Festival times call for new movies. Indian cinema has a habit of celebrating every special occasion with film releases. Nearly 8 titles are set to hit the screens on the Tamil New Year, April 14. Sadly, there aren't any releases from the top actors. The Tamil New Year special releases are:

1) Shaakuntalam - Samantha's magnum opus mythological drama co-starring Dev Mohan. It depicts the epic love story of King Dyushanta and Shakuntala from Mahabharata and is an adaptation of Kalidasa's Sanskrit play of the same name. It is directed by Gunasekhar and music by Mani Sharma.

2) Rudhran - A proper old-school commercial entertainer that has Raghava Lawrence, Sarathkumar and Priya Bhavani Shankar in the lead roles. GV Prakash Kumar is scoring the music for the film directed and produced by S Kathiresan with a story and screenplay by KP Thirumaran.

3) Tamilarasan - Vijay Antony's long-delayed cop thriller which also stars Ramya Nambeesan, Pranav Mohanlal, Sonu Sood, Suresh Gopi and Yogi Babu. Directed by Babu Yogeswaran, it has music scored by Ilaiyaraaja.

4) Thiruvin Kural - Arulnithi and 'Iyakkunar Imayam' Bharathiraja's family action drama. Arulnithi plays a deaf and dumb guy while the latter plays his father. The film has music scored by Sean Roldan and produced by Subaskaran under Lyca Productions.

5) Soppana Sundari - It is a hyperlink comedy film directed by SG Charles. The ensemble star cast includes Aishwarya Rajesh, Lakshmi Priyaa, Deepa Shankar, Karunakaran, Sathish Krishnan, Redin Kingsley, Mime Gopi and others with music by Ajmal Tahseen.

6) Yaanai Mugathaan - A comedy fantasy film with Yogi Babu and Ramesh Thilak in the lead roles, directed by Rejishh Midhila. It also stars Urvashi and Karunakaran with music by Bharath Sankar. Ramesh Thilak plays an auto driver and Lord Ganesha devotee while Yogi Babu plays Lord Ganesha.

7) Rip Up Bury - Stars Master Mahendran in the lead and directed by Arun Karthik.

8) Irandil Ondru Paarthuvidu - directed by Chandana Parthiban.