Those who regularly follow us must already be aware that the Auckland-based movies-centric social platform Letterboxd houses a list of the top 50 movies across the globe released in a year including 2023. Earlier this year, the relatively lesser-known bilingual Malayalam Tamil movie ‘Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam’ starring Mammootty and Karan Johar’s rom-com ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani had cracked the coveted Letterboxd international list. These were the last two Indian films from 2023 we remember which were able to enter the Letterboxd list.
Although it might come as a bit of a surprise for Indian movie buffs, another 2023 Indian movie has attracted international attention by being included in the said Letterboxd top 50 movies list. We are talking about Karthik Subbaraj’s action-comedy movie ‘Jigarthanda DoubleX’. We said ‘surprise’ because a lot more popular and well-received Indian films like ‘Leo’ have failed to crack the same Letterboxd list. Having said that, ‘Jigarthanda DoubleX’ received positive feedback from critics.
‘Jigarthanda DoubleX’ or simply ‘Jigarthanda 2’ is a prequel to the 2014 film ‘Jigarthanda’. The film’s story is set in the 1970s period and follows an infamous Madurai-based gangster (Raghava Lawrence), who is a diehard fan of Clint Eastwood. He crosses paths with a filmmaker (SJ Suryah), who agrees to make a movie with the gangster.
The same “Letterboxd 50: 2023 Narrative Feature Films” list has been topped by the animated superhero movie ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ (Rank 1) followed by ‘Poor Things’ (Rank 2), Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ (Rank 3), ‘Past Lives’ (Rank 4), ‘The Holdovers’ (Rank 5), and Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ (Rank 6), amongst other international films.
Besides the latest addition of the Indian film ‘Jigarthanda DoubleX’, the only other Indian title from 2023 which is currently on the Letterboxd top 50 international movies is the well-crafted Tamil crime thriller – Vetrimaaran’s ‘Viduthalai Part 1’ (Rank 28). ‘Jigarthanda DoubleX’ currently holds Rank 50 on the said Letterboxd list. As of now, the film is yet to be released on an OTT platform.