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International influences in Tamil cinema
 
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tomorrowneverdies
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Ramaa
Chennai
behindw@behindwoods.com

 

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?)

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