Friday 5 October 2012

10 Best Tamil films of 2012




                                After my take on Top 10 Worst Tamil films of 2012 in the previous article, here is the list of Top 10 best films of 2012.
                                Hundreds of films are made each year but only a fraction of them stay in our hearts in the long run. Some may be commercially successful but they wont stay in our hearts, the typical example for this theory is Vikram’s Kandasamy. On the other end very few films are liked by us and in our friends’circle, but they wont be a box-office kingpin due to lack of promotions.
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                                CAST : Vikram, Anushka, Amy Jackson, Santhanam
                                MUSIC : G. V. Prakash
                                DIRECTION : A. L. Vijay
                                RELEASED ON : 28th September

                                Vikram’s lattest offering promised top notch cinematography and music right from the day of announcement of the movie. Thaandavam certainly lived up to the hype, though not entirely engaging. Scenes involving Vikram and Anushka seemed very gentle, lovable and breezy. Presence of Amy Jackson is the one thing to question about the characterization. Other few drawbacks’ are the  lack of proper reasons for Jagapathi Babu to betray Vikram and certainly the pace of the screenplay is bit daunting.

PROS:
Vikram
Anushka
Cinematography
Music
CONS:
Slow Narration

9. BILLA 2

              
                                CAST: Ajith, Parvathy Omanakuttan, Bruna.
                                MUSIC: Yuvan Shankar Raja
                                DIRECTION: Chakri Toleti
                                RELEASED ON: 13th July
                                Billa 2 is not as good as Billa 2007. Without comparing with the older version, Billa 2 is certainly a great movie with brilliant music and visuals. Ajith looked every inch a Billa with great aura and charisma, none of the present generation heroes can be thought of in Billa avatar. All 6 tracks from the movie showed the level of commitment Yuvan had shown for the script. But the movie is clearly let down by inappropriate action sequences and climax. Parvathi and Bruna never really had a damn chance to act and their presence is easily questionable.
PROS:
Ultimately Ajith
Music
Cinematography
CONS:
Dodgy climax
Screenplay



                                CAST: Sasikumar, Lakshmi Menon, ‘Parotta’ Suri
                                MUSIC: Raghunathan
                                DIRECTION: Prabakaran
                                RELEASED ON: 14th September 

                                Sasikumar is well known for his take on friendship and love in all his movies. But he came out of that shell and did a great entertainer for his assistant Prabakaran. it technically had all Sasikuar elements like Madurai, Friends, Love etc., but the perspective in which these elements are shown made the movie to stand and deliver at the box office. Climax is one of the best in recent times,Lakshmi Menon is here to stay for a long run and Parotta Suri is surely in the lines of Goundamani- Vivek- Vadivelu- Santhanam.

PROS:
Engaging storyline
Rib tickling comedies
Thrilling Climax
CONS:
Music (R R)

7. LEELAI


                                CAST: Shiv Pandit, Manasi Parekh, Santhanam
                                MUSIC: Sathish Chakravarthy
                                DIRECTION: Andrew Louis
                                RELEASED ON: 27th April

                                One of the best movies that went unnoticed in 2012. Manasi and Shiv were perfect for the roles and Santhanam plays a decent hand as Manasi’s friend. Songs were mystical especially ‘Jillendru Oru Kalavaram’ and ‘Oru kizhi’ along with superb BGM throughout the movie. Leelai portrays the current trend in IT industries in a brilliant, decent and lovely manner.Title may look awkward but certainly it is not a movie to be missed.

PROS:
Manasi
Music and R R
Screenplay

CONS:
Lack of publicity
Playboyish Title



                               CAST: Udayanithi Stalin, Santhanam, Hanshika Motwani
                        MUSIC: Harris Jeyraj
                        DIRECTION: M. Rajesh
                        RELEASED ON: 13th April

                        A perfect holiday entertainer to say the least. What to expect from Rajesh – Santhanam duo is well known to everyone following kollywood industry. OkOk just offered that magic of humour along with beautiful songs. Uday looked a 10 movie old actor and the performance from Santhanam is never in question. Hanshika without being a glam-doll, got involved in comedy sequences and the one featuring the three in the Kingfisher plane can easily reach the cult status in tamil cinema. The story can easily be written in back side of a bus ticket, but the way screenplay is made makes us clamped to the seats. Result- Hattrick for Rajesh in the cards.

