10) Yuvan Yuvathi
The opportunity for Bharath to revive his lost ground put him under sheer despair. This film was made to focus the romance of Bharath with Rima Kallingal so as to attract the youth. The title itself indicated the purpose of the movie. However, the story has not penetrated much to the audience. The repetitive love story in the event of flirtation and the intermittent hiccups are not new to us. Director Kumaravelan has to learn a lot before venturing into such films. The funniest element in the movie is the easy way of going abroad! The suspense over the marriage of the heroine is the crux of the story. The lead cast had Bharath, Rima Kallingal, Santhanam, Mayilsamy, Anuja Aiyer etc. some sort of relief came from the music of Vijay Anthony with two numbers ringing in our memory.
9) Bhavani IPS
If Vaijayanthi IPS was of fame shot during the 90s with Vijayashanthi in the lead role, this film was pitted for the similar dome. However, the penchant for fierce nature of women cop and anti social elements were exaggerated. The cast included Sneha, Manoj K Jayan, Manobala, Vivek and Sampath. The exchange of IPS officer on inter-state exchange affairs relates the story. The events that involve Kota Srinivasa Rao as the thespian of crimes make the net of script. The villainy and the subsequent revenge are the regular features of this story. Hence we can assume the fate of the film.
8 ) Seedan
The once famous director Subramaniya Siva created much hype through this movie. But the motive has not met the objective resulting with a flaw of thorns. Seedan was an attempt to portray Dhanush in the main stream of story. The main cast included new faces Krishna, Ananya along with Sheela, Vivek and Suhashini donning a creepy role. Ponvannan and Ilavarasan too had the roles to play. Siva relied the plot of the decade old Malayalam movie Nandhanam but not to the level of original. The complicated treatment of a complex story paid a lot for Siva and he had expressed his regret over the cleft result.
7) Ilaignan
The resounding effort from the literary pen of the mighty writer Karunanidhi, the then CM of Tamilnadu, Ilaignan came from the own production of the lyricist Pa. Vijay. Who can escape from the longing desire to become a hero and Vijay is no exception. The story involved the revolution of an angry youth against the labor wages. Since the script revealed this coloring we came to know that the core theme was derived from the Russian writer Maxim Gorky’s The Mother. The only strength of the film had been the beeline crew- Pa. Vijay, Meera Jasmine, Suman, Namitha, Vadivelu, Nasser, Delhi Ganesh, Nizhalgal Ravi, Manivannan, Karunas and Kushboo. Director Suresh Krishna was once famous for directing the superstar in Batcha and Annamalai. But that much of gusty nature was totally missing in Ilaignan. Vidyasagar’s music failed to the utmost level and there was no justification to have produced this movie.
6) Payanam
A nonchalant and troublesome movie for the pathetic Tamil audience, Payanam came from the versatile director Radha Mohan. In fact, he was the curator of some professional pieces of films under the production of Prakash Raj. Radha Mohan won many top most criticism for his Mozhi. But this movie was a depiction of thrill moments occurring at the journey in the mid air. As the movie was made in bilingual in Telugu with Nagarjun and Prakash sharing the major frames, there was an element of pro-Vijayakanth theme- plane hijacking on the demand of ransom. This could be the token of theme from the decade old Roja from Mani Ratnam. The serious hint to the terrorist activities and the final rescue from these duo did not provide a solid platform for a right movie. Thus, Payanam failed to reach the desired destination- the box office hit. A major flaw in the career journey of Radha Mohan.
5) Vanthaan Ventraan
The high profile crew – Jeeva, Tapsee, Nandha – promised a great deal of strength in this movie. Vanthaan Ventraan came after the huge success story of Ko for Jeeva in particular. Directed by R.Kannan, VV created lot of expectations and thrill. But the thrill in the movie could not match the heavy loaded film goers. The transition from locations to Mumbai and the illogical sequences of romance paid less dividend in the flow of the story. The rivalry between Jeeva and Nandha could have been more refined to retard the villainy. But the director was in utter dilemma as to which direction he should travel. The lovelorn of Jeeva and Tapsee were of simple and sudden in the flow of the script. Santhanam’s humor invoked certain laughter along with the move of the story. Music from Thaman raised some hope for the listeners as it was the only plus in the entire movie.
