Trends

Unlike last year (which was average), this year was a good year for the tamil film industry. The year saw some of the biggest hits. Rajini proved that he is always a Super Star with his CHANDRAMUKHI which grossed an estimated 70 Crore! The film did well in all four southern states (infact the dubbed version in Telugu was one of the biggest hits of the year). Vijay's larger than life image was another highlight of the year. He gave three hits this year. Even an ordinary love story like SACHIN made the producer happy. Vikram & Shankar joined hands to give a massive hit in ANNIYAN. Ajith & Dhanush continued to struggle. Chimbu was critically acclaimed for his role in THOTTI JAYA. New star's emerged in Aarya and Asin. Yuvan shankar's music created waves.

Though many movies did well, there was one point which was clearly evident; New people need to sweat it out, while the stars can taste success by sticking to their formula. The trend is clear over the last few years. Remakes and Newer ideas alternate. 2004 we saw remakes grossing better and in 2005 it was original ideas that clicked (THAVAMAAI THAVAMIRUNTHU, ANNIYAN, RAAM, ARINDHUM ARIYAMALUM, ULLAM KETKUMEY and ofcourse Vijay's formula movies). While I can predict that next year will again be a year of remakes, let us hope that fresh ideas get recognized. In short, 2005 is "The Year of New Talents & Ideas".

In terms of numbers, Tamil movies hit a century again (after 2003). In 2005 dubbed movies, I am not showing English movies dubbed to Tamil

Dubbed english films are doing extremely well and almost all hollywood releases were dubbed in Tamil

Hits of 2005

2005 was a good year too for the Tamil film industry. Out of 100 direct Tamil films released in 2005, 37 movies did well. There were three Silver Jubilee Film (175 Days plus) and atleast eleven 100 day films. Some Diwali and post Diwali releases are doing well too.

How They Fared

Tit Bits

Kamal like always was caught in controversy. Last year his VIRUMAANDI was in trouble and this year it was MUMBAI EXPRESS. Problems started with protests by Tamil Padukappu Kazhagam to Tamilise the name of 'Mumbai Xpress'. Despite agitation and torn banners, Kamal did not change the name. Though the film bombed badly, it was the moment of honour for Tamil films. It is worth quoting one of Satyaraj's nakkal in the film MAHANADIGAN: "Did we ever ask you to change the name of your political party?".

The same group opposed S.J.Suryah's film that was titled 'B.F.' (Best Friend) and he was forced to change its name to 'A.Ah.'

Thankar Bachan got into problems when he said actresses are after money like call girls. All the women actresses started agitating and Thankar Bachan was literally made to fall at the feet of the actresses. Kushboo lead this agitation.

Now, it is Kushboo's turn. Khusboo got entangled into problems by expressing her views on chastity. By lending a helping hand to Kushboo, Suhasini too got into trouble. Both these actresses were made to apologize and have since then, been in and out of the courts.

Postal stamps of the great artistes of the bygone era like M.R.Radha, P.Kannambal, M.S.Subulakshmi were released.

2005 was a very auspicious year for cinema artistes. It saw 10 celebrities giving up their bachelorhood. Prashant married Grihalakshmi. Artiste Mira Vasuden had a love married with Vishal, the son of cameraman Ashok Kumar. Artiste Kaveri wedded Telugu Director Suryakiran and comedy artiste Muthukalai with Malathi. Dance Master Brinda chose the Kerala born Kaju Parameswaran. Yuvan Sahnkar Raja's romanced culminated in marriage during the last year. 2005 saw the wedding of Director Radhakrishnan, play back singer Bavadharini and 'Mahanadhi' Shobana.

Tamil films swept the neighbouring states of Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra. CHANDRAMUKHI, ANNIYAN and GAJINI beat the original Telugu films in collections in Andhra. These movies were a hit in Kerala too. 16 Tamil films were dubbed in Telugu.

Amir's film 'Ram' was chosen for the Indian Panorama.

Vijayakanth launched a new political party with aspirations to become the chief minister in 2006 elections. Keeping this in mind, he was scared to release any of his movies.

Actor Karthik too started a new outfit, "Saranalayam" which was later shelved off. Karthink now heads a political party - Forward Block.

Kunnakudi Vaidhyanathan and play back singer Chitra were conferred with 'Padmasri'.

'Thavamai Thavamirundu' released at the end of the year is a landmark in Tamil cinema for its quality and length. Cheran's film was the longest among the films released during the last year.- 5456 metres. Cheran later trimmed atleast 20 minutes due to pressure from distributors. Shankar's 'Anniyan' was second with 4473 metres.

Tamil Cinema had to face the loss of 'Kaadal Mannan' Gemini Ganesan, the multi-faceted artiste P.Bhanumati and comedy writer A.Veerappan.

The black events of the year were the young artiste Sindhu's death, the unfortunate suicide of just 21 year old Shalini and producer Kaja Mohideen's suicide attempt.

Though Kaja Moideen's suicide attempt was due to delay of Kamal's VETAYADU VILAYADU and the poor business of Vijayakanth's PERARASU, he put the blame on loss due to Ajith's JANA. However, things were later settled amicably.

AUTOGRAPH won the national award for best Tamil film, Pa Vijay(lyricist) and Chitra(singer) won awards for the song "Ovoru Pookalumey" in the same movie.

Illayaraja released Thiruvasagam in Symphony form and it was widely appreciated.

K Balachander, Bharathiraaja and Kamal received their doctorates from Jeppiar's Satyabama University

The romance between Kamal and Gouthami continued for the third year. Gouthami was spotted with Kamal during his USA trip

Sneha's love life with a malyasia based businessman, Nag Ravi came to light towards the end of the year. While the businessman claimed that Sneha cheated on him and attempted suicide....Sneha tried to cover up by saying that he was a family friend (earlier she had said she does not know him and the fotos published by Nag Ravi were morphed). The argument has continued into 2006.