It is to be noted that the films that are mentioned here may be commercial successes, but they are films that could have had a better storyline, screenplay or even performances. In these terms, let us have a look at the misses of this year.
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Annaatthe:
Annatthhe was one of the most expected films of the year considering that it was Rajinikanth’s only film this year. As usual, the premise was so grand and fans were eagerly awaiting the film. But, even Rajini fans, who would watch his films no matter what, would agree that maybe Rajini’s style and charisma was good as usual, but the movie never really had a proper storyline nor appropriate roles. It was a mix of all brother-sister sentiment movies ever made in Indian film history, without neither proper structure, nor proper performances. Yes, Siva’s Annaatthhe is the highest grosser this year and was commercially a success. But, it surely was a miss in terms of storyline.
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Sulthan:
Sulthan was the only film of Karthi that came out this year. Karthi, who is always known as a good performer, gave his best in Sulthan as well. However, Bakkiyaraj Kannan’s Sulthan was surely a miss because it failed to establish itself as a good action-drama film. The movie moved very slowly and the story’s flow was not very convincing. Sulthan wanted to establish Karthi as a Mass Hero, but even that was not done efficiently enough. Sulthan had a lot of potential to be a success, but missed it by just a few steps.
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Pitta Kathalu:
Following the trend of Anthology films, Pitta Kathalu followed the lives of 4 protagonists and how jealousy and secrets messed up their lives. The movie aimed at dark themes and storylines surrounding love and cheating, but it fell short of the idea it tried to convey. 2 of the 4 films lacked clarity, while some of the performances were also not that great. On the whole, for Tollywood exploring the anthology idea this movie was a good start, but it did not really create the noise it could have created.
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Jagame Thandhiram:
Karthik Subbaraj’s Jagame Thandhiram was a film that had high expectations before its release and an exactly opposite reaction after. A Madurai local travelling to London for making a living through fighting, was just the kind of story people needed for a fun family entertainer. But, the movie failed to reach the expectations because the movie was super predictable and had no unexpected twists and turns that a gangster movie general has. Considering Subbaraj’s expertise in making gangster films, this one was not up to the mark because it lacked the fire it should have had. With that being said, Dhanush’s performance was flawless without doubt and that was the biggest plus of the film.
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Kanakam Kamini Kalaham:
Nivin Pauly’s Kanakam Kamini Kalaham, directed by Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval was one that was mostly shot in a hotel, without even a costume change. The movie conveys the events of one night at the hotel and what happens there. But instead of being a story that moved forward with the storyline, the movie felt like a long argument or disagreement between a number of characters. After a point, the watchers would just want the movie to get to the point it is trying to convey. The movie was an attempt at comedy, which it did manage pretty well. But, it was more of a theatre performance or a comedy show, rather than an actual movie. The movie had an ensemble cast of actors who all did a good job with their performances, but it could have done a better job in terms of story.
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Udanpirappe:
Udanpirappe was Jyothika’s 50th film also having Samuthirakani and Sasikumar playing leads. The Movie’s trailer was promising a good family entertainer as it majorly highlighted a conflict of interest for Jyothika’s character. The problem with the long movie however is that the first half is filled with character-development stories and philosophical dialogues, while the second half tries to speed up to convey the entire story in short. It was more like a number of scenes put together to form a movie, rather than a story flowing from one idea to another. It majorly lacked structure and took a very long-time for the conflict to set in. As a movie with a leading cast, it had a lot of expectations, but Era Saravanan’s Udanpirappe did not exactly meet those expectations.
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Most Eligible Bachelor:
Starring Akhil Akkineni and Pooja Hegde, the movie is a romantic-comedy that had a few parts of romance and few parts of comedy. A family-cum-romance story, the movie failed to deliver both romance and family sentiment. The movie’s comedy did not really manage to tickle the funny bone as most of it was quite outdated.Having a huge cast on board, the movie could have better explored how to use the actors efficiently, as most talented actors in the movie had lesser screen-time. While the performances were good, the story and the way it was carried forward could have been much better.