IMHO, If an american wants to know about Gandhi, he should watch Richard Attenborogh's Gandhi and not hey ram.
Thx very much for your suggestions, I'll start with Pesumpadam, then depending on his like will go with the other movies. I'm somewhat reluctant to suggest movies with too much violence/senti scenes, he may not like them. And for Abhiyum Nanum - long time back I saw a similar English movie(College Road trip), however the narration/scenes were quite different than Abhiyum Naanum. Thanks again friends.
Eventually almost a decade ago you ended with recommending pesum padam to your American Colleague. What was his or her reaction and what other Tamil movies you had recommended? A synopsis of your colleague’s impression of tamil cinema if texted here, would help suggesting better movies from Tamil and other Indian languages. A malayalam CHEMMEEN too would perhaps fit the bill. A hindi movie Chandini, Mr India, Brahmachari are easy to follow without subtitles if entertainment is the only goal. Thanks & Regards. God Bless.
michael madan kamarajan and Sati leelavati are awesome but hard to appreciate if you do not know tamil. palakadu brahmin tamil and coimbature tamil. . i have watch that movie multiple times mahanadi is nice.