Five things for 2011!

  Looking back at the just ended 2010, overall it was a decent year for Tamil films. There were brilliant indie attempts, some dark horses rising above the ordinary, some hyped attempts biting the dust, an intriguing blend of commercial and art-house and finally, the quintessential commercial potboilers minting money proving all notions about ‘change’ completely wrong. This was also the year that saw the release of the most ambitious and the most expensive movie to be made in Indian cinema – Endhiran. Variety was the true spice of life in 2010. There was love, sentiment, comedy, action and everything in equal measure.

Now that I have painted a picture of how things really looked up in 2010, here is my wish list for 2011. On what ideally would make this year better than its previous counterpart, that would in turn take Tamil movies one step towards attaining karma.

Why do brilliant movies have to be inspired from?

As much as the phrase ‘great minds think alike’ is abused, it’s also unavoidable to draw parallels between works of great success. For instance, Manirathnam’s celebrated Naayagan had striking similarities with Godfather. Not only the basic plot of the movie seemed inspired, but Kamal Senior’s makeup had resemblance with Marlin Brando’s. Who would have thought Ameer’s Yogi was inspired by Tsotsi until it was released? In the same manner, Myshkin infused elements from his life and blended it with the Japanese film Kikujiro to make Nandalala.

That brings us to this: isn’t there scope for original Tamil movies at all? Going by the trend in 2010, movies like Angadi Theru have proved that Tamil movies are capable of being considered serious and worth every film festival’s salt. Let Vasanthabalan and his contemporaries follow his legacy.

Quality Original Content

Love, family, sentiment; is that all we have to explore? Not precisely. Tamil literature is a treasure trove of themes and stories of all kinds. Adapting books into movies is still a trend waiting to catch up but there are a signs that it will happen soon. Movies like Aanandha Thandavam and Magizhchi were cinematic adaptations of books. Endhiran is also inspired from Sujatha’s short story ‘En Iniya Iyandhira’.

Same way, remakes need not be the order of the day. That’s not to say they can’t co-exist though.

Hero worship!

It’s officially on its way out. Even by the standards of Vijay and Ajith. All the frontline stars are getting the jitters to flaunt their star power lest they get the elbow from the viewing public. Even Shankar thought otherwise when he cast Rajini. He wrote the character of the scientist Rajini with flaws, naturally relatable with an ordinary human being and left the superhuman things to the supersonic Robot.

A welcoming trend this one, and going by the future projects of our popular heroes, image building is gone for good and let us hope it’s also given a proper burial in the year 2011.

Songs?

The enduring song and dance numbers in our movies are a reminder that events in our life are meant to be celebrated / mourned extensively. But when those songs turn into excuses to increase a movie’s length, they pose hindrance to its pace. If our producers and directors wake up to the idea of letting the songs play in the backdrop, while not necessarily making the characters prance around in the name of dancing, songs will become a more meaningful addition to our films.

More forums and film fests!

Chennai is a city largely deprived of film festivals and screenings (barring the Chennai International Film Festival). There are film screenings happening here and there but they are unnoticeable. Suhasini Manirathnam is attempting to bring such festivals to Chennai and we wish her efforts bear fruit in the coming year. Let this year bring more movies from all over the world to the city. If not for movie buffs, let our directors enjoy them. And, get inspired!

Besides, the year is beginning with a spectacular slew of colorful movies for Pongal. Let’s hope they are diverse in their presentation as diverse as they are with their actors.

Here’s to the New Year and a year of good movies!

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