I love getting tricked by a movie's ending, or as film buffs call it - getting Shyamalaned. However, this is very rare in Tamil cinema, although there are few movies that have attempted and executed them very well. So, here is my list of Top 10 Best Plot Twists in Tamil Cinema. In case it is not yet obvious enough, there are major spoilers ahead. You have been warned =).
10) Parthen Rasithen (2000)
Shankar (Prashanth) is a fresh graduate looking for a job. He soon falls in love for the beautiful Sarika (Laila). However, his parents from the village are fixing an arranged marriage for him. so much so that he is willing to avoid the marriage alliance arranged by his strict father, Chidhambaram (Vinu Chakravarthy). Following the advice of his best friend Bhanu (Simran), he does not return home for the proposal ceremony, leading to a big misunderstanding between Chidhambaram and the supposed bride's family. Back home, Shankar comes to realize that the girl whose hand in marriage his parents were seeking was in fact Sarika.
The twist: Unknown to Shankar, Bhanu has been obsessed with him all along and has been sabotaging his and Sarika's relationship from the start so she can be with him instead.
The twist: Unknown to Shankar, Bhanu has been obsessed with him all along and has been sabotaging his and Sarika's relationship from the start so she can be with him instead.
9) Alli Arjuna (2002)
Arivazhagan (Manoj Bharathiraja) is a spoiled young man who spends all his time teasing girls and hanging out with his friends. One day, his ends up having to protect Savitri (Richa Pallod), a girl who is in the run from a mentally unstable old friend. She herself is still getting over the suicide of her best friend Nisha (Preetha), a victim of eve-teasing. Arivazhagan soon learns that the friend Savitri is running away from is in fact Nisha's elder brother Kishore (Karan), who is now an alcoholic obsessed in finding those responsible for his sister's suicide.
The twist: Towards the end, Savitri learns that Arivazhagan was the one who publicly harassed Nisha, driving her to commit suicide, although he never intended for it to end that way.
The twist: Towards the end, Savitri learns that Arivazhagan was the one who publicly harassed Nisha, driving her to commit suicide, although he never intended for it to end that way.
8) Modhi Vilayadu (2009)
Uday (Vinay Rai) is the hedonistic son of wealthy businessman Rajan Vasudev (Kalabhavan Mani). He does not attend college or does anything for a living, but instead spends all his time with his orphaned best friend Madan (Yuva) and their friends. One day, Madan is killed by accident when an assassin hired by Rajan's rivals comes after Uday.
The twist: In the middle of the movie, we learn that it was Madan who was Rajan's actual son all along, and Uday was the real orphan who he adopted to act as bait to avoid any harm from befalling his only heir. With his only son dead, Rajan has no use of Uday and dismisses his. The rest of the story is about how Uday tries to live by himself and make a living.
The twist: In the middle of the movie, we learn that it was Madan who was Rajan's actual son all along, and Uday was the real orphan who he adopted to act as bait to avoid any harm from befalling his only heir. With his only son dead, Rajan has no use of Uday and dismisses his. The rest of the story is about how Uday tries to live by himself and make a living.
7) Pachaikili Muthucharam (2007)
Venkatesh (Sarath Kumar) starts having an affair with Geetha (Jyothika), a beautiful stranger he meets on the train to work when his wife, Kalyani (Andrea Jeremiah) starts ignoring him. One day, while the two are planning a rendezvous at a resort, they are attacked by a criminal, Lawrence (Milind Soman) who easily finds out they are two married people having an affair. He ties Venkatesh up, rapes Geetha and leaves with all their money. Later, they are also blackmailed by Lawrence for money. Halfway through the movie, Venkatesh finds out Geetha is actually a con artist who works with Lawrence to con innocent married men like himself. In an effort to get his money back, he busts one of Geetha and Lawrence's cons. Thinking he has killed them, he leaves the city with his family and retrieved money.
The twist: Towards the end, we learn that Geetha survived the attack and abducts Kalyani and their son to blackmail Venkatesh for the money.
The twist: Towards the end, we learn that Geetha survived the attack and abducts Kalyani and their son to blackmail Venkatesh for the money.
6) Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010)
By reading the synopsis of this movie, you might assume it is a stereotypical Tamil love story. It has all the usual elements in it - lovers from different backgrounds, romantic numbers, exotic settings, a possessive elder brother, a dotting best friend; you get the picture. However, by actually watching this movie right to the end, you will see that VTV is Gautham Menon's love letter to Tamil cinema. This is evident in the climax where Karthik (Simbu) proposes to Jessie (Trisha) and they get married. At first, we are led into thinking this is a happy ending.
The twist: The happy ending is actually nothing more than the end scene in the movie directed by Karthik – which Karthik and Jessie are watching together in the cinema in real life. Jessie is actually married to someone else and advises Karthik to move on. She leaves after saying this; "Not everything in movies can happen in real life..."
The twist: The happy ending is actually nothing more than the end scene in the movie directed by Karthik – which Karthik and Jessie are watching together in the cinema in real life. Jessie is actually married to someone else and advises Karthik to move on. She leaves after saying this; "Not everything in movies can happen in real life..."
