Kamal Haasan’s Vikram to Sivakarthikeyan’s Don: Profitable Tamil films of 2022 thus far

Check out these Tamil films, which set the box office on fire in 2022.

Stills from Vikram, Don, Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal, Veetla Vishesham/Twitter

The Tamil film industry has slowly recovered from the aftereffects of the Covid-induced Pandemic. Looking at the first half of 2022, we could say it has almost been a great year for Kollywood, with a bunch of filmmakers churning out profitable ventures. Here's our pick.

Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal: Although the film is extremely problematic, it was commercially successful, and loved by the theatre-going crowd. As a triangular love story, Vijay Sethupathi played Rambo. Samantha and Nayanthara essayed characters named Khatija and Kanmani, respectively. These two beautiful women fall in love with the same man, which appears to have been made with the express purpose of massaging its leading man's ego. No prizes for guessing who that fortunate man is!

Rambo drives a cab during the day and romances Kanmani. At night, he works as a bouncer at a pub, where he meets the girlfriend of a spoiled rich brat, and they both converse. Khatija is head-over-heels in love with Rambo. Wait. Is this a romance, you get confused. But, it seems it is! In a scene, Rambo gulps coffee and tea together. What are we supposed to infer? He does two-timing with both Kanmani and Khatija. But, what do you call it when both the women know one another, and they are aware of this man's whereabouts? Hearsay is that KVRK made Rs 65 crore at the box office.

Don: The Sivakarthikeyan-starrer follows the life of a youngster from college to his marriage. To be honest, this is quite an average film, but what elevated it to a blockbuster is the 'relatable' factor. Martin Scorsese once said, the more personal a script gets, the better is the film. And, that's what happened with Don. Written and directed by Cibi Chakaravarthi, it's a youthful entertainer set in a college backdrop and features Sivakarthikeyan as a college student for the first time in his acting career. Notably, the first single Jalabulajangu, was well-received by the audience. Don was jointly backed by Sivakarthikeyan and Lyca Productions. Reports say that this one earned Rs 100 crore at the box office.

Vikram: Kamal Haasan’s first release in four years, Vikram emerged as one of the most successful Tamil films of all time. It is the highest-grossing Tamil film of the year, making nearly Rs 400 crore at the box office. After Rajinikanth, Kamal is the only second actor from Kollywood to deliver the most profitable venture in the last five different decades, with the Lokesh Kanagaraj directorial. On the success of Vikram, Kamal Haasan said, it was not only his win but for good cinema. The film is received well not just in Tamil but in all languages. It marks the end of Kamal Haasan’s hiatus and people have welcomed him with open arms.

Vikram exemplifies the box office potential of a good film with a great cast that people want to see. Rather than making the stars act in a formulaic storyline with cliched moments, Lokesh put each of them in a compelling and performance-oriented storyline. The plot was written in such a way that Kamal Haasan, Fahadh Faasil, Vijay Sethupathi, Vasanthi, and Suriya (in a cameo) give their best performances. Even small actors' character arcs like Maya Krishnan provided them with opportunities to shine. Needless to say about Anirudh's contribution to making Vikram what it's today!

Veetla Vishesham: Elango struggles to accept the news of his middle-aged mother's pregnancy; the situation jeopardises his relationship with his girlfriend, Sowmya, and his parents face social ridicule. When it was announced that actor-filmmaker RJ Balaji would remake Amit Ravindernath Sharma's 2018 Hindi comedy-drama Badhaai Ho, there was much speculation about his filmmaking approach. This was because the original was both in Balaji's comfort zone (for its humour and socially relevant theme) and outside of it (for its subtle form). Veetla Vishesham was a clear winner.

The film opens with actors Urvashi and Sathyaraj’s characters informing their children that they are pregnant. When they break the news to their family, the latter fail to respond positively. To promote the film ahead of its release, the team revived RJ Balaji's popular radio segment 'Crosstalk,' in which he called the children of a few men in their early 50s. Balaji introduced himself as a doctor and informed their children of their parents' unplanned pregnancies. Other participants, except for a few, expressed dissatisfaction with their parents. The prank call attempted to remove the stigma associated with older couples' sexual lives and reproductive health.

Post-Coronavirus success

Several films, including Vijay's Beast and Suriya's Etharkum Thuninthavan, underperformed expectations, while Ajith Kumar's Valimai grossed over Rs 150 crore despite mixed reviews. However, director SS Rajamouli's magnum opus RRR (Telugu) and actor Yash's KGF-Chapter 2 (Kannada) shattered several Bollywood box office records, propelling south Indian films to national prominence. Both films have grossed over Rs 1,000 crore in global collections, according to trade estimates. The sky's the limit if the content is good. This has been seen in RRR, KGF Chapter-2, Pushpa, and many other films. The south has a galaxy of big stars delivering quality content, which is reflected in box office figures.

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