From Sivaji's Gauravam to Udhayanidhi's Manidhan, we list out our Tamil recommendations in the genre

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Movie Recos: 15 courtroom dramas in Tamil you might want to watch

A legal drama, or a courtroom drama, is a film genre that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. Courtroom dramas have historically followed the lives of the fictional attorneys, defendants, plaintiffs, wronged convicts or other persons related to the practice of law in our cinemas.

Team CE

Updated:31st Jul, 2020 at 11:59 AM

The 1994 drama, Priyanka, starring Revathi, Prabhu, and Jayaram, still remains the mother of all courtroom dramas. The remake of the Hindi film, Damini, was praised for its sensitive handling of rape.

Mounam Sammadham, a 1990 legal drama starring Mammotty, revolves around the wrong conviction of a business man and the efforts taken by a lawyer to find the truth.

Dharma Pathini, the 1986 drama, starring Karthik and Jeevitha as cops and Visu as a lawyer, is about the exoneration of a murder convict.

Vidhi (1984), starring Sujatha, Mohan, Poornima and Jaishankar in the lead roles, revolves around a court case concerning the legitimacy of a child conceived through wedlock.

Sivaji Ganesan's 1973 film, Gauravam, follows a principled veteran lawyer, who tries to seek his revenge on the system which denied him the judge post, by defending a murderer.

Manithan (2016), starring Udhayanithi, has some intense court moments. The Jolly LLB remake follows a junior lawyer who fights a high-profile hit-and-run case against a powerful supreme court lawyer.

Padikkadavan (1985), starring Rajinikanth and Sivaji Ganesan, revolves a senior judge, who returns as a lawyer to save his long-lost brother, who gets wrongly framed for murder.

The 2007 version of Naan Avanillai, starring Jeeva, follows a womanizer with multiple identities, who's taken to court, but no-one is able to deduce his true identity.

Paasa Paravaigal, with dialogues by Karunanithi, is about a lawyer, who defends her husband in court, when the accused's sister suspects him of murdering her husband.

Needhipathi, a 1983 legal drama, starred Sivaji as the chief magistrate. When an innocent man is falsely accused and convicted, the search for the real perpetrator reveals a lot of secrets.

Jallikattu (1987), the first collaboration between Sivaji and Manivannan, is a court room drama, which pits the actor against a in-form Sathyaraj.

Rajinikanth's 1984 legal drama, Naan Mahaan Alla - a remake of the Hindi hit Viswanath - follows a honest lawyer, who faces the repercussions of convicting two criminals on rape and murder charges.

TR's hugely famous courtroom drama, Oru Thayin Sabhatham, follows a wronged son, who goes through rigorous training to become a defense lawyer, to avenge his father's death the legal way.

The 1959 legal drama, Nalla Theerpu, follows a man wrongly convicted of murder, who requests his son, a defence lawyer, to represent him in court, decades after the incident.

Inspired by the cult courtroom drama, Twelve Angry Men, Vaaimai, starring, Shanthnu Bhagyaraj, garnered mixed reviews upon release. The film deserves a watch for the comeback of Ramki and Goundamani.