Dheena

Dheena, a neighbourhood tough in Chennai, owes a debt to a police officer who protected him years ago. When that officer's family is threatened, Dheena finds himself in the middle of the city's balance of power. The film is not interested in its fight scenes. It is interested in the debt of loyalty: every decision the hero makes rests on a kindness somebody once did him, and the film uses that as its moral centre. The form is high-tempo Tamil action: crowded street scenes, slowly built introduction sequences, and a score by Yuvan Shankar Raja. It contains two separate firsts. A. R. Murugadoss directed for the first time here, and would go on to become one of the biggest box office directors in Indian cinema with Ghajini and Thuppakki. Ajith Kumar established his action-hero image with this film, and the nickname audiences gave him, Thala, came out of it. It opened on 14 January 2001 and was a major commercial success. Suresh Gopi and Laila are in the cast. Who it is for: viewers curious about Tamil action cinema and the breakthrough period of Ajith Kumar. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a new story. The script follows the known shapes of the genre and leaves almost no room for its women.