Cinema
is a medium of mass entertainment as far as Tamil industry
is concerned. There have been films with social messages
but these have only been sugar-coated pills within the
general framework of a story. Import from other languages
has largely been confined to adaptations, popularly
called remakes of successful films in regional languages
like Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.
Producers have never looked beyond the national boundaries
for stories. The main reason for the reluctance could
be the cultural differences. There are wonderful directors
in Chinese, Japanese, Persian, Italian and French.
The issues discussed are largely universal although
the stylized treatment could be unique. Films in these
languages have largely discussed the basic issues
confronting humanity like slavery, cultural identity,
ethnic alienation, political exploitation etc. But
such films are usually dismissed as ‘award’
films or ‘festival’ films. There are no
producers who would run the risk of adapting these
ideas to the Tamil audience. Directors are not willing
to bring the fundamental issues to the consideration
of the
audience.
We remain content to be closeted with the formula or
masala films.There is an exaggerated air of technical
superiority while the core is slowly eroding. Sensitivity
to social issues and consideration for different perspectives
are not the cup of tea of the usual Tamil producer and
director. They are only playing a race horse game. You
bet on the winning horse and wait for the result. Who
cares about the development of the soul of the industry?
Even people who have passed out of Film Institute end
up being good technicians. They are not allowed in the
current commercial scheme to experiment and bring out
daring or different films.
To
take a leaf out of Subramanya Bharatiyar, Endru thaniyum
indha pudumaiyin dhagam? (When will our prayers for
change be answered?)
