ABSTRACT
Something unprecedented happened in Tamil cinema at the beginning of
2005. It was a film released on the Pongal1 day, called Kathal (Love), which
became a blockbuster overshadowing all other films including Tirupaachi,
starring Vijay, who is the recent heartthrob and heir-apparent to the Super
Stardom of Rajni Kanth. What makes the success unusual is that Kathal is
a small budget film with blunt, in your face realism; something that when it
rarely happens will only be an off beat film with short runs and select screenings but can never aspire to be a blockbuster. However in the case of
Kathal not even the aftermath of the tsunami could dampen the sensation
the movie made in the box office in the districts worst affected by the cala-
mity, as a report in rediff.com claims (Poornima 31 January 2005).
