At a time when people fight over the titles of Tamil movies, at a time when some movies have no relevance to their titles whatsover, and at a time when people think 'commercial isn't a bad word', these questions popped up, suddenly -

Are Tamil movies any good? Does a Kollywood movie, taken with a lot of effort and money, serve its purpose? Does it have a lasting and, more importantly, a changing impact on the audience?

My answer is 'yes, it has', and here are the reasons why.

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Content

Yes, we have the routine 'dapaankuthu'. Yes, even our hero romances the heroine in places of scenic beauty that normal people like you and me can only dream of. Yes, we too have the bad guys, the evil politician and the stereotype comedian.

But just ponder over this - A Karu. Pazhaniappan thinks that he can strenghten the bonding between couples by showing us a well-made 'Partiban Kanavu'. A Linguswamy firmly believes that he can bring about a change in society with the youth entering into politics, as in his 'Ji'. And a Cheran tells us that anything can be achieved in life if there is purpose and hard work, as he showed us in 'Autograph'.

This is that 'something more' that only Tamil movies offer us. They give us hope, something that ace director K Balachander gave us in plenty some years ago in his splendid 'Unaal Mudiyum Thambi'.

Dialogues

We have laughed hearing 'Crazy' Mohan's dialogues a million times. And we still laugh. We have been in awe of 'punch' dialogues, right from 'Superstar' Rajinikant to 'Ilaya Thalapathi' Vijay. And we still are.

And we have been inspired; inspired every single time the hero says - 'You can do it' or 'The youth can reach great heights'.

Songs

Ah, the land of 'Manmatha Rasa' and 'O Podu'! Some good-for-nothing songs like these two have been chartbusters in Kollywood. Yet, it is the land of 'Janaganamana' too. In the midst of crying 'Girlfriend Venum..'('Boys') and humming 'Kalayum..'('New'), some songs like 'Janagana...'('Aayitha Ezhuthu') and 'Dhill..'('Dhill') secretly make us clench our fists and give us the courage to achieve bigger and better things in life.

Optimism. Belief. Hope. Courage. Willpower. These are some things that Tamil movies teach us, other than offer what they are supposed to - entertainment.