25 Best Tamil Movies Of The 21st Century (So Far)
| Tamil cinema in the 21st century has been an absolute roller coaster ride, beginning with masterpieces unmarked by fanfare, and going on to new filmmakers who took the industry to newer heights, writes Aditya Shrikrishna .
| IT'S THE SEASON for taking stock of the century so far. A couple of weeks ago, the cinephile world stumbled upon the list of 100 best films of the 21st century, and as any list-making activity is wont to do, it created its share of stir. The ballot was dominated by American artists and critics, they said. There were too many films from the same filmmakers, they said. There is hardly any South Asian representation and no African representation at all, they said. While most quirks and preferences are easy to live with, the last one is a major flaw. Omitting entire continents, skipping whole film industries and possessing an invisible disdain for some genres do expose the insulated atmosphere of film appreciation and evaluation. On that note, how would such a list look for Indian cinema? It is challenging to stick to one region, let alone all of India, so this list focuses on Tamil cinema, a daunting enough endeavour. Tamil cinema in the twenty-first century is an absolute roller coaster. It began without fanfare but with major masterpieces, and then goes on to introduce brand new filmmakers who take the industry to newer heights. The entire ideology and functioning of the industry gets overhauled by a few names, and that produces new genres and all-time classics. And just as the over-producing industry gets saturated and the pandemic hits, Tamil cinema enters a stasis. A language always dominated by stars doubles down, sucks new voices into familiar commercial beats. The stars who were on top at the beginning of the century are still there, some of them bigger, which shrinks their appetite for experiments. All this narrows the slate, and the language now needs a fresh injection of vigour. In short, Tamil cinema has seen it all in the last twenty-five years. Stream live sports, blockbuster films and hit shows with OTTplay Premium's Power Play monthly pack, for only Rs 149. Talk of the 21st century did begin with that all-important question. Do we celebrate the new millennium in 2000 or 2001? As there was no year 0 — here we go again — for the sake of this list, we count from 2001. But just to alleviate any fears, if we were to consider 2000, Kamal Haasan’s Hey Ram and Rajeev Menon's Kandukondain Kandukondain would have entered the chat. | Kannathil Muthamittal (2002) Mani Ratnam made a career out of micro stories in macro settings, and his greatest two works in this run came almost back-to-back in Dil Se and Kannathil Muthamittal . The latter film, released in 2002, is a work of remarkable lucidity about relationships and the tug of sociopolitical trappings overwhelming familial dynamics. Rewatch today, and every dialogue pulls the heartstrings; every moment lingers in a cinema of remarkable economy. It says less, shows more and makes us feel generations worth of emotion in fractional head tilts, dynamic shotmaking and unforgettable characters. | Saamy (2003) The police story is as old as cinema itself, even MG Ramachandran’s first appearance in film was a role in a uniform. While the policemen of Rajinikanth and Vijaykanth continue to be iconic, Hari and Vikram brought brand new relish and a rustic fervour to their update. Vikram’s Aarusami is a post-90s policeman in a world where corruption is commonplace, but morality is ultimate. Out went the rules of the game, and a people and screen-friendly policeman came to the fore. Watch Saamy (Hindi) and Saamy 2 on OTTplay Premium here. | Virumaandi (2004) There is everything in this Kamal Haasan film. It works like a thriller in its Rashomon- like play with perspectives. It is a melodrama in the way it deals with domestic and interpersonal ties. It has great action blocks and works as a biting exposé of caste dynamics in interior Tamil Nadu and how it affects everything from the judiciary to law and order. In its allegorical effect, it weaves deep mythology of the South into a convincing yarn. And it has a great love story at its centre. All of it works to not just be one of the best films Kamal Haasan made, but one of the very best ever to come out of Tamil cinema. | Kanda Naal Mudhal (2005) It’s been twenty years, and few Tamil romantic comedies have matched