Trends
Another good year for the tamil film industry. Though not many movies were successful, many small budget movies broke-even. Thanks to the support from numerous television and music channels. The year saw the highest number of direct tamil film in the last 10+ years. The big budget films managed to do well and the smaller ones ensured good returns. Multinationals were missing and it was Sun TV everywhere. They made money in all but one movie that they released last year. Almost every alternate month they had a release and most of them gave good returns. The success can definitely be attributed to their marketing push. Two of the year's biggest hits VETTAIKARAN and AYAN were marketed by them. The year belongs to "SUN PICTURES "
|
Year |
Direct Tamil Films |
Films Dubbed to Tamil |
Total (Direct + Dubbing) |
|
1999 |
85 |
64 |
149 |
|
2000 |
68 |
72 |
140 |
|
2001 |
75 |
80 |
155 |
|
2002 |
83 |
85 |
168 |
|
2003 |
102 |
107 |
209 |
|
2004 |
78 |
112 (41 from Indian Language) |
190 |
|
2005 |
100 |
26 (only english) |
126 |
|
2006 |
105 |
42 (only english) |
147 |
2007 |
99 |
12 (only Indian Languages) |
111 |
2008 |
115 |
- |
115 |
|
2009 |
129 |
- |
129 |
Hits of 2009
2009 did not see as many hits as 2008.However, there was a path breaking film - PASANGA and few other commercial hits. Again, thanks to the multiplex culture and strategic release dates (without clashes), small films managed to survive. Last couple of years, big budget movies made losses; this year they managed to make money due to wide release. In the Top 5 highest grosser list, you will find two dubbed films - 2012 (English) and ARUNTHATHEE (Telugu). Out of 129 direct Tamil films released in 2009, only 35 movies would have made decent profits. This is not as good as last year.
| SIVA MANASULA SAKTHI, VILLU *, PADIKATHAVAN, ANTHONY YAAR*, NAADODIGAL , PASANGA, AYAN, MOONAR*, KANDASWAMY , MALAI MALAI , SURYA*, and YAAVARUM NALAM | 100 Days |
| PANJAMIRTHAM, SAKKARAKATI*, SILAMBATTAM*, THIRUVANNAMALAI* and VAARANAM AAYIRAM completed their 100 day run in 2009. | |
| AADHAVAN, PERAANMAI and VETTAIKAARAN released during end 2009 can complete 100 days in 2010. | |
* These films didn't fare well commercially.
How They Fared
|
Who |
How |
Kamal (1 Film) |
UNNAI POL ORUVAN (Average) |
|
Vijayakanth (1 Film) |
MARIYATHAI (Super Flop) ENGAL AASAAN (Super Flop) |
|
Vijay (2 Films) |
VILLU (Flop) VETTAIKARAN (Super Hit) |
|
Vikram (1 Film) |
KANDASWAMY (Hit) |
|
Surya (2 Film) |
AYAN (Super Hit) AADHAVAN (Average) |
|
Dhanush (1 Film) |
PADIKATHAVAN (Hit) |
|
Vishaal (1 Film) |
THORANAI (Super Flop) |
|
Sundar C (3 Films - Max) |
THEE (Super Flop) AYNTHAAM PADAI (Super Flop) PERUMAAL (Super Flop) |
|
Directors |
Debutant director Babu Sivan gave the biggest hit of the year - VETTAIKAARAN. However, Paandiraj's PASANGA and Samuthirakani's NADODIGAL were the critic's favourite. These two fresh movies along with movies from directors like Suseendran (VENNILA KABADI KUZHU), Paneerselvan (RENIGUNTA) and Vikram Kumar (YAAVARUM NALAM) created hope that there are directors who can think. Small budget thriller EERAM was a hit. KV Anand's AYAN was a logical masala film which became Surya's highest grosser. The much hyped Susi Ganesan and Vikram movie, KANDASWAMY, managed to escape because of the wide release. National award winning masterpiece from Priyadarshan, KANCHEEVARAM released this year to an audience who no longer recognize such good art films |
|
Comedians |
Santhanam is the Comedian of this year. His comedy hit the bull's eye in movies like SIVA MANASULA SAKTHI, KANDEIN KATHALAI and KANDHA KOTAI. Vadivelu and Vivek had no movies that made a great impact. Vivek managed to replace Vadivelu in PADIKATHAVAN which went well with the audience. |
|
Music Directors |
Though his music has become repetitive, Harris Jeyaraj gave excellent chartbusters like AYAN and AADHAVAN. Rehman had no tamil release and this helped Harris. Yuvan was mediocre with just few hummable tunes in films such as KUNGUMA POOVUM KONJUM PURAAVUM and SMS. Vijay Antony was the hero of this year with some excellent hits in films like VETTAIKARAN, NINAITHALEY INIKKUM and TN-07. Vidyasagar, Imman, DSP, James Vasanthan and Sundar C Babu gave good music too. |
|
Heroines |
The top spot which remained open for some time was taken by Tamannah. She gave some big hits like - AYAN, PADIKAATHAVAN and KANDEIN KATHALAI. She figured in 4 films which is the max for 2009. Nayanthara, Trisha and Shreya acted in films that bombed miserably. |
Tit Bits
The year's highlight is AR Rehman who won two Oscar awards for his music and songs in the film THE SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. He won numerous other awards such as the Golden Globe, BAFTA, etc for the same film. He is the first tamil music director to get international recognition and first Indian to win multiple Oscars.
Comedy Actor Vivek was awarded Padmashree
In a major boost to creative freedom, The Delhi high court announced that smoking scenes in films cannot be banned.
For the first time, a Vijayakanth movie did not release in Chennai city. His ENGAL AASAN went through many problems including a court case and finally released across the state except Chennai city. The reason stated was non availability of good theatres and this is a major embarassment to the actor turned politician.
Finally, actress Meena got married this year. Others who tied the knot. Actors: "Jeyam" Ravi. Directors: Kannan (Jeyamkondaan). Actress: Sangeetha (Pithamagan), Kavya Madhavan & Vinodhini (Vanna Vanna Pookal).
Tamil Cinema had to face the loss of some greats such as Nagesh (one of the greatest comedians in Tamil), Omakuchi Narasimhan (comedian), Rambo Rajkumar (Stunt Master), K Balajee (Producer/Actor), Rajan P Dev (actor), Murali (Malayalam Actor), Lohidas (Director) and Vishnuvardhan (Kannada Actor).
|
Before You Leave Record
Your Comments
[I enjoy reading them again and again] |
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
I Love to Receive Your Messages |
|
URL: http://www.cooljilax.com
|
|
No
matter which part of the world you are from, while at the Cooljilax
World,