Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called Kollywood - a portmanteau of the words Kodambakkam and Hollywood. The first Tamil silent film, Keechaka Vadham, was directed by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1918. The first Tamil talking feature film, Kalidas, a multilingual directed by H M Reddy was released on 31 October 1931, less than seven months after India's first talking motion picture Alam Ara.
Ko (transl. 'King') is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language political action thriller film directed by K. V. Anand, and written by Anand and the duo Suresh and Balakrishnan. The film stars Jiiva, Ajmal, Karthika, and Piaa Bajpai in lead roles, while Prakash Raj and Kota Srinivasa Rao appear in supporting roles. The film follows Ashwin (Jiiva), a photojournalist working for Dina Anjal who covers the Tamil Nadu State Election. The core plot of the movie was reported to be based on the 2009 movie State of Play.
The Cinema of South India refers collectively to the six distinct film industries based in Southern region of India — namely Tamil, Telugu, Tulu, Kannada, Konkani, and Malayalam. Although these industries developed independently for a long period of time, gross exchange of artists and technicians, as well as globalisation helped in shaping this unique identity.
Oonche Log is a 1965 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Phani Majumdar. It is based on the play Major Chandrakanth, by K. Balachander. The film stars Ashok Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Feroz Khan in lead roles. Its lyrics were composed by Majrooh Sultanpuri and the music was given by Chitragupta.
Bombay Talkies is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language anthology film consisting of four short films, directed by Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap. The film released on 3 May 2013, coinciding with and celebrating the 100th year of Indian cinema and the beginning of a new era in modern cinema. It screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2013.
Thai Sollai Thattathe is a 1961 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed by M. A. Thirumugam. The film stars M. G. Ramachandran and B. Saroja Devi, with M. R. Radha, S. A. Ashokan, V. R. Rajagopal, and P. Kannamba in supporting roles. It revolves around a police officer who is tasked with apprehending his brother, a criminal.
Thodari (transl. Train) is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language action-romance film co produced, written and directed by Prabhu Solomon. It stars Dhanush and Keerthy Suresh, with D. Imman composing the film's music. Set on an express train, Thodari follows a pantry worker who tries to save the passengers and his girlfriend from hijackers and a politician's bodyguard amid a runaway train incident.
Gangs of Madras is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action crime film written, directed, and produced by C. V. Kumar. The film stars Sai Priyanka Ruth and Ashok Kumar in the main lead roles alongside an ensemble supporting cast including Daniel Balaji, Velu Prabhakaran, P. L. Thenappan, Aadukalam Naren, E. Ramdoss, Bagavathi Perumal, and Vikas playing supportive roles. The film released on 12 April 2019.
Sreekaaram (transl. Inauguration) is a 2021 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by Kishor B and produced by 14 Reels Plus studio. Kishore wrote the script with dialogues by Sai Madhav Burra. The film stars Sharwanand and Priyanka Arul Mohan with Sai Kumar in a pivotal role.
Dharala Prabhu is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Krishna Marimuthu in his directorial debut. A remake of the 2012 Hindi film Vicky Donor, the film stars Harish Kalyan, Tanya Hope and Vivek. The film's concept is set against the backdrop of sperm donation and infertility, with Prabhu approached by Dr. Kannadasan (Vivek), the owner of a fertility clinic, to become a sperm donor for which he eventually agrees.
French Biriyani is a 2020 Indian Kannada-language comedy drama film directed by Pannaga Bharana and starring Danish Sait and Sal Yusuf. The film is produced by Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar and Gurudath A. Talwar of PRK Productions. It was released on 24 July 2020 on Amazon Prime Video.
