2008 Tamil Cinema - The Bottom 10

Here in reverse order - best of the worst to worst of the worst - are my choices for the 10 worst Tamil movies of 2008...

10. Dhanam
Unrealistic characterization and an unbelievable plot erased the anticipation raised by the film's central character - a prostitute. Unable and unwilling to exploit the uniqueness of the character, the film manufactured a conflict through a series of coincidences and some unbelievable behavior on the part of the supporting characters. Predictably, the situation - and its solution - failed to have an impact on us.

9. KaaLai
Simbhu's next entry in his quest to become the next Vijay was DOA with a start that was more confusing than suspenseful. The familiar revenge saga with a cliched flashback had all the elements that go into a masala flick but the action was routine and unexciting, the romance was silly and the song sequences were unimaginative.

8. Seval
Hari joined the brigade of directors resisting Tamil cinema's advancement with this rural tale that was completely regressive and shamelessly manipulative. After a predictable father-son relationship and a passable romance, the film turned into a manipulative, disgusting tearjerker as it made its heroine Poonam endure one humiliation after another.

7. Pazhani
Director Perarasu continued his mission of sending Tamil cinema back to the Stone Age with this entry. A movie that set expectations by starting off with a farewell day in prison, it had everything we've come to expect from Perarasu's movies - regressive sentiments, shoddy technical aspects and a complete absence of logic.

6. ULiyin Osai
While one can overlook few missteps in a period film considering how rare entries in that genre are, this entire film felt like one giant misstep. Poor production values doomed the film right from the start while the stilted acting, horrendous comedy - quite possibly, the worst of the year - and unnecessary fillers, like a dance competition between Manorama and Kovai Sarala, further compounded our misery.

5. Indhiralogathil Naa. Azhagappan
A rare entry in the socio-fantasy genre, this film was so ineptly made that it could make one swear off films in that genre forever. Stuck between feeding Vadivelu's ego, incorporating his brand of comedy and conveying a message, the director made a complete mess of the film as it alternated between cheap comedy, artificial sentiments and confusing messages.

4. Vedha
The funniest emotional movie of the year, the film appeared to be aiming to incorporate every single cliche in Tamil cinema and in that aim, it succeeded admirably. The overload of cliches, poor characterization and silly way in which the sentiments were handled ensured that we were laughing during most of the movie, inspite of its serious theme, downbeat plot developments and lack of comedy.

3. Pandhayam
Director S.A.Chandrasekhar did his son Vijay a favor by not casting him in this film, which made Vijay's other films seem like classics. The preposterous plot, which had Nitin Satya plan Prakashraj's downfall while being inside his group, made Prakashraj look like a dumb villain and so there was no energy or tension in the clashes between him and Nitin Satya.

2. Nenjathai KiLLadhey
Director Agathiyan(of Kaadhal Koattai fame) fashioned two of the most outrageoous characters to ever headline a love story in this film. There wasn't a single believable moment in the interactions between the leads and their handling of the so-called romance was completely silly.

1. Thenaavattu
Jeeva, who seemed to picking some good, offbeat roles recently, dashed our hopes in this terrible masala cocktail. The film gave us ridiculous characters in a predictable storyline and then proceeded to bore the daylights out of us with a fashion show and song sequences set in a community of transgenders.