2014: a year in the movies

Four Kollywood trends that rocked the year that went by

Go commercial, get the moolah

This year, the industry did not just believe in the ‘small is big’ theory. It also believed in big films – the masala ones with big stars – with decent storylines. That explains why Vijay’s Kaththi raked in a lot of money, Ajith’s Veeram clicked with family audiences and Dhanush’s Velai Illa Pattathari hit the jackpot at the box office.

This year, the industry did not just believe in the ‘small is big’ theory. It also believed in big films – the

masala ones with big stars – with decent storylines. That explains why Vijay’s Kaththi raked in a lot of money, Ajith’s Veeram clicked with family audiences and Dhanush’s Velai Illa Pattathari hit the jackpot at the box office.

Content was king

Following up on trends in the past few years, young filmmakers proved how strong content will surely click with audiences. If films like Mundasupatti , Sathuranga Vettai and Appuchi Gramam , among others, translated quirky ideas on the big screen, taut writing and unique characterisation helped films like Jigarthanda and Madras get noticed by many. The horror genre worked big-time this year, with films like Aranmanai and Pisaasu getting a lot of oohs and aahs in the movie halls.

The young guns

Some of the young, promising heroes in Tamil cinema met with decent success this year. Take Vishnu and Dinesh, for example. Their outings in Mundasupatti and Cuckoo were appreciated. With Maan Karate , ‘Saleable star’ Sivakarthikeyan met with success while Vikram Prabhu had a couple of releases in Arima Nambi and Sigaram Thodu .

The south beckoned

What’s common between Neil Nitin Mukesh, Sonakshi Sinha and Deepika Padukone? Well, all of them boarded the train to Kollywood – and starred in some big-ticket films here. If Neil got to lock horns with Ilayathalapathy Vijay in his Kaththi , Sonakshi and Deepika shared screenspace with Superstar Rajinikanth in Lingaa and Kochadaiiyaan respectively.