the goggle-eyed enthusiasm and the cheeky rigour of V Priya’s Kanda Naal Mudhal . The characters were never tropes, the romantic moments wholly original and the comedy through the roof. With a straight-shooting cast in Prasanna, Laila, Karthik Kumar, Lakshmi, Revathi and Regina Cassandra, this is a film that set such high benchmarks for a certain class of romantic comedy that, as of now, the genre has all but disappeared from the scene. | Pithamagan (2003) By the time Bala made his third feature, his quirks and auteurist inclinations were apparent to all. And yet Pithamagan shocked and awed like no other. It had Vikram in a thankless role with little to no dialogue. It had Suriya cast against type, and the crux of the film was their unlikely friendship bordering on the homoerotic. With a narrative that moved like a charm, warming us into the lives of societal misfits, a film for the ages with a cast for the ages broke out of the theatres. The three men at the centre — Bala, Vikram and Suriya — have never been better. Stream these 5 best titles of Vikram on SunNXT, using your OTTplay Premium subscription. | Kadhal (2004) Balaji Sakthivel may not have sparkled with his debut, but with his second film took Tamil cinema into uncharted territory. While caste violence had been depicted in Tamil cinema before, it was still a taboo subject that never received the deft treatment that the filmmaker brought to the subject. In a devastating film with fresh faces that made the impact more visceral, Kadhal is a landmark film in not just the twenty-first century but in Tamil film history, one that informed and inspired anti-caste cinema of today. | Paruthiveeran (2007) Nothing came for the jugular like Ameer’s film. He made an innocuous, mostly fun romantic comedy in Mounam Pesiyadhe and followed it with a strange character study like Raam . But for his third feature, he made a barn burner with debutant Karthi, the Madurai film to beat all Madurai films that not only painted the town with new aesthetics for blood and violence but also delineated the rationale and the futility of it all. The climax is as much a gut punch today as it was back then. | Pudhupettai (2006) A few years ago, Tamizh Prabha wrote about why Pudhupettai is his favourite film. He wrote extensively about the first forty minutes of the film, an elaborate and expansive stretch where everything that happens to Dhanush’s Kokki Kumar makes us root for him, the screenplay giving Kumar the experience and wherewithal to rationalise everything he does later. It is one of the best scripts in Tamil cinema and easily Selvaraghavan’s greatest during a solid run. And the film that announced Dhanush as a future star. | Chennai 600028 (2007) As far as sports films go, it is hard to top Chennai 600028 . Venkat Prabhu and the gang put together family and friends and played a game of cricket. They organised a street cricket tournament, invented rivalries, and recreated everything that happens to them in the cricket ground around the corner on film. The result is the most relatable, most unforgettable minimalist cricket film that has everything — underdog story, tragedy, romance, friendship, unlikely mentors, and even unfit local politicians at the pitch for the toss. Watch Chenai 600028 on OTTplay Premium here. | Subramaniapuram (2008) The film that changed everything. While young Indian filmmakers’ fascination with Quentin Tarantino was reaching a fever pitch (and saturation), M Sasikumar brought in a Scorsese flavour to what will be termed the 'Madurai gangster film'. Subramaniapuram started it all, the raw violence, the Shakespearean tragedy and the caste equations that brought the audience, critics and academicians to the yard. So much so that Anurag Kashyap expressed praise and went back to his roots to make Gangs of Wasseypur . Watch Subramaniapuram on OTTplay Premium here. | Raavanan (2010) The film bombed. It was a bilingual with curious casting. Vikram played Raavanan in Tamil and a reflection of Rama in the Hindi version. Aishwarya Rai remained constant, alluring and angelic. Mani Ratnam made the anti-police film long before it became a recognisable trait in cinema, a take on Ramayana that will not pass the script stage in today’s political climate. If beauty could really save the world, Raavanan could save cinema. Wet and dreamy, one of the most gorgeous films made on this side of the world. Watch Raavanan here. | Aadukalam (2011) At the end of Vetrimaaran’s Aadukalam , he lists a bibliography. The films include Michael Haneke’s Cache , Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s Amores Perros , Kamal Haasan’s Thevar Magan and Virumaandi , and Ameer’s Paruthiveeran . Two of those films appear in this list, and the fact that Aadukalam too makes it here means that it will not be a stretch if a future filmmaker makes this film a reference point soon. An intoxicating tale of betrayal and competition, this battle of wits, heart, strength and masculinity has both Vetrimaaran and Dhanush operating at their best. Watch Aadukalam here on OTTplay Premium. | Aaranya Kaandam (2011) Thiagrajan Kumararaja came out of nowhere. He had some credits in Pushkar Gayathri’s debut film Oram Po and later in Va Quarter Cutting, but as a filmmaker, he announced himself with the sleek neo noir Aaranya Kaandam . Never had Tamil cinema seen a film like this. Nothing that looked like this, spoke like this and sang like this. And then the filmmaker disappeared again to only come up with another such film eight years later. Lightning in a bottle of a film and a filmmaker. Watch Aaranya Kaandam on JioHotstar, now available with your OTTplay Premium subscription. | Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom (2012) In 2012, with one film, Tamil cinema announced several of its future marquee names. Vijay Sethupathi, with an injury to his medulla oblongata, ensured the industry never forgot a landmark year. Cinematographer Prem Kumar offered his real-life story and turned director with two films, one on this list and another getting a shoutout as an honourable mention. And then there was the filmmaker, Balaji Tharaneetharan, one of the most original voices to have debuted in Tamil this century with Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom . A film about a groom with short-term memory loss and the ensuing chaos, which underlines friendship as the ultimate pinnacle of a full life. Watch Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom here on OTTplay Premium. | Jigarthanda (2014) Karthik Subbaraj made an efficient debut in Pizza , but no one was ready for his sophomore feature, Jigarthanda . Effortlessly marrying a love for cinema and the stylings of a mob world, Subbaraj delivered a treatise that was part tribute, part parody, collectively working as a gangster film, one that redefined what was then referred to as the Madurai genre. The Assault Sethu theme still slaps, and the character became so memorable that Subbaraj made a sequel honouring his memory, one that might get into this list if we expand it to contain 40 films. Watch Jigarthanda here with your OTTplay Premium subscription. | Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum (2013) A lot of Mysskin films could find a place here. There is Yuddham Sei , a traditional revenge tale that borrows from the best of East Asian cinema to thrill in the most feverish ways. There is Pisaasu that turns horror into a genre of love and redemption. And then there is Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum, where good and evil lock horns, negotiate and philosophise during glorious Chennai nighttime. This is Mysskin at his very best, visually exasperating and emotionally polemical. His tendencies married to deliver the perfect concoction. Watch Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum here on OTTplay Premium. | Aandavan Kattalai (2016) Tamil filmmakers do realise their full strengths with their second feature. While Manikandan’s debut Kaaka Muttai is commendable as well as memorable, his best film remains Aandavan Kattalai , a seemingly straightforward story where nothing dramatic happens and yet amounts to some of the most complex commentary on compassion, companionship and tolerance. The film breathes so much life with even the minute characters registering as recognisable souls, its moving parts deceptively simple with enriching payoffs. Watch Aandavan Kattalai on OTTplay Premium here. | Pariyerum Perumal (2018) It was a glorious few weeks in Tamil cinema. In a span of a few weeks, we had C Prem Kumar’s 96, which makes it to this list, a one-of-a-kind thriller in Ramkumar’s Raatchasan and Vetrimaaran’s epic in Vada Chennai . With these films came Mari Selvaraj’s debut, Pariyerum Perumal , an era-defining work that threw the slate wide open to follow on Pa Ranjith’s footsteps, ferocious in breaking stereotypes and