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‘3BHK’ to ‘Kudumbasthan’: The Revival of Family Dramas in Tamil Cinema
In the middle of big-ticket action films, smaller, intimate stories such as ‘Tourist Family’ and ‘3BHK’ are carving a space for themselves.
In Sri Ganesh’s latest Tamil film 3BHK, the central plot revolves around an ordinary four-member family navigating everyday issues life throws at them — pressures of the Indian education system, IT boom, domestic distress, and a very real, real estate inflation — to buy a house. Smack in the middle of action dramas exploring larger, external conflicts such as rivalries, heists and succession, the more intimate dramas, thumbing through complex family dynamics, have somehow found interest among audiences.
The film, featuring affecting performances from Sarathkumar, Siddharth, Devayani, and Meetha Raghunath, is the latest in a string of family dramas that has found a revival of sorts in Tamil cinema. An overwhelmed Sri Ganesh, who still gets anywhere between 60-70 emotional messages on Instagram every three hours, is overjoyed by the reaction.
This is everyone's story, he tells The Hollywood Reporter India. Inspired by Aravindh Sachidanandam’s short story titled 3bhk Veedu, the film borrows the story’s seed of an idea and runs with its plot. The Tamil film delves into several interpersonal relationships, including the ones between siblings, fathers and sons, and friends like family. The filmmaker began writing the script well before the release of Manikandan’s Good Night (2023), one of the early such films to strike a chord.
“At the time, this wave of family dramas wasn't there, and these middle-class stories weren't being told much,” says Sri Ganesh. “Even if this was a distinct space a lot of people could resonate with, there were a few who were not sure if such films had a market.” By the time 3BHK released, the waters had been tested, and small titles such as Tourist Family (2025), which came out alongside bigger fish such as Retro (2025), generated massive interest. The Abishan Jeevinth film made ₹ 87.23 crore at the worldwide box office, no ordinary feat for a small-scale comedy.
It's incredible to bring families back to the cinemas, he says. “Even theatre owners tell me how happy they feel to see families watching these films together. It is purely the strength of this genre.” The filmmaker recalls being moved by Balu Mahendra’s Veedu, the 1988 National Film Award-winning film that dealt with the harsh realities of building a house. The film, along with titles such as TVF series Gullak (2019) and The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), gets mentions as essential viewing in the credits of 3BHK. “The shot of Sarath sir touching the wall is a tribute to Balu Mahendra's Veedu,” he recalls.
Tamil actor Manikandan, who charmingly depicted a middle-class breadwinner’s struggles in Kudumbasthan (2025), feels there’s always been respect from audiences for genre-specific films. “Maybe when such films are scarce, their importance is felt more,” he tells THR India.
With Kudumbasthan, the actor feels the script made a hero out of an ordinary everyman, something that not many films have attempted before. “We don't see a lot of heroes buying stuff for their wives, parents. That is not kadhanayaga lakshanam (film hero-appropriateness). How can his life be heroic? But when I read this script, I didn't want to let it go because it was done so organically.”
It was interesting how Rajeshwar Kalisamy depicted both the post-liberalisation pressures of a family man and the tolerance of the people surrounding him. “Apart from providing, what are the responsibilities of a breadwinner, and what is a family's part in tolerating the said breadwinner? The concept of the middle class as we know it today is a relatively recent construct. We didn't have such a social class around 20 years ago. We only had the rich and the poor before that. After liberalisation, we had a lot of classes, the kind of theatres, hospitals and hotels they would frequent would be very different.” Perhaps the film made the ordinary family man feel seen. Manikandan agrees.
As much as we enjoy watching star-driven larger-than-life films, the shelf-life for such family dramas is much bigger, Sri Ganesh believes. With 3BHK, for instance, the director wanted to represent the freedom that comes with having a room for oneself, something that siblings Prabhu and Aarthi discuss in the film. “I am unable to say if this is right or wrong, but they lean more towards action films because one can reach the maximum number of people. Now that there have been four such films [in the family drama space], if more films come and prove that these films have box office potential, stars too will try this.”
Actress Geetha Kailasam, who is increasingly becoming a staple in such dramas — she was last seen in as different kinds of the matriarch in Maaman (2025), Lubber Pandhu (2024), Amaran (2024) and most recently Vipin Radhakrishnan’s Angammal that won Best Film at the New York Indian Film Festival — has managed to establish her niche in a short period.
"I am a late bloomer in Tamil cinema because I started acting in my late 40s. I am registering this because people think I've been acting for ages,” she tells THR India. The actress feels the genre gives the family set up a lived-in depiction, compared to televised living-room dramas. Does the genre also pave the way for more opportunities for actresses, and especially mid-career women, who have limited scope in action dramas? Kailasam agrees. But one has to make such films responsibly, she reminds.
"Many producers and directors use women's emotions as a saleable commodity. But the responsibility of this should lie with the makers, not to make this part of 'entertainment'. Because audiences can also enjoy something better,” she notes. Kailasam, who is also the daughter-in-law of veteran Tamil filmmaker K Balachander, lists Selvi from Moondru Mudichu (1976) and Anu from Avargal (1977) as some of her favourite women from the auteur’s films. While she’s happy riding along the new wave of films, she also believes it's time we pay attention to packaging and releasing a woman-led film.
“Most of our films have male characters as leads. We’ve always played supporting characters, but we need to play important, main characters. So, with Angammal, we want to crack it and reach the people.” She remembers urging Lokesh Kanagaraj to write a compelling antagonist role for a woman in his next. “I don't even know if I drove home the point, but I wish he would cast women in negative roles, because he writes such layered roles.”
Sri Ganesh is hopeful that big stars embrace such roles in the future. “If stars like Rajini sir were in a family drama, it would only have a big impact. Content films are making more money than they used to. So I am very optimistic.”