Naan paartha cinema : 2023
The cinema I saw : 2023
Vanakkamm makkkalssss! Long time no see! Okay, okay, I hear you. Tbh, I didn’t feel like writing and I didn’t want to write for the sake of it. This newsletter is one of my unwind avenues, so I decided let it be so instead of treating this as “work” or something that needs to be done.
Anyways, here we are in the last day of 2023! This is probably not the best time to come up with a list of the best films of this year because I have at least a dozen critically acclaimed 2023-released films still in my watchlist. However, this sure is a good time to just talk about my year in watching cinema. Also, I felt felt like writing. Thus, here I am, in your inbox! Grab some popcorn or drinks as you are in for a long ride, oops, i mean read!!
As I predominantly watch tamil content and a little bit of malayalam, I will mostly talk about them and the other language films that I watched based on WOM. Movie names are mentioned in bold and the language is mentioned in the brackets in case if it’s not a tamil movie.
January - June
Kollywood opened this year with a pana mazhai (money rain) - thanks to the clash of the titans after almost a decade - Varisu vs Thunivu aka Thunisu! As it took a week for me come out of the noises (and also publish a fan theory in the due course!), I was welcomed by Lilo Jose Pellissery and Mammukka’s bilingual comedy drama Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (Malayalam). King Khan’s return to the big screen with an action film like Pathaan (Hindi) was just the perfect watch right after a serene, slow and patient NNM. However, all the 3 big ticket releases failed to make an impact critically and this is one trend that unfortunately continued for the rest of the year, especially for Kollywood.
Before I could stop raving about NNM, Mollywood doled out 2 bangers on 2 consecutive fridays, that too in 2 different genres - Iratta, a thriller drama and Romancham, a horror comedy with an unique soul which was a total fun blast for me in the theatres! The baton was smoothly and promptly handed over to Kollywood which (probably) delivered its first critically acclaimed film of the year Dada. This relationship drama garnered more spotlight as it was directed by a debutant and the film found a place in almost every notable critic’s Top N Tamil films of 2023.
March to June was mostly low profile except for Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (Hindi remake of 2014 Tamil blockbuster Veeram) and a few semi-big-ticket releases like Viduthalai Part 1, 2018 (Malayalam), Dasara (Telugu), Ponniyin Selvan : Part 2, Pachuvum Athbutha Vilakkum (Malayalam) and Maamannan. Infact, PS2 could have easily been a big ticket release with proper marketing but I wonder whether Lyca had a laid back approach after the enormous success of PS1 last year. Except for the first 2 films in the semi-biggies list, the rest released to mixed reviews for various reasons. Maamannan had a very annoying tonal shift in 2nd half while PS2 disappointed the book’s fans by avoiding some good plots and making it a love saga between Aditha Karikalan and Nandhini.
So, was march to june quite dull? Definitely not. This was the period where WOM ruled the most and benefitted a lot of small budget releases like - Gulmohar (Hindi), Ayothi, Balagam (Telugu), Good Night, Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai (Hindi), Trishanku (Malayalam), Por Thozhil , Anni Manchi Sakunamale and Samajavaragamana (both Telugu). Most of these were warm, funny and sentimental family dramas except for Por Thozhil , Ayothi (Action thrillers) and Sirf Ek… (Courtroom drama). This was also the period I discovered a banger of a dark comedy by the name Vaalvi (Marathi) which had a theatrical release early this year. And how can I forget Kollywood finally getting an anthology right?! Yes, it is Modern Love : Chennai. Icing on the cake was the anthology’s FANTABULOUS album which is gonna rule my playlists for years to come, all thanks to a blazing in-form Ilayaraja who scored music for 3 out of 6 shorts.
Phew! and that was just half of the year. We will see what the second half had in store for us after a short non-commercial line break! ;)
July - December
As the world was getting hyped up over Barbie vs Oppenheimer, Kollywood saw it’s first critically acclaimed big ticket release of the year - Maaveeran. Despite a few minor flaws, the movie promised and delivered what several big films promised this year with the help of an unique premise, risk taking Sivakarthikeyan, clever director and funny AF Yogi Babu. This is the only big-ticket film that made it to my 2023 list (attached at end of the article). Widely debated Baby (Telugu) also released on the same day as Maaveeran and opened to wildly diverse mixed opinions. The storm kicked up by this ensured a sweet, fun and satirical Aachar and Co (Kannada) from the neighbouring industry went almost unnoticed! (but not by me!!)
While I expected Superstar’s Jailer to surpass expectations and give the comeback he deserves, the team decided to settle and play it to the gallery with safe theatrical moments. Consoling myself that anything coming right after Annatthe is a win, I moved on to next biggie that I was eagerly waiting for - Dulquer Salmaan’s King of Kotha (Malayalam). Just to be massively disappointed. Fortunately, I had booked for OMG2 (Hindi) the same day. The social issue courtroom drama was true to its franchise reputation and offset my bad experience from KOK. DQ’s father came to mollywood’s rescue in the next month with a Theeran like Kannur Squad.
