Mayakkam Enna

Selvaraghavan's 2011 Tamil film follows Karthik, who wants to be a wildlife photographer, in the conflict between his ambitions and reality. Unable to advance, he initially cannot stand Yamini, his friend's girlfriend; then the relationship reverses and they marry. The film's real subject is what follows: how failure consumes a man and everyone around him. Selvaraghavan does not romanticise the desire to be an artist; Karthik is selfish, jealous and at times violent. The burden Yamini carries is the film's most honest element, and Richa Gangopadhyay's performance makes it visible. The ending, rewarding the woman's endurance, is open to argument. G. V. Prakash Kumar's score is separately cited in Tamil cinema. Who it's for: viewers interested in Selvaraghavan's cinema and stories of an artist's collapse. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding content about domestic violence and alcohol dependency, or troubled by the woman character's endurance.