Tamil cinema has a reputation for making big blockbusters mostly around familiar genres. These are movies we often find comfort in since it appeals to the audience due to their relatability and familiar premise. Whatever genre the movie may be, ultimately the theme is almost the same every time except for a slightly different story. But that is not all that our beloved Kollywood has to offer. If you look closely, the industry has also come up with some films that explore some uncharted territory. Concepts that have been untouched were taken up and executed beautifully. They managed to captivate the commercial audience just like any other film paving way to more films like these in the future. Let us look at some of these newly explored Tamil films (in no particular order of importance):

1) TIK TIK TIK:

This film served as a huge leap in the Indian Film Industry it was not only the first-of-a-kind space film of Kollywood but of the whole country's. It was highly innovative and made great advancements in the field of VFX with extraordinary graphics. The movie revolves around a five-membered team who are sent to space by the Defence Space Division in order to prevent a potential catastrophe that could be caused by an asteroid that is hurling towards the planet.

2) OTHTHA SERUPPU SIZE 7:

This film surpassed all expectations as it is the first-ever Tamil movie to be written, directed, produced and starring a single person - R. Parthiban. The film entered the Asia Book of Records and India Book of Records for having a single person writing, directing, solo acting and producing a film. The story revolves around an emotionally unstable murder suspect who narrates his side of a murder case when questioned by a few police officers.

3) ENTHIRAN:

This film broke many restrictions that the Kollywood industry faced as it became the first movie to be primarily about robotics as its theme. The film featured superbly done graphics, concepts and overall gave a very Hollywood-esque feel to it. It is about a scientist who creates a humanoid robot to protect mankind. But things go awry when human emotions are programmed within and an inner turmoil causes the robot to switch sides turning it against them.

4) DASAVATHARAM:

The title of the movie literally translates to "10 Avatars" and that is exactly what is fresh about this film. Never have we ever seen an actor take on 10 different roles in a single film before this. It was fascinating to see our film industry grow with new innovations such as this. The film is about a scientist who strives to protect a bioweapon from being misused after realizing the grave dangers of it. With the arrival of its vial to India, he races against time to prevent a potential disaster.

5) NEW:

What would happen if a character has the personality of an 8-year-old during the day and that of a 28-year-old adult at night? What would ensue? That is exactly what this film deals with. Such a wild concept has never been looked into within the Indian Film Industry and goes on to prove the kinds of innovations that we come up with down south.

6) LITTLE JOHN:

The film is short effortlessly with great CGI work for its time back in 2001. Its intriguing plot worked with the audience and was well received as it shows the world from the protagonist's miniature point of view which has never been done before in our country. The concept was new and fresh, broke many barriers and revealed the underlying possibilities and talent we possess to make such a spectacle. The story is about how a man named John shrinks in size and his journey to retrieve a magic ring in order to restore his true size.

7) AAYIRATHIL ORUVAN:

This film was something completely new in the placid world of Tamil cinema as it broke away from the shackles of the stereotypes as we are taken to a whole new world featuring high-class visuals and a new way of storytelling unlike ever seen before. The film is about an unlikely group of people that go on a perilous journey filled with traps and great risks in search of a lost scientist based on clues left behind by him. The group eventually finds a secret hideout only to discover an ancient civilization long thought to be dead.

8) MAANAADU:

This is a supremely entertaining high concept film based on a time loop concept (a common trope used in science-fiction films), where two characters were forced to repeat the same day after an unfortunate incident. It is the second Indian film to deal with the concept of time loops but the first one to actually make it work. It tells the story of Abdul Khaaliq, a Muslim man stuck in a time loop, who has to stop a political rally from taking place in order to save the state’s chief minister and prevent religious violence.

9) JITHAN:

This was a one of a kind film that was essentially an Indian version of Hollywood's Hollowman. The makers took a great effort to present the invisibility aspect of the film as well as possible and they nailed it. Given the technological advancement in our country back in 2005, this was a great feat. The film revolves around Surya, who leads a tough life at home, falls in loves with Priya who barely acknowledges him. Things take a turn when Surya gets the power to become invisible as he uses this to hurt his rival, play tricks on people and even commit crimes.

10) 24 / INDRU NETRU NAALAI:

Both films are visually stunning with a novel concept on time travel. Both were fantastic attempts at the science fiction genre of filmmaking and also had a lot of hard work and thought put into it.

11) MIRUTHAN:

The film attempted something very different from the usual themes that Tamil cinema is known to churn out film after film. This was the first zombie in Tamil cinema. The film revolves around a traffic cop who takes on the responsibility of transporting a team of doctors to a city hospital to find an antidote for the zombie outbreak that occurs in a hill station.

12) NAAN EE:

The makers of this movie thought of this one from outside the box. It deals with how the soul of a murdered man is reincarnated as a fly and seeks revenge against his killer. This is not something you see in your everyday Tamil film. This is a film with no hero. Just a villain, a heroine and a fly and somehow all of this put together worked wonders. The film tells us about how Nani who is in love with Bindu gets killed by a jealous Sudeep, who lusts after Bindu. Nani is later reincarnated as a fly and decides to avenge his death. He teams up with Bindu to make Sudeep's life a living hell.

13) AYALAAN:

The upcoming film starring Sivakarthikeyan is said to be a science fiction film regarding an alien, just as the title suggests. We cannot wait to see what they got in store for us.