Happy Ayudha Pooja: 40 most influential non-living props in Tamil Cinema
Engrossing tales have been woven around special props/elements right from the birth of storytelling. Tamil cinema too has had its share of experimentation with scripts based on unique elements, now and then.
Here, we take a look at Tamil films which revolve around a particularly significant or influential non-living prop/element.
The Pulsar bike : Polladhavan (2007) : Loosely inspired from the 1948 Italian classic ‘The Bicycle Thieves’, Vetrimaaran gives us a neat thriller about the protagonist’s passion for bikes.
The mother of all prop movies – never before and never after, has a piece of assembled metal been so intricately woven into the film’s narration. A winner, all the way!
The television : Yavarum Nalam (2009) : n one of the best depictions of psychological horror, director Vikram Kumar gives ‘fear’ a new address in the form of a TV set in Yaavarum Nalam/13B.
Staying clear of cliches, Vikram puts the spirits into the good-old television box and lets them direct their own scripts, which happen later for real. A great idea and an even better execution!
The nostalgic Premier Padmini: Pannaiyarum Padminiyum is an example of how an ordinary one-line story on paper can be translated into an ‘endearing’ piece of cinema onscreen.
The 'Padmini' in this movie is brimming with emotions; it rocks, laughs, smirks, grins and cries with us.
The magical urn : Pattanathil Boodham (1967) : A straightforward adaptation of the 1964 film The Brass Bottle, 'this film' is a path-breaking fantasy.
The hero wins an ill-fated urn in a competition and unwittingly releases a genie (Jee Boom Baa) imprisoned in the vase for 3000 years. Jee Boom Baa vows to help him,and offers him money, cars, houses
The bus : Sundara Travels (2002) : The movie depicts the adventures and escapades of two friends who live in a badly rundown bus, which the hero receives as a compensation for his father’s demise.
Mostly silly and irreverent, the movie - a remake of the Malayalam hit, Ee Parakkum Thalika - is more a series of funny predictable incidents
The Pizza : Pizza (2012) : Karthik Subbaraj’s Pizza narrates the story of a ghost-fearing guy, who goes to a bungalow to deliver pizza and gets trapped in a maze of horror and deception.
Though the pizza actually shows itself only in a couple of scenes, the whole act of brilliance couldn’t have been unleashed if the pizza had not been ordered (or projected so!)
The flight : Payanam (2011) :This Radha Mohan film takes place entirely in a flight. Art director Kadhir and Mohan nail the claustrophobic feel of being trapped inside a flight hijack.
Payanam almost till the end, comes across more as a drama rather than a thriller, which makes it unique. The climax involving the plane is really a show stealer.
The red chip : Enthiran (2007) : Woah! The infamous chip which transformed the 'goody-goody' Chitti into the unremorsefully evil 2.0.
Bohra reassembling Chitti into a ruthless terminator just by the insertion of the red chip sounded a tad bit far-fetched. But who cares? The red chip gave us the audaciously-mad 'Meeeh' Rajini.
The village deity and the wooden horse : Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai (2011) - This movie directed by Suseenthiran talks about the love of a village simpleton for his horse and the travails he faces.
A yearly ritual for the village is the parade of a wooden horse with the deity on it. When wooden horse gets stolen, and at the same time, our protagonist loses his horse and the confusion ensues.
The ‘water’ element : Eeram (2009) - If there is anything that is omnipresent in Eeram, it is the element of ‘water’ and the element of suspense.
In one of the best paranormal movies made in Tamil cinema, Arivazhagan takes us through the revenge journey of a girl, whose spirit assumes the different forms of water to avenge her betrayers.
The record book of ‘Chitragupta’ : Lucky Man (1995) - This Prathap Pothen parody is a laugh riot, which brings Yama to earth in search of the record book of karma which Chitragupta drops from heaven.
Chitra Gupta fears that if the book with classified information is seen by the human beings, chaos will happen. But Yama assures him that the person reading it will know about his future only.
The 'mystery' paintings : Pizza 2 -The Villa (2013) : The paintings in a hidden room form the crux of this supernatural thriller film.
A novelist who unexpectedly inherits his father’s bungalow stumbles upon a secret room with plenty of frame-less paintings, which seem to depict scenes straight out of his life.
