It is 80 years since Tamil was first spoken on the
silver screen. We have been born into a world where
Tamil booms off the silver screen aided by Dolby,
DTS and other world class technologies, where there
is no shortage of avenues to watch a Tamil feature
film on the big screen. So, it does take some time
and a vivid imagination to fully understand what the
first Tamil talkie film, Kalidas, would have meant
to the Tamils of the 1930s who had up to that point
only been treated only to silent cinema; and in some
very rare cases, silent cinema accompanied by live
and synchronized performances by musicians and the
animated descriptions of professional narrators.
Yes, sitting in front of a computer screen in 2011,
it is indeed difficult to imagine the era where cinema
did not speak. That is all the more reason we appreciate
the pioneering efforts of Ardeshir M Irani and HM
Reddy; producer and director of Kalidas respectively.
On October 31 1931, the boxes carrying the reels of
the first ever Tamil talkie film arrived at the Madras
port and it was escorted to the Liberty Theater in
Parrys by a huge procession replete with bands and
garlands. Unlike the processions of today which are
mostly in celebration of a film’s star, this
one was for the sheer joy of the fact that cinema
would actually speak Tamil for the first time. The
film had a mind boggling 50 songs.
But, October 31 is not just a day to remember this
landmark event in Tamil cinema. It is also a chance
to commemorate some of the other pioneers and their
pioneering achievements which were instrumental in
making Tamil cinema one of the biggest forces in the
Indian film industry.
After bringing sound to the screen, what else? The
fact remained that Kalidas was not a fully Tamil talkie
film; many characters spoke different languages in
the film, of which Telugu was a major part. Therefore,
the 1932 film Galava directed by P.P. Rangachari is
recognized as the first full length Tamil talkie film.
That was a period when mythology was the biggest source
of stories for film making; no wonder then there were
multiple films based on some of the favorite mythological
stories. Amongst this was the 1933 flick Seethakalyanam
which had S. Rajam playing Rama and Jayalakshmi playing
Seetha. The catch here being that Jayalakshmi was
the real life sister of S. Rajam. Now, one is led
to wonder about how such a casting decision would
have been received in our times. We are currently
passing through a phase when even the slightest suggestion
about caste, community or religion is beginning to
stir a lot of ‘feelings’. The example
of Seethakalyanam shows us that perhaps people in
the 1930s were very broad minded; seeing cinema as
nothing but a medium of entertainment, not taking
on screen things too seriously. In comparison, we
seem to have regressed in our way of thinking. Or
perhaps there is the fact that the people of the 30s
had far more important issues like the freedom struggle
and they left such smaller matters alone!
There are many more such examples which show that
the earliest film makers of the Tamil film industry
were daringly experimental, sometimes even more than
the current makers. Part of that is the 1935 film
Nandhanar which had K.B.Sundarambal play the hero!
Yes, a lady played the hero of the film. Think of
it, turning a 60 year old Rajnikanth to a 30 something
youngster is hailed as a feat in make up even now.
With the kind of facilities available those days,
this was truly a great achievement. And, she was paid
a monstrous Rs. 1 lakh for the role. To give you an
exact idea about the huge nature of this remuneration
you have to know the fact that Kalidas was made on
a lavish budget of Rs. 8000! If you adjust the Rs.1
lakh for inflation to 2011, one can be pretty sure
that she will be the highest paid actor ever in India.
1936 was an eventful year in Tamil cinema
with the debut of director Ellis R Duncan; a British
directing Tamil movies! But, the year is most remembered
for the debuts of T.S. Baliah and the iconic M.G.Ramachandran
in Sati Leelavati. An often forgotten fact however
is that the year also marked the debut of the first
lady director of Indian cinema, T.P. Rajalakshmi through
Miss Kamala. Even in 2011, a lady director is a rarity
in Tamil cinema; they are considered path breakers
into a male bastion. So, we can only imagine the sheer
magnitude of T.P. Rajalakshmi’s achievement.
