Naughty 'New' on top - Tamil Boxoffice

Chennai, July 31 (IANS): The latest Tamil hit, "New", has women's organisations staging sit-ins outside theatres, but youngsters seem to be lapping up the double-entendre dialogues.

Directed by S.J.Suryah, the film which had a bumper opening at the box office, stars Suryah as an eight-year-old trapped in a man's body.

With the svelte Simran playing the wife, "New" has left conservatives shocked. Women's organisations are protesting against the film, but youngsters appear to be loving it. They seem to enjoy the bold scenes and the double-edged dialogues.

The film has been declared a super-hit and the director has even added a new song picturising Kiran. A.R. Rahman's music is a hit with the young crowd.

2. ""Sullan", the second favourite this week has left the public disappointed. Directed by Ramana, whose first film "Thirumalai" with Vijay was a super-hit, audiences were expecting a lot from the Ramana-Dhanush pair.

Perhaps people didn't like a puny Dhanush in an action-oriented role. The film is doing just average business even in the first week of its release.

3. "Shock", a remake of the Ram Gopal Varma hit "Bhoot", does not seem to be repeating the success of the original film. Though Thyagarajan took pains to make the film exactly like the original, "Shock" falls below average on the technical aspects.

The sound effects in "Bhoot" kept the audience on the edge of their seats, but this has let "Shock" down. Prashanth and Meena play the roles enacted by Ajay Devgan and Urmila Matondkar in the Hindi original.

4. Despite many new releases in July, "Gilli" still retains its position among the top five after running for several weeks in the theatres. Most of the new films, except for "New", are expected to fall down in the second week itself.

5. While most of the new releases are faltering at the box office, "Jore", a not-so-publicised film with a lesser known hero is doing good business at the box office. "Jore" has Sibi Raj playing an action hero in which his real father, Satyaraj plays his reel father. This film, directed by Selva, has made amends for the disaster that Sibi Raj's first film was.