Friends

Siddique's 2001 Tamil film is a remake of his own Malayalam picture and puts two young stars of the period, Vijay and Suriya, opposite each other. A man values his best friend above everything in the world; he tells his wife a dark secret from their childhood, and the conversation is overheard. Once the secret is out, the friendship is destroyed. The film belongs to the tradition in mainstream Indian cinema where male friendship is more central than romance, with most of the emotional weight placed on the bond between the two men. Vadivelu's comic thread was a separate draw in Tamil cinema at the time. Its weakness is that the secret comes out through too much coincidence, and the emotional resolution in the last section is rushed. Who it's for: viewers who like mainstream Tamil cinema of the early 2000s and friendship dramas. Who it's not for: anyone who will find the dose of emotional manipulation excessive, or bothered by the women characters remaining secondary.