5) Amarkalam (1999)
A former gangster, Tulasi Das (Raghuvaran) is released from jail after many years and he tries to seek revenge from Birla Bose (Nassar), the police officer who put him behind bars and separated him from his wife and unborn child. Das hires Vasu (Ajit Kumar), a street smart youngster with a troubled childhood to kidnap Mohana (Shalini), Bose's adoptive daughter. Mohana soon starts getting Stockholm Syndrome when she listens to Vasu's life story and sympathizes with him. When Das finds out Mohana loves Vasu, he instructs Vasu to pretend to love her back. However, Vasu and Mohana soon genuinely fall in love for each other. With his mission completed, Das visits Bose to let him know he is behind Mohana wanting to marry a lowly rowdy.
The twist: During their meeting, Bose surprises Das by revealing that Mohana is actually Das' biological daughter who he and his wife adopted after Das went to jail.
The twist: During their meeting, Bose surprises Das by revealing that Mohana is actually Das' biological daughter who he and his wife adopted after Das went to jail.
4) 7/G Rainbow Colony (2004)
The movie starts with Kadhir, a young man going to work but not being able to concentrate on his duties at the office as he cannot wait to meet his girlfriend, Anita later in the evening. As he awaits her at the beach, Kadhir's back story is shown in flashbacks. He used to be a good for nothing youth who always gave his parents problems. This changed when Anita moved into their apartment and befriended him. She manages to convince him to turn over a new leaf, so much so that his father becomes proud of him. However, things get complicated when they fall in love, although Anita is engaged to the son of a wealthy family friend who can save her family from debt. Kadhir and Anita have a big fight and he ends up chasing her away. While leaving in a frenzy, she is hit by an oncoming truck and dies.
The twist: At present day, Kadhir is revealed to be mentally unhealthy as he still thinks Anita is alive. He starts talking to her when she comes, although the audience can see this is merely a fragment of his sickly mind.
The twist: At present day, Kadhir is revealed to be mentally unhealthy as he still thinks Anita is alive. He starts talking to her when she comes, although the audience can see this is merely a fragment of his sickly mind.
3) Pizza (2012)
Michael is a simple pizza delivery boy who is in dire need of more money as his wife is pregnant. One night, he becomes trapped in a mysterious bungalow where all kinds of strange things start happening. He only manages to escape when two police officers arrive. When Michael returns to the pizza cafe he works at, his boss is distraught to find out that Michael left his delivery bag in the haunted bungalow as it actually contained diamonds he was hiding away from the tax department. The boss, being a superstitious man, would rather lose the diamonds then risk entering the haunted bungalow to retrieve the bag.
The twist: In the end, we learn that Michael knew about the diamonds in the delivery bag all along and had planned to steal them. He makes up a story in which he left the bag at the bungalow which his boss would never go into. At the same time, Michael's wife has moved abroad with the diamonds as she awaits her husband to join her.
2) Snegithiye (2000)
Best friends Vani (Jyothika) and Radhika (Sharbani Mukherjee) are on the run from Gayathri (Tabu), a dedicated police officer after they are convicted of murdering Ramesh, a man they had initially only made up but turned out to be real. They suspect Geetha (Ishita Arun), the most popular girl on campus is behind the murder as she mysteriously disappears on the night the body suddenly falls on stage during a college event. Vani and Radhika find themselves running from the law in an effort to prove their innocence and clear their names. Meanwhile, Geetha constantly interrogates Malathi (Lakshmi), Radhika's wealthy aunt and Vani's mother (Manorama) on their girls' whereabouts.
The twist: Vani and Radhika finally find Geetha hiding outside the city. She tells them on the night of the murder, she saw Gayathri, the dedicated police officer admired by women all over the city, gunning down Ramesh. Geetha fled their college that night out of fear that Gayathri might kill her too.
1) The Villa (2013)
Jebin is an aspiring writer who is broke, but then finds out he has inherited an old villa which he never knew of from his late father. At the villa, Jebin discovers a hidden chamber full of his father's paintings that seem to predict the future, including one that seems to portray Jebin killing his girlfriend, Aarthi. In an attempt to prevent the painting's depiction from becoming real, Jebin seeks the help of a professor specializing in the supernatural. The professor concludes that due to all the negative energy trapped in the villa, anyone owning it will possess the power to predict the future. After much struggling, Jebin fails to neutralize the villa's negative energy and decides to take his own life before he takes Aarthi's. It is then revealed that Aarthi is really a gold digger, aspiring to marry Jebin for the money he would gain from selling the villa. She then goes on to marry a movie director.
The twist: For her wedding, Aarthi receives Jebin's posthumously published novel as a gift. From the cover, it is clear to the audience that Jebin too had the power to see the future, as the man in it resembles Aarthi's husband. Also, the murder painting was not a depiction of Jebin, but the director Aarthi married.
The twist: For her wedding, Aarthi receives Jebin's posthumously published novel as a gift. From the cover, it is clear to the audience that Jebin too had the power to see the future, as the man in it resembles Aarthi's husband. Also, the murder painting was not a depiction of Jebin, but the director Aarthi married.