The year 2024 has finally wrapped up. Unlike previous years, small-scale films have dominated over big-star productions. None of the A-list films received significant critical acclaim this year. Small films like Vaazhai, Lubber Pandhu, Lover, and Jama garnered wide appreciation from both audiences and critics. Mid-sized films such as Meiyazhagan, Amaran, and Maharaja also tasted success. The best part is that these films performed commercially well too.

 

Best of Tamil Cinema 2024 - MovieCrow Picks

Best Film: Tamizhrasan Pachamuthu's Lubber Pandhu

Contrary to the notion that cricket-themed movies cater primarily to a male audience, Lubber Pandhu succeeded in appealing to all sections of viewers. Touching on diverse topics such as cricket, caste, gender, love, and family, not a single aspect or scene in Lubber Pandhu felt out of place.

First time director Tamizharasan Pachamuthu smartly incorporated these elements, creating a flawless narrative flow within the world he constructed. Lubber Pandhu was pitch perfect with simple, relatable, precise, and impactful dialogues.

 

Best Actor (Male) - Sivakarthikeyan (Amaran)

Amaran is undoubtedly a turning point in actor Sivakarthikeyan's career. Great efforts to visually bring the transformation required to play Mukund Varadarajan over several timelines aside, the biggest takeaway of Amaran was Sivakarthikeyan living it out as Major Mukund Varadarajan. The believability of Sivakarthikeyan's performance is what sealed him as the Best Actor of Tamil Cinema this year.

 

Best Actor (Female) - Sai Pallavi (Amaran)

With Amaran, Sai Pallavi came across as someone who understood the assignment well. Sai Pallavi was in the thick of playing Indu Rebecca Varghese, be it bringing out the chemistry while romancing Mukund Varadarajan, or showcasing the longing of wife in a long distance relationship with a husband.

 

Sai Pallavi's performance peaked when she showcased her character's bold side towards the climax, making it one of the strongest acts in Tamil cinema in 2024.

 

Best Music Director - G V Prakash

GV Prakash is one music director that usually doesn't give into trends, and consistently has stuck to what he does best, which is produce quality music. In 2024, GV Prakash carried the film Amaran (Sivakarthikeyan) with his score, contributing majorly the movie.

 

GV Prakash's songs for Amaran too seamlessly integrated within the story. His other works this year like Captain Miller (Dhanush), and Thangalaan (Vikram) were meticulous excellence.

 

Best Background Score - Govind Vasantha (Meiyazhagan)

Meiyazhagan is not an easy film to score for. In a slice of life film, Govind Vasantha with his blissful score made the audience to sit throughout, keeping the content engaging. He delivered nothing short of magic with this one.

 

Best Editor, Screenplay - Philomin Raj, Nithilan Saminathan (Maharaja)

With Maharaja the screenplay and editing were so hand in glove this year that praising one without the other would simply seemed impossible. While Philomin Raj's seamless edits reflected a thorough grasp of Maharaja's narrative pattern, Nithilan Saminathan's non-linear narrative, and timeline jumps were so gripping that it reflected the expertise in handling the screenplay. This synergy is what worked big in Maharaja's favour.

 

Best Dialogues - Tamizharasan Pachamuthu (Lubber Pandhu)

One film that connected a lot with the Tamil film audience because of its dialogues this year was Lubber Pandhu. Film's writer, director Tamizharasan Pachamuthu, a debutant, did such a great job with the dialogues that people couldn't stop singing praises about how naturally interesting they were. Despite packing a diverse range of important topics, Tamizharasan Pachamuthu kept it organic, and thought-inducing at the same time.

 

Best Cinematography - CH Sai (Amaran)

Cinematographer CH Sai captured the beauty and tension of Kashmir aesthetically in Amaran. His work particularly through close-ups that convey actress Sai Pallavi's range of nuanced expressions, added to the plus of the movie.