This period can also be remembered for the debut of
some of the most influential personalities of Tamil
cinema. Kalaivaanar N.S. Krishnan who was perhaps
the first person to make comedy staple to Tamil cinema
and one of the biggest pillars of Tamil cinema A V
Meiyappa Chettiyar became fully active in cinema during
this time.
This was also perhaps the period during which marketing
techniques started to come to the fore in Tamil cinema.
S.S. Vasan’s film Nandanar showed the way by
organizing a contest wherein audiences had to nominate
the best song in the picture, with attractive prizes
being given away to winners. There are also instances
of producers getting really smart and releasing the
same movie twice under different names! Well, that
technique would not work today. AVM introduced dubbed
cinema to Tamil through Harischandra, dubbed form
Kannada.
The mid 1940s produced the biggest hit ever in Tamil
cinema! Yes, we could say so, not on terms of collection,
but by the sheer number of days it occupied theaters.
Haridas, starring M K Thyagaraja Bhagavadar (the first
superstar of Tamil cinema) released on Diwali 1944
and remained in theaters for 3 consecutive Diwalis;
no mean achievement; unparalleled to date.
The daring of Tamil film makers with themes even during
World War periods can be gauged by Burma Rani (1945).
Inspired by the happenings of the war, the film follows
a plot that would be considered path breaking in Tamil
cinema, if attempted even today. It involves 3 soldiers
of the Indian Airmen landing up in Burma and joining
hands with the Indian resistance to free it from the
clutches of Japan, an Indian girl named Rani helps
them in this quest; a truly international subject
made in Tamil, before independence.
Immediately after independence, Tamil cinema produced
what one may call the first on screen wonder through
Chandralekha; the most expensive Tamil movie of its
times, at a budget of Rs. 30 lakhs. It is remembered
as the first Tamil film to become an all India phenomenon
and for its mind boggling art work and production
values; the drum dance in particular is still talked
about.
The period from 1945-1950 can also be marked as the
one where dialogues rose in prominence in Tamil cinema.
Yes, talkie cinema had come to Tamil in the 1930s,
but it took the advent of literary geniuses like Annadurai
and M.Karunanidhi to take cinema dialogues to new
and great heights. It is also worth noting that in
the film Mandiri Kumari (1950), the heroine’s
character is depicted as a free thinking and independently
acting warrior princess; something that would be considered
a brave move even in contemporary cinema. The 1950s
were also a period during which politics and social
reform became dominant presences in Tamil cinema,
mostly through dialogues.
From 1950 onwards the technical milestones for Tamil
cinema started coming very regularly. The first color
film (Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum) and later moving
on to cinemascope through Raja Raja Cholan etc. Now,
we are in a period where technical advances are made
at a rapid pace, be it digital photography, digital
projection, live sound or CGI.
But, the point to be pondered over more carefully
is whether Tamil cinema has regressed in terms of
the themes and liberality of outlook. Some of the
examples of daring and out of the box themes have
been mentioned above. That was a period during which
censors never unduly cut into a film maker’s
space, except when the British objected to political
content. That was also a period when actresses/heroines
where given roles of substance and not used as fillers
and glamour dolls. We can also see some highly experimental
themes in the form of films like Andha Naal (1954).
In the 1950s, one could say that the average number
of songs in a film was around 10. But, here was a
team that went against all norms and produced one
without any songs at all. Nearly 60 years later, making
a Tamil movie with no songs or even one song is still
considered path breaking. While the 10 roles of Kamal
in Dasavatharam were celebrated as a great achievement,
we perhaps forgot that more than 40 years ago, Sivaji
Ganesan did 9 roles in a single film, Navarathri.
It goes to show that even though technique has progressed
in leaps and bounds, the will to experiment has not
grown proportionally.
Finally, as we remember the great architects who laid
the foundations of Tamil cinema and thank them for
what they did, we can also remind ourselves of the
tribute that we can pay them. We can start by reiterating
the fact that no print of Kalidas, the first Tamil
talkie film, is known to exist. And, the same can
be said of almost all the films of that period; yes,
there are exceptions. In contrast, look at Hollywood
archives, a 1930s film can still be downloaded on
the net. Perhaps as a token of respect to these legends,
we could preserve their works better.
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