As 2022 drew to a close, Tamil cinema was primed to kickstart the year with a bang. The biggest stars of Tamil cinema had releases planned. A release strategy that ensured every few months, a major star would have an opportunity to put Tamil cinema on the map and keep the cash registers ringing. Unlike earlier years, Tamil cinema wasn’t just wringing it within their fraternity. They now had to face stiff competition from every Indian industry thanks to the pan-Indian phenomenon. 2023 was primed for great things even before the first release hit the theatres.
Looking back, it is safe to assume that Tamil cinema came out swinging and ended the year with its head held high.
The Title Card
The calling cards of 2023 were the biggies — Varisu and Thunivu. We won’t get into the hassle of discussing box-office returns, but one thing is sure, Tamil cinema kickstarted 2023 with its biggest box-office draws putting their best foot forward.
The New Order
2023 will also be known as the year the new order chimed in to establish its presence. Kavin triggered the proceedings with Dada. A couple of months later, Yaathisai came out of nowhere to knock the wind out of Tamil cinema’s sails. Soon enough, the Manikandan-starrer Good Night zoomed right in. Ashok Selvan made a mark with his hugely celebrated thriller, Por Thozhil, and Harish Kalyan’s Parking reaffirmed their status as some of the frontrunners of this race into the future.
It is not just the actors but a bunch of promising filmmakers dishing out one success after another with impressive consistency. Ganesh K Babu (Dada), Dharani Rasendran (Yaathisai), Vinayak Chandrasekharan (Good Night), Vignesh Raja (Por Thozhil), PS Vinothraj (Koozhangal) and many other first-time filmmakers made a triumphant first step in their careers.
The Proverbial Comebacks
Everyone loves an underdog. 2023 saw multiple people making comebacks. Director Karthik Subbaraj returned to the big screen after 4 years with the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Jigarthanda DoubleX. Incidentally, it was the same four-year hiatus that brought the best out of director SU Arun Kumar, who made the poignant Chiththa, which was… wait for it… Siddharth’s first Tamil film in four years (I know Takkar was there, but why let logic come in the way of a good comeback story?). A nine-year sabbatical made filmmaker Yuvaraj Dhayalan deliver Irugapatru. An eight-year lull period gave Adhik Ravichandran a major success in Mark Antony. And finally, Nelson won back the naysayers with the blockbuster success of Jailer.
Women of this year’s cinema
After back-to-back years of films lead by women making a mark frequently, 2023 failed on this front. We had a slew of Aishwarya Rajesh films (Farhana, Driver Jamuna, Soppana Sundari, and The Great Indian Kitchen) but they didn’t all quite make a mark despite promising premises. Nimisha Sajayan had a terrific 2023 with her roles in Chittha and Jigarthanda Double X. Shraddha Srinath, Saniya Iyappan, and Abernathy came out with their career-best performances in Irugapatru. While Nayanthara didn’t really have a fabulous outing in Tamil cinema, her exploits in Jawan more than made up for it. Trisha had the half-decent The Road sandwiched between the gargantuan Ponniyin Selvan 2 and Leo. But there is no doubt that 2023 lacked in telling the stories of women it did so well in the past two years.
The Anti-Climax
Promising filmmakers like Vasanthabalan (Aneethi), CS Amudhan (Ratham), Venkat Prabhu (Custody), I Ahmed (Iraivan), and Raju Murugan (Japan), among others failed to deliver on these promises. However, success is just around the corner because we love the ones who embody the concept of getting hit and moving forward.
The Big Guns Deliver in the Climax
If the year began with Thunivu and Varisu, it also had the ever-reliable Dhanush try his hand at doing a solid bilingual with Vaathi, which was released in Telugu as Sir. Silambarasan TR’s Pathu Thala too stood testament to the charisma and crowd-pulling power of the resurgent star. Vetri Maaran, a star in his own right, made the compelling Viduthalai Part 1 that gave rise to the transformation of Soori from a comic actor to a full-fledged hero. While Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan 2 continued from where it left off last year, Sivakarthikeyan finally delivered a massive blockbuster through one of his more experimental films, Maaveeran. Soon after, Nelson brought big guns in Rajinikanth’s Jailer to remind everyone that age is just a number. Lokesh Kanagaraj added Vijay to the LCU and delivered a film that became a bonafide blockbuster rewriting records, and creating new benchmarks. With Leo, Tamil cinema tied a neat little bow to a successful 2023.
The Post-Credit Surprise
This year also saw a bunch of re-releases becoming quite the rage in select parts of the State. Films like Dhanush’s 3 and Mayakkam Enna, Suriya’s Vaaranam Aayiram, Kamal Haasan’s Virumaandi and Aalavandhan, Rajinikanth’s Muthu, and Sasikumar’s Subramaniapuram were released in a few theatres, and ran to packed houses.
In the end, more the things change, the more they stay the same, right?