From the 2012 horror Pizza to the satirical Jigarthanda movies, Karthik Subbaraj has established himself as one of the freshest directors of Tamil cinema. We offer you a definitive ranking of every one of his directorial efforts, ranked from the most mediocre to the most acclaimed. And if you are wondering where to stream the director’s multi-genre efforts, we have you covered with a streaming guide.
Where can you stream Karthik Subbaraj’s filmography?
Sun NXT and Netflix are some of your best bets to stream Karthik Subbaraj movies. His collaboration with Dhanush Jigame Thandiram was exclusively a Netflix release while his Vikram-starrer Mahaan was a Prime Video release. You can also stream his Rajinikanth-led venture Petta for free on Jio Cinema.
Pizza: Subbaraj’s breakout hit
The movie that put Karthik Subbaraj on the map was his directorial debut Pizza. A low-budget horror starring Tamil character actor Vijay Sethupathi (who hadn’t achieved mainstream success by then), Pizza revolved around a pizza delivery man's chilling encounters with a paranormal phenomenon on a night shift gone wrong.
The movie’s scares were fresh enough with some impeccable tension-building and Sethupathi’s convincing lead performance. More than a decade since its release and after several multi-lingual remakes, Pizza still remains a cult classic.
The Jigarthanda franchise: Subbaraj’s love letters to cinema
While Pizza marked Subbaraj’s creativity with limited budget, his 2014 gangster comedy Jigarthanda marked his stylistic flair for violence and satire. Echoing influences from his cinematic idol Qunetin Tarantino, Jigarthanda found a down-on-his-luck director collaborating with a rowdy gangster for an unexpected project. Immensely praised by critics and audiences, Jigarthanda wasn’t just a satire to pulpy crime dramas but a love letter to filmmaking itself.
These themes were touched upon yet again in a different setting in 2023 with Subbaraj helming a spiritual sequel Jigarthanda DoubleX. The Jigarthanda franchise is a binge-worthy amalgamation of Tamil cinema tropes, deadpan humor, and nods to Subbaraj’s influences like the aforementioned Tarantino and Western legend Clint Eastwood.
Mahaan, Petta, and more: Subbaraj and Tamil megastars
Following the success of Pizza and Jigarthanda, Karik Subbaraj went on to collaborate with some of the biggest Tamil superstars albeit with mixed results. So, while his pandemic release Mahaan featured a career-defining performance from Vikram as an honest teacher-turned-liquor baron, Petta turned out to be one of industry titan Rajinikanth’s less successful projects in recent years.
Additionally, his neo-noir crime comedy Jagame Thandiram succumbed to a style-over-substance approach despite a delightfully magnetic lead performance by Dhanush.
Independent anthologies and a Netflix project: What else has Subbaraj done?
Other than his feature films, Subbaraj has also involved himself in diverse anthology films like his segment in the 2015 indie Bench Talkies, Prime Video’s Puthum Pudhu Kaalai, and the Sri Lankan Civil War-set segment Peace in the Netflix series Navarasa.
Why is Jigarthanda DoubleX Karthik Subbaraj’s best movie?
Jigarthanda on its own is a memorable movie. But living up to its name, the prequel Jigarthanda DoubleX revamps its director-filming-gangster premise to a bigger, better, and more emotional level. In front of Subbaraj’s stylistic lens, choreographer-director Raghava Lawrence is a revelation as the menacing gangster-cum-Clint Eastwood aficionado Alliyus Caesar. Equally impressive is SJ Suryah as a fake director posing as Satyajit Ray’s student.
Easter Eggs are plenty for cinephiles but the ‘70s-era style is perfectly balanced with some socio-political elements that make the prequel all the more emotional. Audiences witness Caesar’s change of heart in the face of his forest community’s struggles with ecological degradation and police brutality, gritty realities that are addressed with enough sensitivity and relevance. Jigarthanda DoubleX celebrates Subbaraj’s own stylistic world but with some heartwarming earnestness instead of any shameless self-indulgence.
