility. 

Despite having a good film in J Baby, it was Lubber Pandhu that helped reinvent the brand Dinesh, as he was rechristened as ‘Gethu’ Dinesh from this long-held moniker of Attakathi Dinesh. Similarly, Jiiva, who was not getting that one big success to get back on the saddle, received it with debut filmmaker KG Balasubramani’s Black. 

Two filmmakers who took a really long time between their first and second films were the talk of the town in 2024. If Nithilan Saminathan gave a blockbuster comeback with Maharaja, which also catapulted Vijay Sethupathi back into the big leagues, Rajkumar Periasamy delivered Amaran that cemented Sivakarthikeyan’s space in the same big league. 

ALSO READ | Amaran movie review: Sai Pallavi, Sivakarthikeyan stand tall in this tale of timeless love

And Premkumar returned to Tamil cinema with Karthi-Arvind Swamy’s Meiyazhagan that reminded people of the power of good conversations. 

Prashanth, Vijay Sethupathi, and Jiiva made strong comebacks in the box-office game this year

Romance and comedy in the air… not

It was actually quite unfortunate that 2024 was a year that didn’t deliver enough comedies and romantic films. Despite having the space to do so, it is surprising how filmmakers are opting for every other genre except the time-tested successful ones like comedy and romance. In fact, most of the comedies that released this year were multi-genre films, and didn’t put all the eggs in the ‘comedy’ basket. 

Karthik Yogi-Santhanam’s Vadakkupatti Ramasamy and Anand Narayan-Santhanam’s Inga Naa Thaan Kingu were notable exceptions. Otherwise, there were films where the comedy really worked, like a Lubber Pandhu or Meiyazhagan, but they were not centred around the genre. 

The same thing with romance too as there were hardly any except a Lover in the starting of the year, and Miss You towards the end. It makes us question if it is the audience who are saturated with these genres, or is it the filmmakers who prefer going for multi-genre masala, or proven genres like horror and thrillers. 

Pure genre films in comedy and romance were hard to come by, except for a few notable exceptions like Santhanam’s Vadakkupatti Ramasamy and Siddharth-Ashika’s Miss You.

Women of this year’s cinema 

Another disappointing aspect of 2024 has been the lack of strong women-fronted films and just a handful of strong women protagonists. Simran was terrific in Andhagan, and delivered a consummated performance. Yours truly felt Tamannaah was on point in Aranmanai 4. But films like Annapoorani didn’t live up to the billing. But Nayanthara had a different superstar journey of her own through the Netflix documentary and all the brouhaha surrounding it. It was rather interesting to see a film like Raghu Thatha that tapped into the versatility of Keerthy Suresh. And Anna Ben delivered a silent tour de force performance in Kottukkaali. 

In a sense, this was the year of Urvashi, as she asserted to Tamil and Malayalam cinema why she is one of the finest actors ever to have graced the screen. On the other hand, Sri Gouri Priya, ensured she added her name to this illustrious list with a measured performance in Lover. Another name that needs a special mention is Ismath Banu, who was perfect in Veppam Kulir Mazhai and Raghu Thatha, which offered her diametrically different roles. 

And can Sshivada ever give a non-convincing performance? Garudan had strong performances from Shhivada, Roshne Haripriyan and Revathy Sharma. Similarly, despite the limited screen space, Aparna Balamurali made a strong mark in Raayan, which had Dushara Vijayan turning up with a terrific performance. Other strong performers were Swasika and Sanjana from Lubber Pandhu, Anikha Surendran (PT Sir),  Mirnalini Ravi (Romeo), Tanya Ravichandran (Rasavathi), and Samyuktha Vijayan (Neela Nira Sooriyan).

It was a rather hit-and-miss year for women in Tamil cinema, but actors like Keerthy Suresh, Dushara Vijayan, Swasika and Sanjana made quite the mark.

The Big Guns arrive… albeit with a difference 

Just like 2023, this year too had its fair share of biggies, but it wasn’t the same. Rajinikanth turned up with Lal Salaam and Vettaiyan. Both were rather different films that didn’t play to Rajinikanth’s strengths, and the box-office returns were affected by the same. However, this showed that the superstar was ready to try doing something different. 

Incidentally, this became the name of the game for the big-ticket films because every superstar or superstar aspirant of Tamil cinema decided to try something new with their films. Vijay-Venkat Prabhu’s GOAT, which has gone on to become the highest grossing Tamil film of the year, might seem like a template film, but through experimentation in the form, Vijay did try something new. 