 

Best Villain - Anurag Kashyap (Maharaja)

Anurag Kashyap's portrayal of a common man with different shades, not just kept you wondering what he would do next, but also helped maintain the spook level of his character. He convincingly sold through his portrayal that he had no moral scruples about being loving and caring towards the women he knew, while still allowing crimes of humanity against those he didn't.

 

A Special mention for villainous roles would also go to actors Manikandan, and Singam Puli from the same film who were successful in making the viewers feel the chill with their respective portrayal of the bad guys.

 

Best Supporting Actor - Natarajan Subramaniam

It was difficult to miss Natarajan Subramaniam this year with the actor making memorable supporting appearances in movies like Kanguva (Suriya), Brother (Jayam Ravi), Sorgavaasal (RJ Balaji), Kadaisi Ulaga Por (Hiphop Tamizha Aadhi), and his most standout movie of 2024, Maharaja (Vijay Sethupathi).

 

Natty Subramaniam as the corrupt police official with a moral standing was a firecracker in Maharaja, and his screen presence in the film stood neck and neck with say a Fahad Faasil from Vettaiyan, who would otherwise be our top choice for best supporting actor this year.

 

Best VFX - Phantom FX (Ayalaan)

Sivakarthikeyan starrer Ayalaan written and directed by R Ravikumar, and produced by KJR Studios created a stepping stone this year by including 4500+ visual effects shots, the most for an Indian film. Phantom FX Studios' contribution to the movie was so large, that they stepped in as the co-producer of Ayalaan, making the film their debut into production.

 

Be it the Siddharth-voiced Tattoo character which was brought to life with motion capture and Venkatesh Senguttuvan in an alien costume, or  the overall CG, the structures and images were simple, and looked quite real.

 

Best Child Actor - Ponvel (Vaazhai)

Debutant child actor Ponvel who played Sivanaindhan in Vaazhai was a big discovery this year. He alongside another young debutant Ragul (who was also seen in Raayan this year) delivered stellar performances with the Mari Selvaraj film. Carrying an emotionally demanding performance is no small ordeal, and Ponvel sure struck a chord with the viewers in 2024.

 

Best Choreography - Sekhar VJ (Matta - The Greatest Of All Time)

Choreographer Sekhar VJ was dealing with a good dancer like Vijay, a non-dancer like Trisha, and the pressure of recreating nostalgia with the onscreen reunion of Vijay and Trisha, particularly in a song. Matta's choreography synced Vijay and Trisha's varying dancing skills seamlessly (as opposed to another song from The Greatest Of All Time, where the difference among Prabhu Deva, Vijay, and Prasanth was way too on the nose), while also finding the perfect spot to recreate their nostalgic Appadi Podu step.

 

Best Publicity Design - Kabilan (Thangalaan)

Sivam C Kabilan aka Kabilan Chelliah is one publicity designer, who has consistently brought out his best with the poster campaigns, bet it in Tamil cinema or otherwise. Despite some good works this year like Kottukaali, Blue Star, Raayan, and BOAT,  Kabilan stood out with Thangalaan in Tamil.

 

The publicity campaign of Thangalaan was successful in capturing the essence of the movie, while also showcasing that both Vikram and Pa Ranjith had something offbeat to offer with the film.

 

Best Art Direction - Milan (Kanguva)

Kanguva is a film that came with extensive production design, and art director Milan's work is one of the few aspects that received praise for achieving full quality in it. The elaborate work gone into the creation of new worlds in two different timelines are definitely praise-worthy, making the late Milan Fernandez worthy of this recognition for one last time.

 

Best Debut - Pari Elavazhagan (Jama)

While 2024 saw many promising debuts in Tamil cinema, the most promising one was by Jama writer, director, and lead actor Pari Elavazhagan. Playing with the theme of street plays, Pari Elavazhagan like his predecessors attempts to bring focus on the fading art form of Therukoothu, which has a lot of reverence in Tamil Nadu.

 

With Jama which means troupe, Pari Elavazhagan also addresses several rural realities including bonded labour, the law of the jungle, jungle politics, etc, while delivering a stellar act of a struggling street performer.