TheDaak review

Book : Selvaraj Velayutham (ed.), Tamil Cinema: The Cultural Politics of India’s Other Film Industry (Abingdon: Routledge, 2008), ISBN 978-0-415-39680-6, 188 pp., $225.00

by Sanjana K.S

From movies like Mother India to Chak De India, the Indian cinematic universe has come a long way in evoking passions and contributing to the political imagination of citizens alike. In its journey over the decades, Indian cinema has diversified in its production of films every year, audience, technology and representation. Cinema has moved beyond merely being a source of entertainment and recreation, to becoming an effective and powerful medium of political communication. Every decade of cinema has reflected the socio-political milieu: the ‘devoted son’ of post independence mother India, the ‘angry young man’ in the decade of mass political discontent in the 1970s, the ‘romantic and/or rebellious youth’ of the neo-liberal consumerist times and the ‘hyper nationalist bhakt’ of this decade. Cinema has played an invaluable role in constructing and representing the identity of its viewers or consumers. Stimulating a collective sentiment that taps into their sensibilities can translate into emotions that gain political capital. This review aims to understand the affective potential of cinema in exploring its relation to politics. It makes a case for viewing cinema as a political tool for drawing mobilization by generating the collective identity of a ‘people’- (the Tamil people in this case) through a review of Selvaraj Velayutham’s book ‘Tamil Cinema: The cultural politics of India’s other film industry’. 

The book is a profound and systematic study of the industry also known as ‘Tollywood’ or ‘Kollywood’. Published in 2008, reading the book over a decade after its publication seems fitting in a time when South Indian films have taken a pan-Indian turn. Unfortunately, Hindi cinema overshadows the diverse film industries in the country and relegates films from different regions of the country as merely ‘regional cinema’ . As Rajadhyaksha and Willemen note, “for millions of Indians, where they live, a major part of ‘India’ derives from its movies”(Cited in, “Tamil Cinema: The cultural politics of India’s other film industry” Velayutham, 2008: 5). It is pertinent to shift our gaze to the other film industries to understand the influence of cinema on the people. This is exactly what Velayutham’s book does. Despite regional differences there has been an incredible amount of crossover and synergy between the film industries in India. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali cinema have existed parallelly and contribute to the ‘Indian-ness’ in Indian Cinema. Though many scholarly attempts and books have dealt with Indian cinema, a lacuna in comprehending one such ‘other film industry’ is the Tamil cinema which despite producing nearly 200 feature films every year has been overlooked.  The book under review attempts precisely that- to present Indian cinema as “multiple, conflicting and contentious sites of cultural production and highlight Tamil cinema’s distinct characteristics” (Velayutham, 2008: 2). 

The significance of the book lies in the formidable presence of Tamil cinema over eighty years yet understudied. Tamil cinema taps into the sensibilities and taste cultures of the film audience. It has shaped what it means to be a Tamilian, the collective identification of a people.

The author begins the book with analysis of the distinctiveness of Tamil Cinema embodied in the Language and the political and social content of Tamil cinema. Historian Ramaswamy in his book Language Devotion in Tamil Nadu writes that for Tamils,  “language is the essence of their culture, the bearer of their traditions, and the vehicle of their thoughts from time immemorial” (Cited in, “Tamil Cinema: The cultural politics of India’s other film industry” Velayutham, 2008: 6). Use of Tamil generates a symbolic embodied and affective connection to ‘Tamilness’. The use of language binds the people across a specific ethno-linguistic space, thereby, echoing a distinctly Tamil identity. Velayutham rescues the industry from the overbearing presence of Hindi cinema by highlighting the distinctiveness of Tamil cinema in relation to various themes ranging from construction of gender and sexuality, politics, religion, caste, iconography of actors turned politicians, politics of identity and diaspora. This book offers a critical study of role, representations and cultural meaning of films. The Tamil identity is symbolically performed through the screens. 

The book presents a historical trajectory of Tamil cinema starting from silent films in the early twentieth century to the talkies in the 1930s to the multi-screen experience in recent times. It systematically lays down the changes in trends and themes in the content of tamil cinema: the colonial past where movies pushed the nationalistic and Gandhian message wrapped in visuals alone, the post-colonial fervor of development and socialist narrative which was in line with the nationalistic homogenous political imagination of India and the radical shift to linguistic overtones of Dravidian movement and the decline of such themes in favor of romance and action films. Through the eleven chapters of the book, the author focuses on the power of cinema in provoking and molding the ideas of the Tamil audience in their everyday thinking and banal actions. All the chapters in the book are comprehensive and clearly put forth the arguments supported with sufficient examples of Tamil movies to make their case. 

