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Five Tamil Films That Disappointed Last Year

Like any other year, there were many Tamil releases in 2011, and several of them were hyped to the skies.

Many failed to come up to expectation, like the following:

1. Rajapattai

Dir: Suseendran
Cast: Vikram, Deeksha Seth

This Suseendran-Vikram flick raised expectations sky-high for two reasons: it was the last possible blockbuster for 2011, and it brought together two people who had established their credentials as fine performers.
Sadly, the film that claimed to be a mainstream entertainer meant for the masses sank because of an insipid screenplay and lacklustre performances.  

2. Mappillai

Dir: Suraj

Cast: Dhanush, Manisha Koirala, Hansika Motwani

For a Dhanush film that was a remake of the popular Rajnikanth-starrer, Mappillai was supposed to be the summer entertainer to beat all entertainers.

Director Suraj's screenplay however failed to deliver the goods, despite pulling off a casting coup with Manisha Koirala and Hansika Motwani sharing screen space. The screenplay was largely logic-less and the gags fell flat.

3. Nadunisi Naigal

Dir: Gautham Vasudev Menon

Cast: Sameera Reddy

The year 2010 had belonged to Gautam Menon. His Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya was an acknowledged romantic hit. His next venture, Nadunisi Naigal, was said to be a thriller and raised high expectations, but didn't satisfy them.

The screenplay went to town on a largely incestuous relationship, far too many scenes were sexually explicit, and the film lacked any thrills whatsoever, not to mention being loosely inspired by Psycho. A disappointment all round.

4. Engeyum Kaadhal

Dir: Prabhudeva

Cast: Jeyam Ravi, Hansika Motwani

With Prabhudeva as the director, Jeyam Ravi and Hansika Motwani in the lead, a romantic tale set in the City of Love, Paris, seemed to have everything going for it, including Harris Jeyaraj's chartbusting compositions.

But director Prabhudeva seemed to have lost the plot; in fact, there wasn't even the vestige of one, and the ridiculous screenplay meant that the film was out of the theatres very quickly.

5. Osthe

Dir: Dharani

Cast: Simbu, Richa Gangopadhyay

This Tamil remake of Dabangg came with a pedigree: it had Simbhu, aka STR as its lead and one of the biggest names in commercial cinema, Dharani, directing it. Dharani was responsible for blockbusters such as Ghilli.

Contrary to expectations, though, Osthe had none of the panache of its original; it was predictable, run-of-the-mill mainstream fare. Tamil cinema has already seen hundreds of such films.