2015 kicked off with the Pongal releases & right in the middle of the mix was Shankar’s Vikram starrer ‘I’ – arguably, the most expected film of the year! GV Prakash’s litmus test as an actor came in the form of Darling & the maverick SJ Suryah got back after a hiatus through his Isai. Then came another heavyweight film in the form of Gautham’s comeback vehicle of sorts, Yennai Arindhaal followed right after by KV Anand’s Anegan. With the new commercial star Siva Karthikeyan’s Kaaki Sattai release later in the month, February was a month which set the cash bells ringing at the box office. The all too familiar problem of a flurry of ‘blink and you miss’ releases marked the month of March & of that lot, Siddharth starrer Enakkul Oruvan, Rajathandhiram, Kallappadam & CSK were the ones talked about. The other major highlight of the quarter was the fanciful release of the album of Kamal’s Uttama Villain whose music by Ghibran received rave reviews from purists and fans alike. With the prelude set, we now take you through our 6 picks for the first quarter of the year.
I (January 14, 2015)
183 min
- U Rated
- Directed by Shankar
- Music by A.R. Rahman
- Shot by P. C. Sreeram
- Edited by Anthony
Full Review
I
I was the most expected magnum opus from the stable of the grand master Shankar who had the incredible dedication of Vikram at his disposal. Though the movie fell short of its target and ran into controversies, it had so much of muscle to power into our pick of top movies, primarily due to Vikram and his unbelievable physical transformations to perfect his role. A superhot Amy Jackson exceeded expectations and the entire film was lifted by the imperial technical wizardry of P. C. Sreeram at cinematography and Weta Workshop's marvellous job at transforming the actors into their respective characters - a totally diligent team effort that spelt success all the way.
Full ReviewYennai Arindhaal (February 5, 2015)
Full Review
Yennai Arindhaal
The expectation on the association of Gautham Menon with Ajith goes back to more than a decade & they finally came together with Yennai Arindhaal. Through this cop story’s Sathyadev, Gautham completed the trilogy that Anbuchelvan & Raghavan were part of. The weight of expectations that Gautham carried showed with déjà vu moments in the film but Ajith’s composed & classy portrayal as Sathya & Arun Vijay’s surprise package as Victor earned the film its thumbs up from the audiences & critics alike. Harris’ chartbusting album for the film, Dan McArthur’s unperturbed photography & Trisha’s short yet impactful role were the other talking points of the film.
Full Review168 min
- U/A Rated
- Directed by Gautham Menon
- Music by Harris Jayaraj
- Shot by Dan Macarthur
- Edited by Anthony
Tamizhuku En Ondrai Azhuthavum (February 20, 2015)
141 min
- U Rated
- Directed by Ramprakash Rayappa
- Music by Thaman
- Shot by Deepak Kumar Padhy
- Edited by VJ Sabu Joseph
Full Review
Tamizhuku En Ondrai Azhuthavum
The perfect case of the dark horse - this movie went in with abolutely no expectations and reaped all the glory. With upcoming yet acclaimed actors like Dinesh, Nakul and Sathish donning important roles, it had everything going in its favor especially with a really good story that bent together lives of three unrelated guys into one vicious circle by co-incidence. The movie had a fair share of intellectual content while also taking potshots at the current state of the educated youth who lack practical application skills. With romance and enjoyable humor laced up to soften up the mounting tension, it created the ideal canvas for an entertaining thriller and turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
Full ReviewEnakkul Oruvan (March 6, 2015)
Enakkul Oruvan
Full Review147 min
- U Rated
- Directed by Prasad Ramar
- Music by Santhosh Narayanan
- Shot by Gopi Amarnath
- Edited by Leo John Paul
JK Enum Nanbanin Vaazhkai (March 6, 2015)
139 min
- U Rated
- Directed by Cheran
- Music by G. V. Prakash Kumar
- Shot by Siddharth Ramaswamy
- Edited by Rama Rao
Full Review
JK Enum Nanbanin Vaazhkai
This movie marked a landmark moment in Tamil Cinema by being the first movie to release on the Cinema-To-Home(C2H) home entertainment platform, a novel attempt to help small films break even and combat piracy to a large extent. The movie in itself had a lot of innovative ideas portrayed, making it an intelligent choice to launch the new platform. It served up inspiring ideas for business startups and had the good intent bundled in a neat package bearing the Cheran signature family emotions and overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds. Adept music from G. V. Prakash Kumar and equally cohesive acting from the cast made this a truly deserving choice for one among the top movies.
Full ReviewRajathandhiram (March 13, 2015))
Rajathandhiram
Full Review135 min
- U Rated
- Directed by A. G. Amid
- Music by G. V. Prakash Kumar
- Shot by SR Kathiir
- Edited by Praveen Antony
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