Suriya and Siva came together to deliver a period film like Kanguva that can be faulted for a lot of things, but not for its proclivity for trying to push the envelope on some fronts. Indian 2 marked the reunion of Shankar and Kamal Haasan after Indian, and it brought back the iconic Senapathi character. However, it was received coldly at the box-office, and became a blot in the careers of both these stalwarts. 

Dhanush made a solid return to direction with Raayan, and weaved together a tale where he knew when to step back, and when to take the centrestage. Amaran, which marked Sivakarthikeyan’s ascension, was also a stark detour from the actor’s brand of films. However, this gamble, backed by Kamal Haasan, did the trick as it continues to pay everyone involved in the film with rich dividends. 

Vikram did one of his most experimental films yet with Pa Ranjith’s Thangalaan, which pushed the boundaries of the actor’s versatility, and the director’s vision. A similar thing happened with Meiyazhagan, which took a gamble with its form, and received mostly positive responses, but also its fair share of criticisms. After making a Maamannan that didn’t have the same reach as his Pariyerum Perumal and Karnan, Mari Selvaraj made his most personal film yet with Vaazhai, which was well-received critically and commercially. Of course, talking about experimentation, can Parthiban be left behind? He made Teenz, an accessible sci-fi film that was structured as a children’s film, albeit with mixed results. But make no mistake, Parthiban tried to do something different, and it is a sign of a filmmaker who never says never. 

And the year came to a close with Vetrimaaran’s Viduthalai 2, which opened up a conversation about communism, its impact, its political reach, and more. However, just like any healthy debate, there are solid points on both sides of the film, and it reaffirmed the thought that you might like or dislike a Vetrimaaran movie, but no one can ignore it… at all.

It was a year when the big-ticket films were also experiments done by the top-tier stars.

The Climactic Twist

Although most big-ticket films were experiments of some sort, not all of them were successful. This abject failure on some fronts also resulted in a rather different type of controversy that has threatened to change the way reviews have been done. Kanguva, Indian 2, and Vettaiyan were mentioned in a statement about how negative reviews are killing the box-office prospects of films and tried to propose a three-day ban on reviews, especially the negative ones. Well, that didn’t happen… but it created a conversation about paid campaigning, targeted trolling, etc. We also had films that were trimmed post release to accommodate audience’s responses. Interestingly, the conversations generated by these movies were less about cinema, and more about commerce, showing a tectonic shift in the appreciation of movies. 

The lateral entry…

While Tamil cinema might not have always clicked at the box-office, 2024 will be known for being the year that many other language films managed to find a solid patronage that rivalled many big Tamil films too. 

If Malayalam cinema had a solid year with the likes of Premalu, Bramayugam, Manjummel Boys, Kishkintha Kaandam, The Goat Life, and Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil being some of the films that made a mark in Tamil Nadu, Telugu cinema upped the ante with projects like Kalki 2898 AD, Devara part 1, Pushpa 2: The Rule, Lucky Baskhar, Hanu-Man, Saripodhaa Sanivaaram and Guntur Kaaram.  

Malayalam and Telugu films were moneyspinners in Tamil Nadu with newer avenues opening for other language films

The post-credits surprise

Well, 2023 set the wheels in motion, and it continued in 2024 as re-releases continued to be important money spinners for theatres during the ‘dull’ phases where films didn’t excite the audience long enough. 

We had Ghilli breaking records even 20 years after it first broke records. Aishwarya Rajinikanth’s debut film, 3, was another winner alongside films like Rajinikanth’s Baba, and Thalapathi. Kamal Haasan’s Gunaa, which was referenced in this year’s biggest surprise blockbuster Manjummel Boys, found its way back to the theatres. There were other re-releases like Billa, Mankatha and Dheena from the stables of Ajith Kumar, who didn’t have a new release in 2024. 

Nevertheless, both 2023 and 2024 seem to have followed similar scripts. It starts off with a bang, and waits for the New Order to take over in the first half before the Old Guard stands tall in the second half to take over the reins of Tamil cinema. With many changes expected to happen in the blueprint of the industry, it would be interesting to see if 2025 follows the same formula, or will Tamil cinema have more than its fair share of tricks up its sleeve. 

Well, happy tidings, and happy new year, I guess.