PROS:
Santhanam
Music
Screenplay

CONS:
Story



                                CAST: Siddharth, Amala Paul
                                MUSIC: Thaman
                                DIRECTION: Balaji Mohan
                                RELEASED ON: 17th February

                                A clean college romance film after many years. Siddharth after boys, shines in KSY.Amala Paul’s image makeover was carried forward perfectly and cinematography by Nirav Shah was the best in business. Balaji Mohan’s short film of the same title received a luke warm welcome from youngsters and that is enough to modify the script for a full length feature film, Which too mesmerizes with brilliant characterization and songs. 

PROS:
Screenplay
Amala Paul
Siddharth
Songs
Cinematography

CONS:
Gets quite daunting after regular interaction by Siddharth to viewers.



                                CAST: Nani, Samantha, Sudheep
                                MUSIC: M. M. Keeravani
                                DIRECTION: S. S. Rajamouli
                                RELEASED ON: 6th July

                                India’s best movie utilizing CG till date, some may argue Enthiran or Ra One but both of them had brilliant CG works but the action sequences tell the quality of CG easily. It not only had a great CG but also a cute love story between Samantha - Nani and Samantha Nane, good music tracks to back up, and wonderful antagonist portrayal by Sudheep. Naan EE had already received the cult status in south india. If you imagine that Fly as a human, then it is a regular tollywood masala. But there lies the directors touch, which transforms the movie altogether to a different league.

PROS:
CG works
Samantha
Sudheep

CONS:
Age old revenge story
3.THUPPAKI



                                CAST: VIJAY, Kajal Agarwal
                                MUSIC: Harris Jeyraj
                                DIRECTION : A. R. Murugadoss
                                RELEASED ON: 13th November

                                Much anticipated Vijay film of the year, finally turned into a blockbuster perfection. ARM's last offering 7aam arivu generated great hype, although it had a successful run disappointment was always in question. But ARM didn't want any stones unturned other than phenomenol success in Thuppaki and it offered a trusty story,racy screenplay, fantastic visuals, smartest looking Vijay- ever and peppy music. Logic cannot be found in 9 in 10 Vijay's films but Thuppaki is that One film that made sense in every logic - No gravity defying stunts,no street smart hero taking revenge on a kingpin etc., Thuppaki is more of a honour to the Indian Army. Kajal and Jeyaram did what they can do best, Romance from Kajal and humor from Jeyaram. Satyan is having a dream run after Nanban and Harris Jeyraj's BGM was at its best after Varanam Ayiram, though some songs could have been better. Final word : Ghilli...Pokkiri...Thuppaki

PROS:
Vijay
Story and screenplay
Cinematography
CONS
None


2. NANBAN


                                CAST: Vijay, Jiiva, Srikkanth, Ileana, Sathyaraj
                                MUSIC: Harris Jeyraj
                                DIRECTION: Shankar
                                RELEASED ON: 12th January

                                Remake of 3 idiots, multi starrer involving Vijay & Jiiva, directed by Shankar – this is well enough to tout Nanban as a ‘Blockbuster in the making’. Vijay really came out from his usual masala avatar and boasted a new makeover of image, Jiiva is as usual at his humoric best, Satyaraj can really be called as the USP of the movie and last but not the least- Satyan, portrayal of a Nerdy Silencer is the best performance from this man till date. Harris came out with beautiful songs and Shankar did his first remake of his carrer which incorporates a 100% track record in success.

PROS:
Superb message
Vijay
Music

CONS:
Screenplay could have been altered atleast fractionally from 3 Idiots



                                CAST: Mithun Murali, Manisha Yadav, Urmila Mahanta, Sri
                                MUSIC: R. Prasanna
                                DIRECTION: Balaji Shakthivel
                                RELEASED ON: 4th May

                                Balaji Shakthivel is wellknown for his bold take on the dark side of our society in his previous movies – Samurai, Kaadhal & Kaloori. He did a commendable job with vazhaku en 18/9, be it the title or the characters or the story or the music everything boasted a fresh tone with almost maintaining perfection in everything. Though it is based on a true story, it never compromised to give space for regular kollywood ingredients for the sake of business. Fine movie from the heart to say the least. Mithun Murali as a innocent youth can be seen in every streets as so is the cunning Sri. Manisha’s expressions in the car back from resort outing speaks off her talent. Urmila Mahanta portrayed a poor yet stubborn girl against Mithun in earlier portions and in the other hand fighting at her atmost ability to save Mithun from jail sentence, thereby leaving her life in cession. It required a performance of the year to handle these sequences and she did it with ease. Music made us travel to the glorious old days of Ilayaraja where re recording itself speaks the story. A great film by a great margin.

PROS:
Brilliant characterization
Engaging story
Music

CONS:Documentary feel in screenplay


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