The year that was for south cinema

The Highs

Super Sharanya (Director: Girish A D; starring Anaswara Rajan and Arjun Asokan): Breezy, and funny without trying, this is that rare rom-com seeing things from where the girl stands.

Bheeshmaparvam (Director: Amal Neerad; starring Mammootty, Shine Tom Chacko, and Soubin Shahir): Star swagger is celebrated with all-out adulation in this slickly-shot actioner where a Godfather-mode patriarch survives family coups and ambitious challengers.

Nna Thaan Case Kodu (Director: Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval; starring Kunchakko Boban): Poduval builds drama in the courtroom with stinging satire, as a reformed thief defends himself in his last shot at redemption.

Thallumaala (Director: Khalid Rahman; starring Tovino Thomas and Kalyani Priyadarsan): A busy, hyper-stylised film set amid fights and pretty much nothing in between. Chaotic, irreverent, supremely entertaining.

Rorschach (Director: Nissam Basheer; starring Mammootty and Grace Antony): Vengeance is served slow and cold in a psychological thriller led by a solid Mammootty.

Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey (Director: Vipin Das; starring Basil Joseph and Darshana Rajendran): At a time when films are being audited, lauded, and damned entirely for their political positions, this one breaks new ground with content (domestic violence) and its interesting choice of tone (dark-comic).

The Lows

Aaraattu (Director: Unnikrishnan B; starring Mohanlal and Shraddha Srinath)

Jack n’ Jill (Director: Santosh Sivan; starring Manju Warrier and Kalidas Jayaram)

Theerppu (Director: Rathish Ambat; starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, Indrajith Sukumaran, and Saiju Kurup)

Ottu (Director: Fellini T P; starring Kunchakko Boban and Aravind Swamy)

Monster (Director: Vysakh; starring Mohanlal and Honey Rose)

Gold (Director: Alphonse Puthren; starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Nayanthara)

Tamil

The Highs

Gargi (Director: Gautham Ramachandran; starring Sai Pallavi): A gripping tale of a daughter's fight for justice after her father gets arrested in a child abuse case.

Vikram (Director: Lokesh Kanagaraj; starring Kamal Haasan, Fahadh Faasil, Vijay Sethupathi): A bang-for-your-bucks action drama featuring a dream cast. Fans of the genre will love this compelling violent film.

Kadaisi Vivasayi (Director: M Manikandan; starring Vijay Sethupathi, Nallandi): An immersive experience on the art of simple living. Watch this heart-warming story of a farmer holding on to his roots and traditions.

Ponniyin Selvan I (Director: Mani Ratnam; starring Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Karthi): A visual spectacle with the Mani Ratnam flair. The director jumps the pan-India bandwagon yet remains unique with this retelling of the famous five-part novel. 

Thiruchitrambalam (Director: Mithran R Jawahar; starring Dhanush, Nithya Menen): A consistently feel-good romantic comedy with an old-school, refreshingly simple style of storytelling. 

Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu (Director: Gautham Vasudev Menon; starring Silambarasan, Siddhi Idnani): A reflection of the cold, matter-of-facts operations of the underworld. Gautham returns to form in this realistic gangster flick with stylised action sequences.

Natchathiram Nagargirathu (Director: Pa Ranjith; starring Dushara Vijayan, Kalidas Jayaram): In his finest film yet, Pa Ranjith offers an unabashed and honest take on love.

The Lows  

Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal (Director: Vignesh Sivan; starring Vijay Sethupathi, Samantha and Nayanthara).

Beast (Director: Nelson; starring Vijay and Pooja Hegde)

Naane Varuvean (Director: Selvaraghavan; starring Dhanush)

Prince (Director: Anudeep K V; starring Sivakarthikeyan)

Valimai (Director: H Vinoth; starring Ajith)

Cobra (Director: Ajay Gnanamuthu; starring Vikram, Srinidhi Shetty)

Telugu

The Highs

RRR (Director: SS Rajamouli; starring Jr NTR, Ram Charan): The scene where Komaram Bheem (played by NT Rama Rao Jr.) jumps off a truck along with his army of wild animals around the time of intermission will be spoken about even after fifty years. ‘RRR’ is a beast that cannot be tamed.

Bheemla Nayak (Director: Saagar K Chandra; starring Pawan Kalyan, Rana Daggubati): It’s hard for a remake to pull off the charisma of its original, but ‘Bheemla Nayak’ spins the wheel faster and makes it a high-octane action drama in which the leads indulge in scrumptious verbal assaults.

Ashoka Vanamlo Arjuna Kalyanam (Director: Vidya Sagar Chinta; starring Vishwak Sen, Ritika Nayak): This is a movie that addresses social issues without losing its grip on delivering laughs. It can also be counted as Vishwak Sen’s finest performance to date.

Sita Ramam (Director: Hanu Raghavapudi; starring Dulquer Salmaan, Rashmika Mandanna, Mrunal Thakur): Inthandham may not have the same flavor as Alanati Ramachandrudu from ‘Murari’ (2001), but it has already joined the league of favorites to be played at Telugu weddings.

Masooda (Director: Sai Kiran; Kavya Kalyan Ram, Sangeetha): The horror genre generally depends on some tried-and-tested tropes to either put the viewers in a trance or shock them, and ‘Masooda’ does both without plucking the low-hanging fruit.

Ante Sundaraniki (Director: Vivek Athreya; starring Nani, Nazriya Nazim): Wholesome conversations that sometimes feel like in-jokes, excellent background score, and actors who paint their on-screen shenanigans with vulnerability sprinkle stardust on this romantic comedy.

The Lows

Liger (Director: Puri Jagannadh; starring Vijay Devarakonda, Ananya Pandey)

Acharya (Director: Koratala Siva; starring Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan)

Khiladi (Director: Ramesh Varma; starring Ravi Teja, Dimple Hayathi)

Son of India (Director: Diamond Ratnababu; starring Mohan Babu, Pragya Jaiswal)

Krishna Vrinda Vihari (Director: Anish R Krishna; starring Naga Shaurya, Shirley Setia)

The Ghost (Director: Praveen Sattaru; starring Nagarjuna, Sonal Chauhan)

(Compiled by R Krishnakumar, Vivek M V and Karthik Keramalu).