SIIMA 2015 Nominations: Best Film

Kaththi
Kaththi is director AR Murugadoss’s second outing with Vijay after the successful Thuppakki, and this one too raked in the moolah like its predecessor. Kaththi was declared the highest grossing Tamil film of 2014 and opened to favourable reviews. Ilayathalapathy Vijay plays dual roles in the film- Kathiresan and Jeevanantham- along with an ensemble cast comprising Samantha, Neil Nitin Satish, Mukesh, Tota Roy Chowdhury. Anirudh has scored the music. The film was considered to be a sequel to Thuppakki, but the director rubbished it as a rumour. Stunt choreographer Anal Arasu did the first clap for the film and the first day of the shoot was done with night effects.​

Goli Soda
This is probably the first time that a Tamil movie has the sensibilities of a regular movie, but with kids or rather teens as the principal characters. The film marks the return of the Pasanga team who have grown up as adolescents from the last time they appeared on screen, thus making it all the more believable and real. The film revolves around four teenagers, who want to try to create an identity for themselves, but are caught in a situation where they have to take on a powerful man and his henchmen for reclaim the same. Vijay Milton’s script is interesting and unpredictable, which keeps the viewers hooked.

Jigarthanda
Jigarthanda is a Tamil black comedy crime written and directed by Karthik Subburaj. In fact, this was the first script that he had penned, before he eventually kick-started his career with the horror film, Pizza. The film is about an aspiring filmmaker, who has to make the worst possible compromise turn it into his best chance to make his dream come true. Karthik (Siddharth), the protagonist travels to Madurai to do research on the dreaded gangster Assault Sethu (Bobby Simhaa), who has absolutely no mercy on anyone. He ends up making a film on the life of Sethu, a real gangster. Jigarthanda is a gangster movie laced with comedy. The actors come alive on screen and do full justice to the characters, especially Bobby Simhaa, who won a National Award for the same.

Madras
Karthi got a new lease of life with Ranjith’s Madras, after a series of flops. The film was showered with positive reviews and was appreciated for the authentic portrayal of Dalits and their way of life in North Chennai. Madras also elaborated on the distortions from that part of Chennai and delved into the politics within the community. The wall, which is a significant part of the film, is the signifier of a social conflict and how youngsters like Kali (Karthi) were looking at rational ways to end the discrimination. The film revolves around the underlying emotions- friendship, romance, betrayal and revenge- defying our expectations in subtle ways.

Velai Illa Pattadhari
As the title suggests, the film revolves around unemployment, especially unemployed engineering graduates who are waiting to move up the social ladder, played in a convincing manner by the film’s lead actor, Dhanush. Dhanush too confessed that he couldn’t get a better script for his 25th project. This holds the same for director R Velraj, who made his debut with the project. The film was praised for its unfussy narration and the convincing star cast, who made the characters, come alive on screen with effortless ease. The film was a runaway hit and Dhanush bagged laurels for his performance as the underdog who rises to fame and money.