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Year Ender 2024: Kollywood had a mix of disputes, divorces and disasters

Dec 23, 2024 04:59 PM IST

From Nayanthara and Dhanush's legal dispute to box office failures of big budget movies like Kanguva, take a look at Kollywood 2024 in a nutshell.

In January this year, no one anticipated that the Tamil film industry and its celebs would be making national headlines at any point in the year. But in December looking back at what transpired over the last few months, there have been many moments that have shocked the public, in some cases saddened them and in most provided so much fodder for gossip that it became untenable even for the audience. 2024 has been one of the most difficult years for Kollywood for all the wrong reasons and while this is unfortunate, it has also made the idol-worshiping public of Tamil Nadu realise that while actors can be perceived as gods, they are all human at the end of the day. (Also read: Best acting performances of 2024: From Fahadh Faasil in Aavesham to Kani Kusruti in All We Imagine As Light)

Suriya in a still from Siva's fantasy film Kanguva, which underperformed at the box office.
Suriya in a still from Siva's fantasy film Kanguva, which underperformed at the box office.

AR Rahman's separation from Saira Banu

The biggest shock of 2024 is undeniably the statement of separation released by Oscar-winner AR Rahman’s wife Saira Banu on November 21. Rahman has always been known as someone who is extremely professional and focuses on nothing but work and his family. There hasn’t been a single controversy or negative story about him from even before he set foot into the film industry and it’s not just the industry but even the audience who holds him in high esteem. In the 32 years of being in cinema, the only news headlines the music maestro has made are for his success, his awards and his passion for music. The news about his separation was a bolt out of the blue as there had been nary a whisper of any issue in his marriage. Fans were hoping and are still hoping that couple reconcile as they were/ are perceived as one of the most perfect couples in Indian cinema.

Nayanthara-Dhanush feud

In an another major incident in November, one of the most disparaging statements about one of their own colleagues in the film industry came from none other than Nayanthara. Known as Lady Superstar, the popular south actress - for reasons unknown - chose to address her once co-star Dhanush (Yaaradi Nee Mohini, 2008) publicly about an issue that was allegedly personal. Once the letter was posted on her Instagram, it became a he said-she said situation with some media even taking sides and going all out to tarnish one or the other. The one question many had in mind was - should this issue have been addressed in public at all?

Kanguva and Indian 2 fail to impress

November was also the month that Suriya’s magnum opus Kanguva released and it turned out to be a colossal failure. For all the hype and marketing that Studio Green and Suriya did weeks prior, the alleged 350 crore budget film, just managed to amass 100 crore. The audience rejected it across India and when Suriya’s wife, Jyothika, wrote a note on her Instagram alleging that people were paid to write and say negative things about the film, it turned into a fresh controversy. For the three years of work that Suriya put into this film, it was bad luck but it reinforces the theory that the audience is unpredictable and will reject a film if they don’t connect with it.

But this wasn’t the first Tamil film of 2024 to face this outright rejection by the audience, Tamil or pan-Indian. On July 12, the highly anticipated sequel to director Shankar’s superhit Indian, Indian 2, hit theatres. A sequel after 28 years with the same theme - corruption - didn’t appeal to the masses as many other important societal issues had cropped up and corruption had become irrelevant to them. The film was a disaster for both Kamal Haasan and Shankar but the duo promised to come back charging with a thrilling Indian 3 soon.

Jayam Ravi announces separation

The other news that made headlines from the Tamil film industry were relationships and in some cases, the breaking up of relationships. Music director GV Prakash announced his separation in May 2024 but it was actor Jayam Ravi’s separation announcement in September 2024 that seemed to have even caught his wife by surprise. Again, Jayam Ravi and his wife Aarti were put under the scanner by media and allegations of infidelity on the part of Ravi made headlines for a few weeks. The Brother actor was clear he wanted a divorce, while his wife wasn’t and the case is on in court. Meanwhile, the Chennai family court granted Dhanush and Aishwarya Rajinikanth a divorce on November 27 and all the rumours about their alleged reconciliation were put to rest.

Rumours and box office returns

Rumours abound in Kollywood about Thalapathy Vijay and Trisha who reunited on screen in Leo in 2023 after 14 years. The recent pictures of the couple travelling together to Goa in a private jet for actress Keerthy Suresh’s wedding added more fuel to the rumours of an affair. However, neither Vijay, who has stepped into Tamil Nadu politics this year, nor Trisha have addressed them.

Film celebrities in Tamil Nadu have always chosen to keep their private life private and never flaunt or talk about issues in the media. 2024, however, has been a turning point for the Tamil film industry since many issues were addressed in public. This signals a change that is being heralded thanks to the pervasiveness of social media which is now being used for personal discourse and disputes as well.

With regard to Tamil films, two of the most anticipated big budget star ones bit the dust while many smaller ones like Meiazhagan, Vaazhai, Lubber Pandhu and DeMonte Colony, were favoured by the audience. Thalapathy Vijay’s Greatest of All Time and Vijay Sethupathi’s Maharaja were the only big star films that saw box office success. It is clear that the audience seeks strong story-driven films with good characterisations and aren’t willing to settle for less. And it also showed that Vijay is still a fan favourite and even if he gets into politics, he always has place in Tamil cinema.

As 2025 approaches, here’s hoping that Kollywood and its celebs make plenty of national headlines in 2025 as well by for their good films and work on screen, and not otherwise.

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