If someone makes a list of top Tamil movies, I can tell you that high probability you will find both Amaidhipadai and Mahanadhi in that list. Both were released in 1994. Both have gone on to become movies we still remember and talk about irrespective how they did at BO when they got released. Both are in my favorite movies list.

Amaidhipadai tracks the life of Amavasai who from being a nobody transitions to a power-hungry politician willing to go any length to retain his power. Manivannan as Director and Satyaraj as an anti-hero politician rocked and so fun to watch. In my friends’ circle we still keep quoting the creative sequence which shows the power transition from Manimaran (Manivannan) to Amavasai (Satyaraj) as the election result swings his way. It is on my list of Best Masala Moments. Amavasai’s Alva has become a legend. Amaidhipadai is one of Satyaraj’s best performance. He effortlessly shows the transition from Amavasai to Nagaraja Cholan to vicious politician. I always found Rajinikanth and Satyaraj are more fun to watch when the play anti-hero and villain roles, they show their full potential. As heroes, they become tongue-tied.

While Amaidhipadi is a political satire, easy to watch (does make you think), Mahanadhi is at the other end of the spectrum. This movie will get on the top of most depressing movies to watch. Yes, Mahanadhi is a hard-hitting, intense, and saddest film, but it is a must watch since the story is so real,  there is no manipulative melodrama, and fake sentimentality. You find the movie more intense since you know it happens around you, you may avoid them but it is there. Mahanadhi tracks the life of Krishnasamy, a single parent with two children, who moves from his happy life in village to city in search of mystic deer, loses his wealth, ends up in jail, and loses his children. Once out of jail, he finds his son with a circus group, rescues his daughter from Sonagachi, and not able to take it anymore, takes the revenge. Like the movie name, characters are named after rivers, Krishna, his son Bharani, daughter Cauvery, love interest Yamuna. Krishna rescues Cauvery from the clutches of Sonagachi in the banks of Ganga (Hooghly). You will breakdown few times while watching the movie. Few stretches will feel like someone plunged a knife in your gut. Climax may come out as OTT in other movies, but in this movie,  it works thanks to the organic story buildup, you would have done the same or more. Casting is a huge plus, especially the bad characters, Mahanadhi Shankar as Thulukkanam, Cochin Haneefa as Dhanush, Mohan Natarajan as Venkatachalam, they would have been the most hated guys in Tamilnadu post the movie release 😀 If at all I had to pick, I felt they could have avoided the innocent Brahmin stereotype. But that is minor considering what the movie wanted to say. Movie does end in a positive note where Cauvery gets married, movie does break a stereotype where once chastity is lost, suicide is the only outcome.