Kaakha Kaakha

Gautham Vasudev Menon's 2003 Tamil film is considered a turning point in Indian police cinema. After a police team kills his brother, a drug-dealing gangster swears to kill every member of the unit and their families. Menon's innovation was to draw the heroic officer not through songs and fight scenes but as a man carrying the cost of his profession; Anbuselvan, played by Suriya, lives with the real possibility of failing to protect his home and his wife. The romance between Jyothika and Suriya is folded into the story in a way unusual for genre films, never standing apart as an interruption. Harris Jayaraj's score and the visual language of the night sequences set the template for Tamil crime films for the following decade. The violence is hard for its time and the antagonist's motivation is built psychologically. Who it's for: viewers interested in Tamil crime cinema and Gautham Menon's work. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding stories centred on violence against family members, or wanting a perspective that questions police authority.