If you cannot afford subscriptions, is your best friend. Many production houses (like AVM Productions, Rajshri Tamil, and Dream Warrior Pictures) release old movies legally for free on YouTube with ads. Search for "Full Tamil Movie" and use the filter Creative Commons to find legal uploads.
In the early 2010s, before high-speed fibre and global streaming giants took over, the internet in small-town Tamil Nadu was a temperamental beast. Karthik would wait until midnight—when the data packs were cheaper—to begin his ritual. www kuttymovies com tamil movies