September and October - each had one major release which generated talks across India. (or should i say paandiya padangal..? :P). Jawan and LEO respectively. Both opened up to mixed talks but set the box office on fire. The fanbases were longing to see their stars in those avatars and wholeheartedly revelled their performances. The other major wood - Tollywood - surprisingly postponed its big release SALAAR to December and gave a couple of good relationship dramas instead - Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty and Month of Madhu. Kollywood also gave one notable film in the same genre - Irugapatru. Also, Muttiah Muralitharan’s biopic 800 was released around this time and met with a lukewarm response (cries internally as a VJS fan) .
Leo fever slowly reduced only to bounce back vigorously to get more screens after 1 of the 2 diwali releases, Japan, was extremely horrible and took below-the-belt jibes at Vijay (Karma is a boomerang? Maybe :P). The other diwali release marked the return to form (and to theatres) for namma ooru tarantino Karthik Subbaraj. In 96, VJS character says that the camera has the power to capture time in a frame and that piece of media is a record or evidence of the place at that time. This line constantly kept running in my mind as I was watching the second half of Jigarthanda DoubleX. It was marketed as a spiritual sequel to almost-decade-old Jigarthanda, and its first half was pretty much in that tone.
In the second half, it became a love letter to cinema through the medium and magic of cinema. The transition was handled masterfully by KS and he made his signature in this film by casting Raghava Lawrence as Allius Ceaser, thereby bringing out the depth of the performer in him. (He did this earlier in 2016 with SJ Suryah in Iraivi). Meanwhile, Mollywood doled out one more feel-good comedy drama Falimy . The cliched plot was made enjoyable, thanks to a good screenplay and riveting performances lead by a fantastic Basil Joseph (Minnal Murali director)
This year started with appa paasam (father’s love) through a kudumbangal kondaadiya vetri aka Varisu. Fate had it that we decorate the last month of the year with the same flavour. 2 stories about fatherhood released in 2 different industries to totally and wildly diverse talks - ANIMAL (Hindi) and Hi Nanna (Telugu). I saw only the latter and it felt like a warm big hug. Just as I thought I will end the year on the same note with King Khan’s third and final release of the year Dunki but I was proven wrong. Salaar had postponed its release to clash with SRK specifically but unfortunately, it was no good either. Both the movies felt average to me with quite some flaws and quite few moments. However, the cinephile community i.e., we people termed it as India’s Barbenheimer. The trailers and promo material gave us such vibes and we hyped it up for ya people. So we are Sorry ra….
With that we come to the end of me recalling my movie watching experience for this year! From the many movies that released this year, I watched 60-70 of them and a few of them gave me a thoroughly entertaining experience. This list of 2023 Indian films that I enjoyed watching is not an absolute one or top-N-films type, it’s just what the title literally says xD! A screengrab of the top 5 as of now -
As I mentioned earlier, there are still some good films that I haven’t got the time to watch. I feel the following films from my watchlist might have made into my above list : Yaathisai, Chittha, Parking, Saba Nayagan (Tamil); Jhimma 2 (Marathi); 12th Fail (Hindi); Kaathal - The Core, Neru (Malayalam - one from each big M) and Keeda Cola, M.A.D (Telugu).
Do let me know in the comments what films you liked and would suggest to all around you! or any opinions on any of the films released in 2023!! Vaanga Pazhagalaam!!
Few things I noticed this year
A tale of 2 superstars : Came back to the big screens after 4 long years with 3 releases and 2 of them set the cash registers ringing nonstop to announce the arrival of the one and only Baadshah of Bollywood - Shah. Rukh. Khan.
Meanwhile, Mammootty has been on a reinventive journey since last year and this year it peaked - from film festival releases seeing a theatrical release to touching taboo subjects as a superstar and pushing the bar high and above!
Kollywood’s debut director dhamaka : Dada, Good Night, Por Thozhil, Parking, Saba Nayagan - each of these small budget movies with a few notable faces were all helmed by debut directors. They talked about different things in an earnest way and gave hope to aspiring filmmakers and audiences alike about the future of Tamil cinema.
2 stars in sleep mode : Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Vikram revived the popularity of 2 top Kollywood stars - Kamal and Suriya - last year. Both of them have gone without a release this year but they have been adding prestigious projects to their lineups. Let’s see what the future years have in store!
Anaanddd, we wind up. ilayaraja thaan lifetime settlement ah andha song ah kuduthutaare. aprom yethuku waiting, andha song ah thatti vidrathu…
Hello reader! In case, we have not met ..
I am Ganesh and I love talking, reading and writing about cinema. You can read more about me here.
Very well compiled bro. Loved it. 👍 write more