Kadhal Konden

Selvaraghavan's 2003 Tamil film follows Vinodh, an orphan raised in a church. Intelligent but withdrawn, he finds nobody at university will talk to him. One girl is kind to him and Vinodh understands that attention as something else entirely. The idea is what comes of never having received affection. Vinodh's childhood was violent, and the first person to treat him gently becomes the only thing he can hold on to; the narrative explains this without excusing the outcome. Dhanush became known with this film and the role began his career. Selvaraghavan keeps the tone dark and the final section changes genre completely; the music and editing were unusual for Tamil cinema at the time. Who it's for: those who like dark Tamil drama and genre mixtures. Who it's not for: viewers troubled by obsessive behaviour presented in a romantic frame; the film shows violence and harassment directly.