Before I start, let me make some things clear. My previous comments on these films, were taken out of context by Caryn. Ditty's point was - and I'm quoting her - what was my explanation to the fact that Chandramukhi, Mozhi were hits, with a fat Jyothika starring in them?
To that I said, in these movies Jyothika was not barrel-like (unlike the 12B days) and neither did we see any kind of barrel exposure from her in these movies that might put off certain people. Besides that, these movies should not be termed as HER hits alone b'cos of the facts that I mentioned previously.
Now, addressing your comments.. now we are talking..Sure, every one is entitled to their opinion.
I would still be right in saying that any good actress would have done a fair job, to her role of Chandramukhi. This mainly comes from me, after having watched Shobana in the original. Her performance in the original Manichitrathazh was spell binding! I can't imagine why Ramya Krishnan wouldn't have given ChandraMukhi's character more life? These are just a few examples..
IMO, the dubbing artist for Jyothika should take half the credits that's been showered on Jyothika, for her role in/as Chandramukhi. The voice brought so much life to the character as well in the latter part of the movie.
Chandramukhi was such a HUGE hit, only b'cos of the SuperStar power - i.e. Rajini. It also had a new story line that would sustain the interest of the Thamizh people. Jyothika had given her best too. But that does not make it a hit! The same movie when it had been made in other languages prior to the making of Tamil movie, the role of Rajini's character is miniscule. In Chandramukhi, Rajini's character had much more scope and screen time than Chandramukhi herself. The reason I'm saying this is, because Vasu made Rajini's character a huge one to make this movie a hit - that's the only way to make it a huge hit. It is first a Rajini's movie and then to say Jyothika played Chandramukhi in it, would be fair. I can't imagine this would have been such a huge hit having Prabhu or Vijay or any one else playing Rajini's character and Jyothika playing Chandramukhi. I personally think, in the Tamil film indusry, it would be a very long time before an actress can establish, it was she who made a movie, a hit!
The same applies to Mozhi as well. Jyothika gave a good performance and lent her star value to it. But in the times of Adithadi-kuthu-sandai movies, it was a welcome change to see a beautiful story such as Mozhi. Deftly handled direction, excellent portrayal of characters, very good marketing of the movie. Prithviraj and Prakashraj were wonderful playing their roles. Mozhi was a hit similar to the movie Parijatham being a hit. Good storyline that appeals to most tamil audience, beautiful direction, neat portrayal of characters by artists. Paruthi veeran could be added to this list too (I know this has nothing to do with Jyothika).
There are other movies where Jyothika had given her best as an actress (barrel hips notwithstanding). I can think of a few, if not all - that would be June R, Pachaikili MuthuCharam. What happened to these movies? Weren't they utter flops? I don't want people jumping on me saying that I'm deeming these movies a flop b'cos of Jyothika. If you read my lines carefully, these movies are flops despite Jyothika giving her best. B'cos of story line not appealing to the general tamil mass, bad star cast, direction and what not! This is to prove that an actress' performance is not the "Hit" factor in Kollywood. We are yet to see that.. there may be some exceptions, but I can't think of any.