In the first two chapters of the book, the making and consolidation of the ‘Tamil woman’ in the binaries of good and bad women and pleasurable object vs passive subject is discussed in detail. C.S. Lakshmi in her chapter explores the various ‘images’ of women in Tamil movies and their correlation to the attitudes towards women in Tamil culture. Through movies such as Manohara (1954) the screenplay and dialogues written by Karunainidhi, the duty of a true Tamil mother is represented as a devoted wife and a pure woman who asserts herself within the confines of patriarchal moralities; in Velaikari (1949) for which C.N. Annadurai has written the story and dialogues, the figures of good and bad women are juxtaposed to bring out the Tamil cultural values. It is interesting to note that the writers of these two films cited above draw direct political lineage from Periyar, (a Tamil social reformer who advocated for women’s rights).The author in this chapter notes that in Tamil cinema, male and female gender identities remain fixed and unchanging. Even the portrayal of an independent and liberated woman in a movie like Aval Appadithan (1978) puts the blame on a stubborn and fickle mother who is responsible for the troubles in her daughter’s life only if she has been a ‘good mother’. The author drives home the point that since family is the hub of Tamil culture in Tamil cinema, unusual women characters are ‘taught the lessons’ and brought back to the realm of family. Thereby, linking the cultural, affective potential of cinema to the attitudes of Tamil people towards women. In the second chapter, Sathiavathi Chinniah traces the transformation of the heroine from a “passive subject -chaste, sari-clad docile protagonist to the modern scantily-clad pleasurable object” (p. 29). 

Other chapters in the book the art of banner advertisements, the impact of Tamil film in rural areas and the Tamil diaspora and global circulation of Tamil cinema trace new dimensions of aesthetics and geography in the industry. It has been noted in the book that Tamil cinema can not be relegated to the margins of Indian cinema. The author cites the case of Mani Rathnam’s film  Roja to establish the point that the former has represented the question of nation albeit in different ways- bounded by ethno-linguistic passions. In Roja, a Tamil hero and small-town Tamil girl who does not know Hindi or English lands herself in Kashmir begging for her husband’s secure release from the clutches of terrorists in the region. The Tamil hero does not remain simply a Tamil native but transcends his identity, ready to sacrifice himself for his nation. The singularisation of national cinema with the banner of Bollywood masks the heterogeneity of Indian cinema. It underscores the different political imaginations and representations that co-exist in the space of cinema. Thus, the author of the book delivers on his aim to understand the complexities of Indian Cinema while pushing forward the other industry i.e., Tamil cinema from the margins (p.168). “Cinema, one of the cheapest and most effective instruments of communication for social mobilization in India, has played a vital role in the creation of a national self-conscious Tamil people”. (Robert Hardgrave) 

Majority of the chapters focus on analyzing the symbiotic relationship that exists between Tamil cinema and politics. The relationship relied on the instrumentality of cinema as a political tool for mobilization. In the chapter on ‘Politics and the Film in Tamil Nadu’, Robert L. Hardgrave Jr. discusses how Cinema stars used their stardom to draw mobilization. Velayutham notes that since 1967, every Chief Minister of the state has had something to do with cinema. The character of MGR as a common man, an auto rickshaw driver in many films made him relatable. The omnipresence of films in the everyday life of a Tamil citizen has a huge bearing on the political functioning of the state. Tamil films contributed to Tamil nationalism in the late 1950s. Most of the leaders of DMK were associated with films. C.N. Annadurai and Karunanidhi were film writers, S.S Rajendran, K.R. Ramaswamy, MGR and Shivaji Ganesan were actors. The author concludes that for decades, the DMK used films to promote its own ideology. 

Without a doubt the affective power of cinema has translated into political mobilization for the Dravidian movement and its aftermath. Films with social messages challenging brahmanical domination were successful on the screens. When MGR split from the DMK and formed his own party AIADMK, his success as an actor overlapped with his dominance in Tamil politics. The cult following that these ‘actors-turned-leaders’ amassed were nurtured through their films. Case in point, Jayalalitha’s image as ‘Amma’. The populist message in these films that attracted the mass following was translated into the populist policies of the AIADMK. In his other works, Velayutham notes how through Tamil cinema not only audiences were cultivated but also the voting public. The way Tamil cinema has been able to not only create political imagination but also reflect the social realities of caste and religion through movies, making ‘rational citizens’ feel, in the most tangible form by engaging their senses, is a political spectacle. Through this book the author has been able to capture the raw essence of Tamil cinema in shaping the political and cultural life of the Tamils. As Karthikeyan Damodaram writes ‘in the Tamil context, the disappearance of cinema from politics would be the disappearance of politics itself’.

Though the book systematically puts forth a case to shift the gaze from Bollywood to other film industries that cater to a region, these industries cannot be sidelined as mere ‘regional films’. The author could have looked at the interaction of Tamil films with other industries in the region, thereby establishing a synergy between the ‘other’ industries of the south. What was missing was also a comparative look at representation in terms of characters, narratives and plots between the Hindi and Tamil Cinema. For instance, many Tamil movies have been reinterpreted and remade in Hindi (Guru, Naseeb Apna Apna, Andhaa Kanoon, Saathiya, Nayak, Ghajini, Holiday). They are not mere translations but are adapted to appeal to a different geographical audience. Moreover, the Hindi remakes often do not acknowledge the original Tamil films that they have adapted, undermining the creative potential and credibility of Tamil filmmakers.

Further, the author does not question the representation of Tamils in Hindi movies. Often prejudiced and racist narratives dominate the imagination and representation of a ‘Tamil’ in Bollywood. Classic example is the recent movie Chennai Express.          

This book is a much needed academic contribution to the vast scholarship on Indian Cinema that has overlooked Tamil and other industries from the south. The book is relevant in understanding certain political phenomena that can not be understood in conventional rational and observational senses. This is the intangible power of the trinity in Tamil cinema- the cinematic passion that binds a people and wills the politics of the region.

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