29th of January 2010 should have been etched in the hall of fame as far as Kollywood is concerned. It saw the release of 2 movies that were completely ready to move away from main stream Tamil cinema which has been showcasing violence and flirting in the name of romance. Yes, I am speaking about Goa and Thamizh padam.

The plot, if it can be called one is so fickle in both movies, like any other Tamil movie. But the similarities stop there. Goa is story about three young men from rural Tamilnadu who want to get married to a foreign babe and get settled abroad. Thamizh padam on the other hand, er.. has not one, but too many plots which takes a dig at almost every big name in Kollywood with elan.

Goa portrayed two men in a relationship which I firmly believe was better than that of Dostana in which the guys just pretended to be in a relationship in order to rent an apartment with a woman. It also showed how ignorant young men from rural Tamilnadu can be and what their extent of ambition is in reality.

Thamizh Padam is nothing more than an extended run of Lollu Sabha, but the seriousness of the parody has attracted viewers from all classes. Every character in the movie had something to offer and took a dig at someone. These guys even had some innovative advertising ideas to make their magic work further.

Both films were not ingeniously intelligent and thought provoking but simply funny.  It kept the viewers engaged most of the time sans sickles, logs or gyrating hips.  And to all of you who think Goa showcased thoughts against Tamizh culture, please do think again or watch some of the so called romantic interludes from movies of the past 2 decades.

The way the protagonists of both movies take the story forward is full of good natured humor.  If Shiva was bent on making al our larger than life heroes look smaller than match sticks, Premgi, Vaibhav and Jai were more or less enjoying their holiday in candid camera setting. And more importantly, the whole crew was sure about what they were upto and enjoyed it to the core which was apparent in the end product.

As for the directors, Venkat prabhu has established himself as a director who would not or probably cannot do run of the mill movies. And he has the courage to accept that he steals scenes from Hollywood movies instead of making false claims about originality. Amudhan has only taken the idea of making spoofs from Hollywood and made use of every popular tamizh movie to create one of the funniest Tamil movies ever.

Finally, hats off for the producers who had faith in what they were doing and also to fans who have lapped up both movies pretty well. It is a welcome and serene breeze for ardent Tamil movie fans.  Let us hope it lasts long.