Guns, bullets, brawls, men with codes of honor, comic book plotlines anchored to a hyper-realistic world, and an unabashed love for commercial Tamil cinema fare and for the “Andavar” Kamal Haasan—to constrain Lokesh Kanagaraj into all these boxes would be easy, but that would also take away from what makes Kanagaraj such a distinctive voice amongst the new-gen Tamil directors. One of the few who actually introduced the exudation of “cool” within the Tamil films as well as invoking intensity integrated with coherence within the best of his works, Kanagaraj has become a brand unto himself, the progenitor of a cinematic universe within the Indian film space that is actually successful, even as the shine threatens to fall apart with his latest release.
Here’s the ranking of six of Lokesh Kanagaraj’s released films. As always, all opinions expressed here are not made with any barometric objectivity besides my own, which automatically translates to subjectivity.
6. Coolie (2025)
One of the most hyped and anticipated films of this year, Kanagaraj’s latest also turns out to be his weakest. The story of a gangster, Deva (Rajnikanth), investigating the death of his friend Rajasekhar (Satyaraj), aided by Rajasekhar’s daughter, and getting tangled within the operations of international smuggler Simon (Nagarjuna) and his right-hand man, Dayal (Soubin Shahir), should have been a slam dunk. Essentially being the umpteenth iteration of the template of “A History of Violence” or Rajnikanth’s own “Baasha” (1994), it sags under the weight of Kanagaraj’s own instincts of plotting and convolution.
In hindsight, a love letter to Rajnikanth from a Kamal Haasan fanboy sounds like an intriguing proposition, but the love letter being serviced in Coolie becomes an exercise in indulgence and utter incoherence. Of course, most of the stylistic choices—mocobot camera-infused action set pieces, a neon-lit and burnished world—are integrated with the impish humor and looser narrative structure one associates with recent Rajnikanth fare. But the faltering is immense, because it’s the screenwriting by Kanagaraj that feels the most half-baked.
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5. Leo (2023)
The second of the “Baasha” template films in this list, and ironically a direct adaptation of John Wagner’s graphic novel “A History of Violence,” Leo follows Parthi (Thalapathy Vijay), an outwardly humble man whose peaceful existence with his family in a small town in the mountains is upended when he begins to be pursued by gangsters who mistake him for one of their long-dead comrades, Leo.
The effectiveness of the “Baasha” template rests solely on the distinctiveness between the personalities of the protagonist in the past and the present. The more the distinctiveness, the more effective the conflict essentially becomes, and Leo should be praised for being one of Thalapathy Vijay’s finest hours as an actor. There is a range within his performance that is quite unprecedented, and Kanagaraj had hinted at the potential of Vijay as an actor in “Master” that comes to fruition in Leo. Kanagaraj, on the other hand, suffers from interesting stylistic choices and a crackerjack of a first half that leads into a second half that fails to land effectively due to an absolutely abysmal flashback sequence. But there are enough set pieces and stylization that have become a staple of his filmography that provide ample viewing pleasure in this mixed bag of a film.
4. Master (2021)
The Kamal Haasan love of Kanagaraj is very much present here in this spiritual remake/sequel of the KS Sethumadhavan 1994 directorial Nammavar. In “Master,” JD (Thalapathy Vijay), an alcoholic professor suspended from his teaching duties at the college due to his antics, takes a three-month teaching job at a juvenile home. It’s there that he clashes with ruthless gangster Bhavani (Vijay Sethupathi), who uses the children as his scapegoat for his criminal activities.
Even if the placement in this list could be debated, Master (2021) is arguably Kanagaraj’s most interesting film in his filmography. While most cinephiles want a filmmaker’s fully unvarnished vision, Master is one of the few instances where the directorial voice and the catering towards the stardom of the leading actor manage to coexist rather well. It is primarily possible due to Kanagaraj choosing to develop both Bhavani and JD separately, giving them equal time and drawing out their first meeting until the tail end of the second act. More importantly, while Sethupathi gives an appropriately menacing performance, it’s Vijay as the flawed alcoholic professor who is a surprise, precisely because of how much of a left-field this portrayal is from conventional Thalapathy Vijay performances. That’s not to say the film doesn’t devolve into unabashed star catering that threatens to derail the film, but Master is definitely a far more entertaining and fascinating curio than one gives it credit for.