4) Vithagan
Irrespective of his age and experience, the multifaceted technician Parthiban relied much on his script and delivery of dialogues in this movie. Only last year or so, we relished his performance in Aayirathil Oruvan wherein he was under such a tremendous form. But much to our dismay the worst happened in Vithagan. Of course, Parthiban received some solace and comfort from the media for this effort, only as a consolation. We can only pity him for such a ruthless attempt at this trendy phase of Kollywood. The cop-baddie encounter is not a favored recipe for the current audience. In that event, Gautham Menon’s Kaakka Kaakka or Vettaiadu Vilayudu are the best instances. Being a matured artist and a technician, how Parthiban featured this film is a magical question. Even the crew – Poorna, Vincent Asokan and Milind Soman – betrayed our expectations as they were not properly treated. The music from Joshua Sridhar reached some audience by invoking certain romantic mood, as though on a bus journey. Though Parthiban termed the movie’s punch of With the Gun, it turned out to be Vethu agan.
3) Engeyum Kadhal
Engeyum Kadhal had Jeyam Ravi and Hansika Motwani in the lead roles. Other crew included Raju Sundaram, Prakash Raj, Suman who all depended on sound script. But the fate played in different tune which got the sad note. It is true that the songs from Harris Jeyaraj were well listened by the audience. But songs alone cannot win the box office but the film should have depicted some thing to cherish. Prabu Deva committed blunders by having strong confidence on his efforts. There are more via media to get the triumph with even a trivial story line. But this love story has not come to the grips of emotions nor sensual appeal. This is due to the repeated application of this love theme from various directors at varied phases of time. How much the audience can tolerate with fussy love story creamed in different cakes? Who is to be blamed can become a big debate and we can best reserve the blame solely on Prabu Deva.
2) Vedi
A very much hype oriented movie from the versatile director Prabu Deva, with Vishal and Sameera Reddy, Vedi failed to burst to its effect. Even the promo effort of Sun TV did not flick to produce any impact on the audience. It was on the compulsion of the TV network that the exhibitors screened this movie. In fact, Prabu Deva was in a critical phase during this film shooting. He was under desperate situation to get his divorce from his wife to marry Nayanthara. More over, he was committed to the Bollywood project on parallel. With not so withstanding plot and weak depiction of sequences, Prabu Deva disappointed the rising star Vishal and the audience too. The musical numbers from Vijay Anthony too bluffed the listeners with mediocre effect. Prabu Deva depended the same old story of his Pokkiri with which he mastered the Ilayathalapathy. Thus, there was nothing novel nor any new means of recreating the audience. Perhaps, the original Telugu version Souryam was far better to watch than this Vedi. Another flaw is the timing of the movie. Sun Network rushed the release just days before the major festival Deepavali which is not ideal for any movie. At that time other hits, Mangatha and Engeyum Eppothum were on the screens. All these shattered the hopes and rues of Vedi. The comedy track from Vivek did not receive attention from the audience as many of them were of silly portrayals. Other crew members, Sayaji Shinde, Poonam Kaur, Sriman with guest appearance from Sri Devi Prasad and the item sequence with Sophie Choudry have not proved any positive frames of success. Thus Vedi became a Vetti affair for the producer.
1) Nadunisi Naigal
Director Gautham Menon is a crafty director for these 12 years of the industry. In these period, he has given many hits to his account and has earned a reputation as the quality technician. In almost all his films, he experiments with artists and the script, added by the exquisite songs. Whether it is his maiden Minnale or the last Vinnaithandi Varuvaya, he secured the massive response from the dear audience. But as a producer, he has not made a right endeavor with his Nadunisi Naigal. Actually the film had the majority of low profile artists barring Sameera Reddy. Deva, Veera Bahu, Swapna Abraham, Ashwin Kakumanu and Menon’s another favorite Samantha occupied the frames. Menon’s trust for his earnest portrayal of thriller elements failed to bring in the cache. What made this film a clumsy picture is the mix of thrill with sexy appeal of the artists. Though Menon normally receives much accolade for his films, this film left him in the lurch. Nadunisi Naygal ended up with the utter flop in the box office hitting the rewarding director with much criticism. As the film is a total despair there could be no reference to the music, at least. This is particular as Menon is a keen crafter of songs for his movies. Thus, Menon received a severe blow in his venture as the director and as a co producer.
Conclusion
Failures are stepping stones of success can be allured to the major efforts but not to film making. This task involves a lot of human energy and heavy financial investments. It is all about the fortune that clicks well for a movie. There are some low budget movies which see the screens and win lot of collections. However, the director’s job is to enhance the movie’s success at least to some extent. These are the samples of many such films which faced heavy loss in the Box office. Hence it is apt to say that 2011 was not dear for these films and all associated with them.
