Is Tamil industry losing good directors?

by Raven

Are the dozens of directors bitten by acting bug out there learn any lessons from Sundar C and how he manged to regain his position as a commercial director? It is high time that our Tamil directors concentrated on their core strengths, rather than trying to stay in the limelight by acting in meaningless movies.

Director Sundar C, known for churning out commercial family entertainers, lost his track completely when he decided to be in front of the camera. With a series of films that bombed at the box-office as an actor, he returned to direction and has given two clean back-to-back hits in the form of ‘Kalakalappu’ and ‘Theeya Velai Seiyaanum Kumaru’. 

Sundar C. is an exception among the long list of talented directors who lost their path and could not chart their comebacks.

• Director Sasikumar created a trend with his cult classic ‘Subramaniapuram’. He received rave accolades from the entire film fraternity, including the likes of cult film-maker Anurag Kashyap. Unfortunately, Sasi seems to have lost his focus with the latest release ‘Kutti Puli’, proving that he is more interested in catering to mass 'perarasu' fans.

• Cheran played the lead role in films like ‘Autograph’ and ‘Thavamai Thavamirundhu’ as there was no actor willing to take up those films at that point. Later films like ‘Maya Kannadi’ and ‘Pokkisham’ buried both his career as an actor as well as a director. He is now placing his bets on his upcoming ‘JK Enum Nanbanin Vaazhkai’.

• Director Ameer took a break from direction after his path breaking ‘Paruthiveeran’ to act in ‘Yogi’. His latest ‘Aadhi Bhagavan’ releasing after 6 years got scathing reviews from press and public.

• Director SJ Surya mistook the opening he got for "New" was for his entry as an actor and didn't realize it was for a the director who gave two blockbusters in the form of ‘Vaali’ and ‘Kushi’. His acting career has been under turmoil after a series of flops in B-grade movies. His upcoming 'Isai' doesn't inspire much confidence either with SJ Surya taking over additional responsibilities of music director.

• Mysskin is known for his fiery hot temperament and loose tongue decided to become an actor to feed his bloated ego. His bubble busted as he delivered duds in subsequent releases. This maverick director yet to fully learn his lessons as he heavily relies on his next home production, Onaiyum Aatukutiyum, as he charts a strong comeback.

• Katradhu Tamil Raam is also struggling to release his upcoming movie, Thangameengal. Yet another talented director struggling to stay afloat in Tamil industry.

• Directors like Karu Pazhaiappan was a disaster as an actor. We will leave it at that.

Conclusion 

There is overwhelming evidence of Tamil cinema losing talented directors in exchange for mediocre actors. Tamil cinema fans would like to see a lot of path breaking films from the above talented directors and leave the rest to professionals in respective departments. 

Hopefully these directors stay level headed during success and kick their jalraas in their butt when they say "Saar, neengaley hero-va nadikalamey!"