Tamil cinema is in safe hands

Movies are certainly a great entertainment and movie stars are more popular than any other artists, may be only next to cricketers in India. When it comes to South India esp Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, movie stars attain a demi-god status. M.G.Ramachandran and N.T.Rama Rao are perfect examples. Their cinemas touch the very essence of problems facing by poor from the rich. They portrayed themselves as the savior of poor from the rich which certainly helped them in launching themselves into successful political career. In fact, NTR’s Telugu Desam Party is the only regional party to be second largest party in Parliament. Such was his popularity in his home state. MGR enjoyed an equally cult status in his home state of Tamil Nadu. Politics apart, when it comes to cinema, MGR was a star of masses. Most of his revolve around him being savior of poor. He was certainly a bankable star and the producer of sure of making profit from a MGR movie. During his time, his competitor was ‘Sivaji’ Ganesan. He was considered as one of the best method actors of all time in India. The great Marlon Brando himself has said about the talent of Sivaji Ganesan.  He has acted in several genres including historical, mythological, romance, action and comedy. It is said that there no role that Sivaji cannot perform.  “Veerapandiya Kattaboman”, “Thiruvilayadal” , “Thillana Mohanabal”, “Vietnam Veedu” are some of his finest movies of his time. The 60’s and 70’s of tamil cinema was ruled by these two legendry actors. Apart from these two, there was ‘Gemini’ Ganesan who was an equally brilliant actor. Most of his films are romantic and hence his title ‘Kathal Manan’. However, when it comes to competition it was between MGR and Sivaji. By the end of 70’s saw decline of MGR and Sivaji. This period also saw the rise of one of the greatest actors of all time, Kamal Hassan and India’s greatest superstar, Rajini Kanth.

The 80’s and 90’s saw the emergence of these two actors. Their movies followed the path of MGR and SIvaji. Kamal, being a method actor is seen as the successor of Sivaji. Rajini’s movies are always centered upon how he overcomes difficulties and win over the villain. The decade was ruled by these two actors with one went on to win 3 national awards for best acting and many international awards. He has given some of the greatest tamil movies like Thevar Magan, Nayanga, Michael Madana Kamarajan, Moondram Pirai. The other emerged as the king of box office in this period with almost all his movies crossing 100 days and creating records in box office. Annamalai, Baatsha, Muthu to name a few. During this period tamil industry saw some good actors like Karthik, Mohan, Sathyaraj. But it was these two who ruled the roost. There was always comparison between these two as who is the best. By the end of 90’s these two actors have slowed down in the number of movies they make but continuing to give hits. This decade also saw the rise of two young stars, Joseph Vijay and Ajith Kumar.

Even though both of them made their debut in 90’s it was in the end of 90’s and 2000’s saw the rise of these two actors.  Both Vijay and Ajith started in a promising note with films like Kathaluku Mariyathai, Aasai, Kushi, Vaalee. Their popularity soared, however they never reached the heights of their predecessors. This period saw a change in the trend of tamil cinema with many actors evolving during this period, most notably Surya Sivakumar and Vikram. These two are supposed to be the best actors of tamil cinema at present with sterling performances in movies like Sethu, Pithamagan, Kaakha Kaakha, Varanam Aayiram etc. This period also saw the rise of actors like ‘Jeyam’ Ravi, Silambarasan, Vishal, Bharath, Madhavan and others who all have given some good movies to the audiences.

The most important thing to note is, the current generation of tamil cinema is not dependent on Ajith and Vijay unlike 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. The industry has got variety of actors who can fit in to any role. The directors rely more on story than actors and a string of low budget movies with new faces have released and have done well at the box office. Movies like Subramaniapuram, Chennai-28 doesn’t boasts big stars but relied on the story and screenplay. The audience have evolved and looking in to the story than star cast which is definitely a good sign for tamil cinema.The presence of directors like Aameer, Bala, Gautham and others means tamil cinema is certainly in safe hands.