C.V. Kumar & the Birth of
Next-Gen Tamil Cinema:
It
has been just 3 years since C.V Kumar started his producing house –
Thirukumaran Enterainment and right now,
it is one of the sought after production houses both for fresh directors, new
faces and also for the tamil audience to find something which is new as well as
entertaining. Attakathi(2012) was the beginning, a fresh cast, a fresh director
and it was probably a gamble by the producer to go, but it was a critically
acclaimed film though it did not perform commercially well. The real catch came
in when C.V. Kumar decided to go ahead and make reality show participants –
karthik Subburaj and Nalan kumarasivam direct their debuts which was a
tremendous breakthrough for both C.V. Kumar as well for the directors. After
that there is no looking back for Thirukumaran Entertainement , a dozen films and
each an every one unique in its own way.
It
is really quite surprising how C.V. Kumar chooses his directors or what is his
criteria for production. If we see the last of the films which he has done,
there is no formula, nothing similar between one and the other. If the first
film is a Black Comedy- Soodhu Kavuum the next is a thriller – thegidi and the next is a period comedy –
Mundasupatti. What we can find something common from this very different film
is that there is shear entertainment. Not one of the films can be considered as
a complete Off-beat film, they all have fight scenes, comedy, emotion, action
all in a perfect balance but yet they seem like a film maker’s film full of new
elements which Kollywood has never seen or has not been in the industry for a
long time. May be its because C.V.Kumar introduces a lot of debutant directors
but I think the freedom which he gives makes all the difference.
Launch-pad:
Leeds – Vijay Sethupathi, Ashok
Selvam, Dinesh, Bobby Simha, Ramesh Thilak . Comedians – kaalai venkat,
karunakaran. Music Director: Santhosh Narayanan Does this list sound familiar?
If we see C.V kumar’s list it will contain the names mentioned and for a given
film atlest three of the above names would be present. This list dates back
even before C.V. Kumar introduced them. If I am not wrong these were the names
most common on Nalan Kumarasamy, Karthik Subburaj and Balaji Mohan’s Short
films.
The most profitable from the list is
undoubtedly Vijay Sethupathi. From his outing as a supporting character in many
films earlier, one of them is Puthupettai-remember him as Dhanush’s friend.
Pizza gave him the much needed break which proved his mettle both as a
character performer and as an actor of enormous talent. It is not only the
Debut which has made him into one of the sought after hero’s now but the films
which followed. Naduvula Konjam Pakatha Kanom, Soothu Kavum both of which are
performance oriented got Vijay into the real driver’s seat into a much bigger
league of leeds. The Next is probably Bobby Simha and Ashok
Selvam pu ttogether. With Thegidi Ashok became one of cool heroes and Bobby
Simha as Assault Sethu, for which he bagged a national award, I need not tell
more about him after that. Kaalai venkat and Karunakaran have become
independent comedians in many films and each have their unique style.
Now Coming back , why is there a
connection between C.V. Kumar and the Next gen tamil films. What I feel and it
is strictly a personal opinion. He has changed things the way Kollywood used to
work forever. Its is like a trend which he has set, After the release of Pizza
which was a horror film in Tamil probably a first in a decade or so. After that
there were a series of Horror films in Tamil which became a pretty easy genre
to make films, a lots of hits like Muni, Aranmanai, Daarling etc which became
commercially successful. Then it was Soodhu Kavum which was a cult black Comedy
again a film with a genre which cannot ever be found in tamil industry. This
list below in a way set a benchmark and it was probably because of the list
below Kollywood became more competitive and people’s expectation on tamil film
also and will increase.
Time line and genre
Attakathi(2012) Romatic Comedy- All New faces with
Multiple female leeds and a single protangonist
Pizza(2012) Suspense Supernatural Horror film
Soodhu
Kavuum(2013) Black Comedy
Pizza 2 (2013) Suspense Supernatural Horror film
Thegidi(2014) Detective Thriller
Mundasupatti(2014) Period Comedy
Sarabham(2014) Mystery Thriller – Multiple Narrations
Enakul Oruvan(2015) Psychological Thriller
Indru
Netru Naalai(2015) Tamil Sci-Fi Comedy
144(2015) Tamil Comedy
Has C.V. Kumar invented a new
technique ? a technique of success in kollywood. Not quite. It is just 10 years
back we had the similar story with S Pictures. C.V.Kumar reminds me of Shankar,
though he himself struck with big Budget films, there was a period when S
Pictures produced some really remarkable films with new directors with moderate
budget and introduced many new faces. Starting from Mudhalvan in 1999 it was a
real success story where he introduced some of the remarkable directors in
tamil like Vasanthabalan, Balaji Shakthivel, Chimbu Devan & Arivhazhagan.
Why Shankar has stopped to produce or limited produce films is a question I do
not know the answer to and its quite a mystery.
Right now if you ask me, I would go
to a film directed by C.V.Kumar irrespective of who is cast or what is the
genre of the film because I am pretty sure he will have something out of the
ordinary in store. The recent release 144 which when u see from the poster
seems like a dual hero slapstick comedy but it is more than that. Though it is
a slapstick comedy, the film has so many new elements (it reminds me of Kase
Than Kaduvulada(1972)). In many ways similar to Mundasupatti, 144 has a
refreshing set of villians – (Feelings Ravi ß à Zamindar Ekambaram) and a story
line which makes your head turn, what is essential for a comedy film, an element
which has been forgetten in the recent comedy flicks.
Finally a Video just to describe the
production house’s current achievement.
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