Memorable Debuts in South Cinema

Karthi in Paruthiveeran

This one is really hard to beat since Karthi had very little drama or theatre experience. Karthi delivered a performance for the ages as a village ruffian.

Jyothika in Vaali

Jo sents heart fluttering as the imaginary love interest of Ajith in the cult classic Vaali. As icing on the cake, she was shot by Jeeva and Ravi Varman. Her performance as the bubbly girl friend made it hard to believe it was her debut.

Santhanam in Manmadhan

Probably the find of the decade. Simbhu pulled a rabbit out of his hat by bringing Santhanam as a comedian on to his Manmadhan. Santhanam who was already popular through his Lollu Sabha roles brought down the house with his unique style.

Arjun Das in Kaidhi

In a short fiery role that barely had 20 minutes of screen time, Arjun Das took the instant classic Kaidhi to a whole new level with his intensity and voice. This is the debut that gives me high hopes for his future in Tamil.

Rana Daggubati in Leader

Another decent film backed by a strong technical crew and helmed by Shekhar Kammula featured Rana in his first lead role. While not a performance for the ages, this film definitely did not lose any points because of him. And considering the content, I daresay this was a pretty good.

Guru Somasundaram in Arranya Kandam

This is a bit of a cheat since everyone was blown away by his performance in Jigarthandaa. His role in Aaranya Kandam did not receive major attention if I am being honest. But as the film that really gave us a performer like Guru, this role is memorable for other reasons.

Srikanth in Roja Kootam

It is hard to state how much of a major impact this movie and its songs had in school and college circles. The movie and Srikanth was the talk of the town. He was an instant hit among the ladies. While his performance was only okayish, it was pretty good for a debut. He was rumored to have signed 8 movies thanks to this film from veteran Sasi.

Shaam in 12B

Another debut that is hard to overstate. Its not every other day a guy gets to debut in a movie with Simran and Jyothika as his love interests. While his performance was sub-par and heavily panned for imitating Madhavan, Shaam definitely showed a lot of promise. The technical brilliance of Jeeva and the timeless songs from Harris sure didn’t hurt.

Sidhdharth in Boys

Another memorable debut in my book is Sidhu from Shankar’s Boys. He, Vivek, Ravi K Chandran and Rahman were the silver linings in this otherwise mediocre movie.

Varun Tej in Mukunda

Probably not as good as others in the list. But nonetheless, this debut looked well-thought-out. With Srikanth Addala and Mickey J Meyer handling technical aspects, this was a memorable debut from Varun.