3. Maanagaram (2017)
Maanagaram (2017) is a hyperlink narrative that’s as much the story of the Indian youth within the world of the corporate sector as it is the hijinks of a gangster and a failed kidnapping scheme. Maanagram is also a story of Chennai—the city—and the people within the city finding themselves in extraordinary situations that are interlinked with each other.
As a film in a vacuum, it is an interesting debut to open with a hyperlinked narrative, where the directorial prowess is still in its developmental phase, and the strength of the screenplay becomes the backbone to propel the narrative forward. As a retrospective after almost 8 years, Maanagaram is a relic of the ability of Kanagaraj as a writer and his capability to not just extract performances out of all his cast but to also successfully flesh out a quirky yet compelling world even without the stylization and the gloss. The subplot with Winnings, with a strong, lovable performance out of Winnings, is clearly the highlight, but Maanagaram also serves as a warning sign for some of Lokesh’s failings in storytelling—thinly written female characters and flimsily structured flashback sequences—that stand out in sharp relief after 8 years and seven films. But it’s the writing and Kanagaraj’s deft handling of all the narrative throughlines that result in an utterly compelling and entertaining film.
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2. Kaithi (2019)
The film that catapulted Kanagaraj to mainstream consciousness, Kaithi (2019), follows recently released convict Dilli (Karthi), who unwillingly agrees to help his captor, Inspector Bejoy (Narain), transport a truck filled with poisoned comrades of Bejoy to a hospital. As the journey begins that night, Bejoy and Dilli are chased by a gang of ruthless criminals in the hunt for a large cocaine shipment that Bejoy’s men had intercepted and hidden at a secret location.
Partly inspired by John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) and Simon West’s Con Air (1997), Lokesh also heavily takes inspiration from John McTiernan’s Die Hard (1988) and, of course, Kamal Haasan’s Virumandi (2004) (the latter more in designing Dilli’s look and character). The integration of so many influences in a blender primarily works not just because of the stylized action sequences and intermixing of grit with commercial sensibilities. It also works because Kanagaraj fleshes out each character and their motivations expertly. Gritty, compelling, and electrifying at times, it is also bolstered by Karthi’s presence. His brutish physicality is complemented by his emotional poignancy. By the time the action starts to resemble the typical commercial elements, and the subplot of the siege at the prison resembles a horror movie almost, you are already in the ride, the climax with the Gatling gun making you laugh out in disbelief and manic glee.
1. Vikram (2022)
The Kamal Haasan fan finally gets a chance to collaborate with his idol, but unlike Coolie (2025), where the star’s catering takes over everything else, Vikram (2022) is the movie where Kanagaraj’s sensibilities come into full fruition. A tensely crafted action thriller, Vikram (2022) is also the beginning of the huge ensemble cast film, and it is almost a minor miracle that most aspects of it do work.
But then again, that is also because there is a conviction operating within Kanagaraj in both his screenwriting and direction that brushes off any doubts or misgivings. The first half, starting out as an investigative thriller, is a massive gamble considering the lead of the film is barely in that half, but Faahadh Faasil as Amar utterly commands the frame. Through his lead, Kanagaraj crafts a criminal world that is as much indebted to the Christopher Nolan-helmed The Dark Knight trilogy in both style and tone as it is invariably Kanagaraj’s own. But there is also the seamless intermixing of purely cool imagery with character motivations that are also utterly compelling and yet completely transparent. But the second half, where Haasan’s Vikram takes over the narrative, is where Vikram essentially becomes a star vehicle, and if one strains to look through the cynicism-laced mirror, one can understand that the stakes drastically reduce as the film becomes a love letter to the star.
There is, however, an elegant balancing of the catering to the star, the narrative convolution, and stylized execution that is almost balletic in its approach. Even as the climax begins to feel somewhat slapdash, the imagery of septuagenarian Kamal Haasan as Agent Vikram dragging an old, rickety M2 Browning machine gun, almost pulling the rust off its auto toggle, and then mowing through the army of gangsters results in the viewer cackling in glee. It’s as much an escalation from Kaithi (2019) as it is, in hindsight, the beginning of numerous attempts and copycats trying their hardest to recreate this film and failing in the process. It’s an alchemy that only works once, and even Kanagaraj learns that the hard way while making Coolie (2025).