The saxophone : Duet (1994) : Based on the French play, Cyrano de Bergera, KB's Duet traces a dancer’s love for a 'mystery' saxophonist, whose singer-brother incidentally falls in love with the dancer
KB weaves a tale of betrayal, sacrifice and retribution allowing the saxophone to speak the language of love. The saxophonic arrangements were done by the iconic Kadri Gopalnath and Raju Gopalnath.
The currency note : Jay Jay (2003) : No name. No address. Just fate. Well, that’s what the heroine of Jay Jay seems to believe in. A 100-rupee becomes the miracle worker.
A guy and a girl get attracted on first sight. The girl writes down her number on a 100 Rs note and makes a payment declaring that if the note comes back to him, there are destined to be a couple.
The bio-weapon vial : Dasavatharam (2008) - The Kamal film is about a research scientist who struggles to protect his bio-weapon vial from a group of terrorists.
The final act where the connect between the tsunami and the vial is revealed is trademark ‘Kamal’ brilliance.
The pen-drive / diary : Billa (2007) / Billa (1980) A pen-drive and a diary, which supposedly had all secret information of David Billa’s crime network, are what the fake Billas were after.
The simpletons had to safely handover the pen drive to the investigating officers. The original version featuring Rajini had the diary instead of the pen-drive for obvious reasons.
The liquor bottle : Va. Quarter Cutting (2010) - This quirky ‘Dramedy’ from Pushkar-Gayathri depicts the crazy hunt for a quarter bottle of liquor.
Every scene where Shiva misses the liquor in bizarre circumstances contribute to some smart and intelligent comedy. The climax in particular, where he gets to realize his dream is a riot.
The camera : Mundasupatti (2014) - The camera is the unassuming villain in debutante director Ram Kumar’s Mundasupatti.
The events happen in a fictional village called Mundasupatti, whose superstitious inmates believe that bad luck will befall them if they are photographed. Yeah, they take it quite seriously!
The iPhone : Vadacurry (2014) - The film is about how the desire for a high-end mobile phone lands Jai in trouble.
When Jai comes across an unattended Apple iPhone, he decides to pocket it, only to get sucked into a huge complicated drug racket.
The electronic access card : Thiruda Thiruda (1993) - Ten billion rupees as freshly printed currency notes from the RBI are stolen by a smuggler in this Mani Ratnam-directorial.
However, the access card to open the container with the money comes into the possession of a pop-star. Unlikely twists make this cat and mouse game for the e-card an engaging affair.
The corpse : Panchathanthiram (2002) - The cadaver transforms into a character and brings the roof down when Kamal and company go berserk trying to dispose it.
It all starts when Kamal is forced to Bangalore by his friends, and they are found stranded in a room with an unknown corpse.
The haunted houses : Yamirukka Bayamey (2014) / Chandramukhi (2005) / Ananthapurathu Veedu (2010) - There has never been a dearth of haunted houses, which scare the hell out of its inhabitants.
Yamirukka Bayamey was a comic take on the fate of customers visiting an old haunted house-turned hotel. And then there is our iconic superstar controlling the spirit of Chandramukhi.
The wall : Madras - The film revolves around a supposedly ill-fated wall between two blocks of a housing complex in North Chennai and the enmity of two rival political groups over it.
On the surface, it might seem simple. But it’s not. The wall intentionally becomes the director’s tool for establishing conflict between the powerful people active in the less posh areas of the city.
Rajini's iconic knife: Baba (2001) - The knife that the Superstar wields in this Suresh Krishna film made for some whistle-worthy mass monents.
One particular scene involving a minister, a knife, a turban, and a count-down went on to become a fan-favourite.
The super car: Paati sollai Thattathe (1988) - This Rajasekhar film became iconic for two reasons - opening credits in the form of cartoons and a magical super-car.
This super car was inspired by The Love Bug, an American comedy film by Walt Disney that starred an anthropomorphic pearl-white, 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie.
The Time machine: Indru Netru Naalai (2015): Ravikuma's directorial debut follows two younsgters, who find a time machine, and decide to use it for their benefits.
While meddling with time on the time machine, they prevent a gangster's death and this lands them in trouble.
