Gentleman

This is one movie which everyone saw without any fanfare, nor with any preconception, which proved to be a great asset for the movie. I strongly believe that this movie changed the trend of all the other Tamil movies later. This brought light to the career of Arjun, who did a GREAT JOB as the education deprived youth, hence goes on looting Rs.50 cores to build a Engineering + Medical + Law college for the deprived youth. the concept was very ideal in the prevailing situation. The lead lady of the movie Madhoo ( all the heroines of Shanker's earlier movies lead lady were Maniratnam Movies Lead ladies - except Nagma) also did a pretty good job. This movie brought the emergence of Indian Michel Jackson Prabhu Deva ( who was later cast as the hero in Shanker next movie "Kadhalan"). The music and songs were added highlighted of the movie. The Climax of the movie was very touching. A great movie indeed. The sad part is that all the other Shanker's movie which involved politics had a great resemblance to this movie. So I still emphasize that this is Shanker's Best movie.

Excellent Movie. Everybody acted very well in the movie. Songs and BGM in the movie were excellent. The comedy scenes in the movie were excellent. The movie was so interesting and thrilling. This is one of the Best Movie of Arjun and Shankar Combo. Excellent Movie.

One of the few or rare movies which everything came together in a perfect blend. The movie appeared out of nowhere , came without fanfare, went with classic all time hit in which many will remember this best as a swashbuckling exotic cinema ride. The movie cleverly exploits the tale of Robin Hood and packages it in a form viewable by Indian audiences.

In an industry of that time, which is very difficult even to enter, it took Shankar just one movie to rise to the top. Introduced in producer K. T. Kunjumon's ''Gentleman'' as director in 1993, Shankar has so far directed just 6 movies in Tamil and one in Hindi. Yet, he is the most successful director in Kollywood today! In fact he is one of the best Directors.

When Shankar approached K. T. Kunjumon for a chance to direct a movie, the burly producer immediately gave his approval, as he was in the habit of introducing new directors to the industry at that time. Utilizing the opportunity and determined to create a smash hit, Shankar began working hard on the script of ''Gentleman''. He worked on the minute details of his first movie and employed the genius of the emerging A. R. Rahman (who had just made three movies until then) and cinematographer Jeeva. Arjun featured in the lead role. ''Gentleman'' turned out to be a mega hit at the box office.

A number of things in this movie is out of the norm at the time. First the cinematography is very good for the time almost on par with any of Maniratnam's cameramen. The script is cleverly inspired by Robin Hood classic tale and is marvelously modified for a south Indian story. The plot has an amazing smooth flow and of course the performances were the best of all cast in the movie. The lead actors were low profile like Arjun who is known to just come and go in normal commercial roles in the past prior to this movie has simply brought out their full acting capabilities and the introduction of Madhoo Bala , a new face in 1993 who earlier appeared in the Maniratnam movie Roja. Shankar proved that it is possoble to make a box office topper without a super star cast

With fantastic songs, thrilling action sequences and a daring script, ''Gentleman'' became a trendsetter for the movies of the 90's.

The flashback scenes and the last act of gentleman is only worth watching. Script is mediocre, bad comedy, too long and lots of drag. Songs are good except that one between arjun and the 2nd heroine. There are lots of raw scenes which made me wonder how could the censor pass it with U certificate.

The film has so many layers like an onion. Affirmative Action in India is practiced in educational intuitions in a worst way possible. There have been instances where students who got negative marking got in to medical colleges because they are from a particular community. There are instances for entry in to Masters in medicine (specialization education) where in if you are from a certain community, even if you are the topper(1st rank in the whole state), you cannot get in to a specialization of your choice. The second layer is the virulent anti-brahminism perpetuated by politicians in Tamil Nadu. The movie shows the actual conditions of Brahmins in reality. I have even read that after the release of this movie, some brahmin associations have honored the director for showing the reality of their lives. Now including the above said two items in to a movie and making it successful super hit movie in whole of South India is a great thing and that too a director with his first outing is great.