Putham Pudhu Kaalai is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language anthology film, consisting of five short film segments, directed by Sudha Kongara, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Suhasini Maniratnam, Rajiv Menon, and Karthik Subbaraj. The film features an ensemble cast of Jayaram, Kalidas Jayaram, Shruti Haasan, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Andrea Jeremiah, Bobby Simha, M. S. Bhaskar, Ritu Varma, Urvashi, Suhasini Maniratnam, Anu Haasan, Kathadi Ramamurthy, Komalam Charuhasan, Gurucharan C, Leela Samson, Sharath Ravi and Vettai Muthukumar among others. The film was entirely shot during the COVID-19 pandemic in India and was set against the backdrop of the country's 21-day lockdown in March 2020. The film was released on Amazon Prime Video on 16 October 2020. A sequel titled Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa released in 2022.
Enna Solla Pogirai is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by A. Hariharan. The film stars Ashwin Kumar Lakshmikanthan, Teju Ashwini and Avantika Mishra, with Pugazh, Delhi Ganesh, Subbu Panchu and Swaminathan in supporting roles. It was released on 13 January 2022 and was a box office failure.
Aelay is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama television film written and directed by Halitha Shameem, and produced by S. Sashikanth and Ramachandra of YNOT Studios while creative produced by Pushkar–Gayathri of Wallwatcher Films. Co-produced by Reliance Entertainment, The film stars Samuthirakani and Manikandan, and has music composed by Kaber Vasuki and Aruldev, with cinematography handled by Theni Eswar and editing done by Shameem and Raymond Derrick Crasta respectively.
Tiburtius Vinodh Rubin, better known professionally as Tenma, is an Indian music producer, singer, composer, bass guitarist, and festival director. He is most well recognized as the co-founder and leader of the indie band The Casteless Collective and the now-defunct band Kurangan. In 2019, he debuted as a music director for the Tamil film Irandam Ulagaporin Kadaisi Gundu. He is the co-founder of Madras Medai, a music festival and conference focusing on the growth of independent music in South India. He is also the founder of the Madras Indie Collective.
Navarasa is the soundtrack album for the Netflix original series of the same name jointly created by Mani Ratnam and Jayendra Panchapakesan. The series consists of nine short films based on the nine Indian aesthetics and has music composed by A. R. Rahman, Santhosh Narayanan, Sundaramurthy KS, Rajesh Murugesan, Karthik, Ron Ethan Yohann, Govind Vasantha, Justin Prabhakaran and Vishal Bhardwaj.
MGR Magan is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language masala film directed by Ponram and produced by Screen Scene Media Entertainment Pvt Ltd. The film stars M. Sasikumar, Sathyaraj and Mirnalini Ravi in lead roles and the music is composed by Anthony Daasan. It was released on 4 November 2021 on Disney+ Hotstar.
WWW: Who Where Why is a 2021 Indian Telugu-language computer screen thriller film written, directed and filmed by K. V. Guhan and produced by Ramantra Creations. It stars Adith Arun and Shivani Rajashekar while Satyam Rajesh and Priyadarshi play supporting roles. The film's scrore and soundtrack is composed by Simon K. King. WWW is markerted as the first computer screen film in Telugu cinema. The plot follows a few friends from different cities who meet on video conferencing but one of them is threatened to be murdered.
Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language anthology series, consisting of five episodes directed by Balaji Mohan, Halitha Shameem, Madhumitha, Surya Krishna and Richard Anthony. The series feature an ensemble cast of Aishwarya Lekshmi, Arjun Das, Dhilip Subbarayan, Gouri G. Kishan, Joju George, Lijomol Jose, Nadhiya, Nirmal Pillai, Sananth and Teejay Arunasalam.
Ponniyin Selvan: I is the soundtrack album for 2022 Indian Tamil-language epic period drama film of the same name directed by Mani Ratnam which features an ensemble cast of Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Prabhu, R. Sarathkumar, Vikram Prabhu, Jayaram, Prakash Raj, Rahman and R. Parthiban. The film’s soundtrack and score were composed by Ratnam's norm composer A. R. Rahman, marking the duo's 30th year collaborating.
