Happy New Year readers! Welcome to 2016.
There’s something magical about this time of the year. It’s a time to be excited about what the future holds and the new adventures, experiences and relationships that are awaiting each and every one of us. It’s a time to dream about what we have to look forward to.
But I don’t really think ‘dreaming’ about what we have to look forward to in the realm of cinema entertainment this year is necessary. I mean, why wonder? Over the holiday season we were given clear proof via a flurry of stellar trailers and teasers of exactly what we have to look forward to! From zombies to female boxing to fantasy road trips… just considering the movies we were recently given a better look at I strongly believe that 2016 promises to be the year of diversity in Kollywood.
For instance - let’s all give the trailer of MIRUTHAN a well-earned round of applause. I am so psyched for this seemingly no holds barred, good ol’ fashioned monster hunt movie. After thoroughly impressing us with his roles in the very successful Thani Oruvan and strong Bhooloham, Jayam Ravi looks right at home as the macho survivor in Tamil cinema’s first ever zombie movie! As a lifelong devotee of zombie apocalypse films I’m glad to see what seems to be a truly thrilling take on the sci-fi/horror/action genre! I only hope that the film doesn't divert from its focus of gore, action and survival too much with the usual run-of-the-mill romance & comedy tracks we see in our everyday Tamil entertainers. I’m much more looking forward to some zombie shooting than any Jayam Ravi & Lakshmi Menon duets.
The recent ACHCHAM YENBADHU MADAMAIYADA teaser also showed us the variety even within the romance genre that we can expect later this year. Gautham Menon previously hinted that AYM contains much more drama than just a love story, and we could see that in the plainly simple and yet mysterious teaser. I’m greatly looking forward to another classy GVM story where he gets the best out of his actors via richly written characters. This soulful trailer has also reminded me how much I have missed Simbu the stellar actor, instead of the punch dialogue little super star.
Speaking of comeback performances and diversification in Tamil cinema - let’s discuss the recent trailer of IRUDHI SUTTRU! This trailer packed a true punch as it gave us a well-edited look at this gritty and raw sports drama from the new angle of female boxing. Probably hitting us more squarely, though, was the new look it gave us at the industry’s long beloved Madhavan, playing a seemingly notorious boxer and unconventional coach to a precocious student.
It seems as though the refreshing Irudhi Suttru has the elements to be Maddy’s triumphant return to Tamil films after almost 4 years, in a role he specially trained and transformed for.
And for those craving variety in their action dramas the recent trailers for both Vishal’s KATHAKALI and Udhayanidhi Stalin’s GETHU seem to promise different but exciting high octane entertainment. Where Kathakali’s trailer reminded me of past Vishal starring action-family dramas, like Thimiru, Udhayanidhi’s high-tech and modernized trailer gave off vibes of a Bourne Supremacy type outing. Both ads clearly showcased a lot of effort in terms of novel stunts and unique action sequences. With strong supporting actors and hopefully strong scripts as well, I see the potential for much variety even in our upcoming action flicks.
And this column wouldn’t be complete of course with a mention of the sinfully entertaining ARANMANAI 2 trailer. This spooky look at what seems to be a jam packed supernatural, family drama was a fun one that made a point to showcase the franchise’s new gorgeous leading pair of Siddharth and Trisha, who haven’t been seen in a Tamil film together since Ayaithu Ezhuthu in 2004! Not only do I love a good horror film, but this trailer happily reminded me that the trend of multiple star collaboration is continuing in Kollywood this year, and I’m glad to see it do so via eclectic and a-typical genres.
And even though the trailer for this film released almost 2 months ago, I could not complete this column without a mention of the wonderfully quirky looking comedy JIL JUNG JUK that will hopefully be hitting screens very soon. A truly enigmatic undertaking this film could hold within it 50% of the diversity we will see in Kollywood this year alone. With such a wild, loud and all around crazy trailer as this I am so thrilled for to see just how out of the box this full length film is! I have high hopes for this film to shake up the industry at least a little bit and make us question why we don’t have more leading men with blue hair.
If there’s anything the last few weeks in Tamil entertainment have shown me - it’s that 2016 could be the year of variety for Kollywood. And I love it!
Come to think of it… I don’t know if I’ll have the time to tend to all those important New Year’s resolutions I made. I might be too busy going to the movies.
I hope to see you there.
