The Tamil film industry has gone through the most beautiful yet rough patch this year, with films like Meiyazhagan stealing everyone's hearts with their performances, while films like Kanguva and Indian 2 faced a lot of backlash and hatred from the audiences.
Despite the hits and misses, this year, 2024, gave us some fresh faces and memorable performances. Here's a list of talents in Tamil cinema who left a lasting impression on the audiences.
Khatija Rahman – Minmini
Khatija Rahman, daughter of the world's favourite AR Rahman, stepped into the music world this year with the film Minmini. She stole everyone's heart with her beautiful melodies and haunting background music.
The pressure of being a star's daughter and being compared to her father is part and parcel of this industry, and Khatija handled it with grace.
Malavika Mohanan – Thangalaan
Malavika Mohanan, who has starred alongside stars like Rajinikanth, Dhanush, Dulquer Salmaan, and Vijay, never got the chance to prove her acting prowess completely and hadn't established her credentials as a 'good actor.' But with her role as Aarthi in Thangallan, she proved that she is here to stay, and we can say that Malavika before Thangallan and after Thangallan are two different people when it comes to acting.
Samyuktha Vijayan – Neela Nira Sooriyan
Tamil films usually focus on mainstream commercial cinema, but sometimes they give us some memorable moments and performances, and one such 2024 film was Neela Nira Sooriyan, which was about a transwoman and the challenges she faces.
The film is written and directed by Samyuktha Vijayan, who also plays the lead in the film. This film is autobiographical as it talks about the financial independence and struggles she faces throughout her life.
This film talks about family support, the government's take on transwomen, and how society perceives them.
Kani Thiru – Parachute
2024 offered some awful and memorable OTT releases; one such standout performance was of the series Parachute. The web series only consisted of 5 episodes, which was more like a feature film; this came as a breakthrough and stole everyone's hearts.
Kani Thiru's performance in Parachute as the mother, who is mostly demure and quiet yet has the fear of potential violence, as her debut performance, she did a stellar job. The story revolves around the toxic parenting and struggles of middle-class households.
Swasika – Lubber Pandhu
Many times we see younger women playing the role of a mother to a much older actor. Swastika, the 33-year-old actor, played the mother of 24-year-old Sanjana Krishnamoorthy and the mother-in-law of 34-year-old Harish Kalyan.
She has done a handful of Tamil and Malayalam films, but her performance in Lubber Pandhu as the mother made her a star performer of 2024.
The makeup and her look made us believe that she was a middle-aged woman in her 40s while she was much younger.
Sri Gouri Priya—Lover
Romantic films' strengths are always the lead pair and their chemistry. No matter how good of a script you write, if the actors' chemistry does not work, the film is not liked by the audience.
Lover is the debutant director Prabhuram Vyas' story about two people who are suffocating in love. Both the leads, Manikandan and Sri Gouri Priya, have done a beautiful job portraying these characters. But Sri Gowri as Divya, had a complex role, as one cannot decide if she was completely right or wrong, and to make us believe that isn't an easy task.
Preity Mukundhan – Star
To portray the character of an aspiring actor whose life completely changes after an accident isn't an easy role to play.
Preity Mukundhan's Meera might seem like a bad person, but she is a woman who tries her best to be there for the man she loves even when he tries to stay away from her and ghosts her due to his insecurities. She embodies a woman who tries to be there for the man she loves. Even when he ghosts her due to his insecurities.
Preity portrayed Meera so beautifully, showcasing the turmoil of such a character, and made us believe she isn't wrong either and she is just tired. Preity featured in the viral 2024 song, Aasa Kooda, which broke the internet.
Vijay Kanishka – Hit List
Hit List, directed by Soorya Kathir and Karthikeyan, is a gritty thriller about a man who is forced to take action to save his family from death. Vijan Kanishka made a solid debut that proved that he could portray such complex characters and managed to do that effectively.
Vijay is one of the standout performers of 2024 who made a strong debut in a film.
Pari Elavazhagan – Jama
Jama, directed by debut director Pari Elavazhagan, featured Pari, who also is the writer and director of this film.
This film is a tale of Therukoothu artists that explores the sacrifices, brotherhood, and masculinity of these artists and the immense love for the art overshadowing everything else.
Ponvel and Raghul – Vaazhai
Mari Selvaraj's Vaazhai is a story about his own life about two friends who manage to always find a reason to smile and get through tough times.
Directing children is not an easy task, but Ponvel and Raghu both did a great job as they could make us believe in them and make us tear up as efficiently as they made us chuckle. Their earnest and solid performance was the core strength of this film, whose strength was their innocence and their rawness.
