Papanasam

Suyambulingam runs a cable television business in a small town and left school after the fourth grade. He spends all his free time watching films. He lives quietly with his wife and two daughters. Then his elder daughter commits a killing in a moment of anger. The dead man is the son of the regional police chief. To protect his family Suyambulingam builds a plan, and his only resource is what he has learned from years of watching films. Jeethu Joseph's film is the Tamil remake of his own 2013 Malayalam film Drishyam. The narrative inverts the crime story: the audience knows the crime from the start and the tension comes from whether the cover-up will hold. Kamal Haasan plays Suyambulingam, Gautami his wife, and Asha Sarath the police chief. Playing an ordinary man, this is among the most discussed roles of his later career. Who it's for: Viewers who like Tamil thrillers, family-centred crime narrative, and Kamal Haasan. Who it's not for: Nothing surprises anyone who has seen the original. It also runs long and the first half is slow.