resolute in being anti-caste, a blueprint for future films, delineating what to do and what not to do, and what to show and what not to show. | 96 (2018) At a time when the industry was devoid of great love stories, parched with only saturated, spurious ones, C Prem Kumar came up with the most deeply felt romantic tragedy of the decade. With Vijay Sethupathi as a sentimental slacker and Trisha as the embodiment of the first love that got away, the pair, along with Govind Vasantha’s generation-defining score and Chinmayi’s singular vocals, gave the audience a couple to root for. So much so that in one of those rare instances, a sentimental romantic film might just get a sequel. In this day and age! Have an OTTplay Premium subscription? Watch 96 here! | To Let (2019) Chezhiyan’s film is an update on Balu Mahendra’s Veedu . The film adopts a cinema-verite approach to a problem that is all about looking, observing and rejecting. Caste and class underline every moment in To Let , the couple in the forefront unable to find a roof above their head in the city. A city besieged by the era of post-liberalisation and Information Technology boom, where gentrification is the norm, together with disproportionate real estate prices leaving a whole class of society by the wayside. | Sarpatta Parambarai (2021) Pa Ranjith updated the sports film, infusing it with bravura filmmaking, clutter-breaking characters and subtle political messaging. Sarpatta Parambarai is a total delight from start to finish — the din of the crowded boxing matches, flesh and blood characters that are lovable, their entrance to and exit from the story, their entrance to and exit from the frame, Dancing Rose (!) and the exquisite colour commentary to go with Ranjith’s own take on the hypocritical liberal ethos of Tamil Nadu’s foundational ideology. There is only one eternal regret. Due to its streaming release, no one got the opportunity to experience this one on the big screen. | Pebbles (2021) PS Vinothraj’s debut Koozhangal is a road film that is all parched heat, tired feet and starving streets. Never did anyone expect that a film about a father’s short fuse and a son’s quiet rebellion would pull contemporary Tamil cinema’s formal ambitions on all possible sides. PS Vinothraj burst into the scene with a film and a voice that was all too familiar and yet entirely new to the industry. Shocking and impressing everyone, the film won at Rotterdam and made it as India’s entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature. | Nasir (2020) Tamil cinema doesn’t have a parallel indie scene. You either make it in the commercial, theatrical route or not at all. Tamil cinema seldom centres on Muslim lives. Not even in its fringe. Arun Karthick dared to handle both. It comes from what is ostensibly an arthouse space with its underlying sensibilities. The story of a Muslim man, a shopkeeper in Coimbatore, as he negotiates the spaces around him, which are increasingly radicalised with Hindu majoritarian sentiments. Nasir played at a few festivals and went to an OTT platform, but never found a release to this day. | Kadaisi Vivasayi (2022) M Manikandan, the rare filmmaker whose formal and worldly concerns remain the same over a decade into his career in Tamil cinema. Probably one of the few filmmakers who, after initial success, hasn’t moved to a star with a big budget. It’s simply not in his DNA, and Tamil cinema is richer for that! His fourth feature film is based on man’s relationship with Earth and nature. Kadaisi Vivasayi brims with divine energy, one where the man is subservient to the abstract and mutual respect goes a long way. The film calls for faith in humanity, a dogged perseverance in community action as the ultimate tool to save our lives. Watch Kadaisi Vivasayi on SonyLIV with your OTTplay Premium subscription. | Honorable mentions: Ghilli, Veyyil, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya, Madhubana Kadai, Madras, Visaaranai, Indru Netru Naalai, Aruvi, Maanagaram, Kadhalum Kadandhu Pogum, Meyadha Maan, Merku Thodarchi Malai, Oru Kidayin Karunai Manu, Super Deluxe, Kaithi, Thiruchitrambalam, Karnan, Ponniyin Selvan 1 & 2, Chittha, Jigarthanda DoubleX, Meiyazhagan . | Like what you read? Get more of what you like. Visit the OTTplay website or download the app to stay up-to-date with news, recommendations and special offers on streaming content. 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