I have never watched a South Indian movie before what should I watch first?
well i can only really account for malayalam movies so:
BANGALORE DAYS. bangalore days. B A N G A L O R E D A Y S.
cute chick flick rom com (female perspective)=ohm shanti oshaana
really well built thriller=drishyam (which is literally being has been remade in every single language rn)
cute romance + mass +cinematography porn=premam
coming of age + food=usthad hotel
beautiful slice of life film + kerala/cinematography porn=maheshinte prathikaram
coming of age non-stupid masala flick=vikramadithyan
cute inter-religion romance=thattathin marayathu
intense inter-religion romance=annayum rasoolum
intense inter-religion romantic tragedy based on a true story=ennu ninte moideen
feel good girl-finds-boy/happiness +colour=charlie
‘english vinglish’y female empowerment=how old are you?
hardcore female revenge *tw:rape *tw:blood=22 female kottayam
real to life coming of age female journey *tw:depression *tw:suicide *tw:cutting: mili
road trip with male leads/friendship (ft.romance with an east indian lead)=npcb
road trip with female leads/friendship=rani padmini
historical fiction + romance [early colonial era]=urumi (the movie’s dubbed in tamil but it’s originally malayalam/without subs)
period drama [post independence]=iyobinte pushtakam
quirky fantasy (with a religious backdrop)=amen
satirical comedy (with a slightly religious backdrop)=pranchiyettan and the saint
depressing medical drama=apothecary
cute children’s fantasy flick=philips and the monkey pen
drama /nostalgia+medical/=ayalum njaanum thammil
quirky black comedy thriller w/nivin+nazriya cuteness=neram
simple sweet cricket based film=1983
if you know me you know that all those titles are links WITH SUBS. so click away buddy
i like to suggest bangalore days as a good start because it has a little bit of everything (almost) :)
there’s also my other malayalam/and other cinema rec lists- and the *needs to be updated* master list link is here (also if you feel like a crash course in crappy presentation form this is my indian cinema thing, and my specifically malayalam cinema thing)
personally i think manam and magadheera are good starters in telugu. here’s a list with subs by arjunskapoor. some more from tollywoodfeveri have friends whose first south film was ok kanmani in tamil, which they liked. here’s a rec list for tamil that’s been categorised by forestpenguin, also ask @adiyaathi.
south-indian-spice is a great go to for recs that cover most of south india and i’m sure the lovely show runner of the blog will be happy to help you with any other recs (kannada maybe? i’m sorry i can’t give you much info on that i haven’t seen enough) and WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOUTH INDIAN CINEMA. I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR STAY. I KNOW YOU WILL :)