The VW Camper: Saroja (2006) - Four friends, travelling in the van to Hyderabad to watch a cricket match, are forced to take a detour due to an accident.
But, disaster happens. They end up losing their way and land up in a forest, where they witness a girl getting kidnapped and soon find themselves pursued by the criminals.
The Soppana Sundari convertible - Karagattakaaran (1989) : Goundamani and Senthil bring the hilarious sequence involving the iconic a 1960's Chevrolet Impala in the Gangai Amaren film.
The Soppana Sundari question (a modified take on Chinese whispers) and Paerichampazham episode made the sequence one hell of a laugh riot.
The mask: Baahubali (2015) - Shivudu learns about the conflict ridden past of his family and his legacy after he finds a wooden mask on the ground.
Shivudu is driven to find the owner of the mask and succeeds in climbing the waterfall, only to find out that the mask belongs to Avanthika, a rebellious warrior.
The horse clay-figurine: Something Something (2006) - This clay doll makes love happen between the lead couple in this Tamil remake of Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana, starring Jayam Ravi and Trisha.
Santhosh secretly retrieves the broken clay doll - Kavitha's childhood memory of her brother - mends it and returns it to her. Kavitha is completely floored.
The audacious ambassador: Jil Junk Juk (2016) - Three drug dealers, Jil, Jung and Juk, are assigned the task of transporting a car coated with cocaine paint by the dreaded drug lord.
The three fuck up the plan, get drunk, and mistakenly drive off in a similar-looking vehicle, resulting in some delicious madness.
The giant bull-dozer: Maragadha Nanayam (2017) - This monstrosity is apparently driven by the spirit of King Irumporai, who uses it to kill anyone who lays his hands on his magical emerald stone.
The driver-less truck unleashes a chain-reaction of chaos in the film's hilarious climax.
The Annamalai cycle - Annamalai - Rajini, as your friendly neighbourhood milkman, rides the bicycle with his unique swag.
The cycle got its own song in the movie in the form of 'Rekka Katti Parakkudhu'. Do we need to say more?
The time-travel gadget: 24 (2016) - Suriya is in his element as the evil twin of a scientist, who wants to get hold of the time-travel watch that was built by his brother.
But, the gadget is apparently not what Athreya thinks it is. It can only help a person travel back and forth within a time-frame of 24 hours.
The legendary auto of Manickam: Baasha (1995) Rajini plays the seemingly quiet and peace-loving auto-driver in the iconic film which cemented the actor's superstardom.
The scene where Rajini stands frozen, although burning with angst inside, as his dear auto gets shredded to pieces by the villain's henchmen, is goosebumps-stuff.
The Luna: VIP (2014) - As Raghuvaran, Dhanush makes the Luna look delightful and stylish in this entertainer.
Vivek's antics, when travelling on the pillion seat of the Luna, is comedy, done right!
The horse carriage: Muthu (1995) - Rajini plays the loyal charioteer of the zamin of Sivakami Ammal, who takes care of the horses of her son, Raja, inthis KS Ravikumar film.
The huge chariot jump that Rajini effectuates in the opening scene apparently takes inspiration from the Hollywood film, Speed.
The auto: Oram Po (2007) - Set in North Chennai, Oram Po turns out be a highly entertaining, celebration of auto-racing rivalry.
Filled with raunchy jokes, puns and satire, Oram Po takes us through one hell of a bumpy ride. The cheeky portrayal of Lakshmi – the rigged and redesigned racing beast - won a lot of fans.
The doll : Vaa Arugil Vaa (1991) - The god-mother of Annabelle, this one is an unintentionally funny horror movie of the nineties, which definitely has everything in it to be made the butt of jokes.
The spirit of a wrongly accused, murdered wife enters a doll and seeks revenge in insanely funny ways. The cute doll flies, somersaults, sleep-walks, slashes, and even rises from the ashes.
The gangster's Mercedes: Jigarthanda (2014) - Assault Sethu drives a revamped vintage Mercedes in this Karthik SUbbaraj directorial.
A particular sequence involving the Mercedes, a deserted field, Sethu and an arson is a 10 minute-horror film, inside of the dramedy.
