Background about my Tamil Cinema views…

Before I start to write about particular a Tamil cinema topic such as a movie, actor, actress, director, producer, music composer, cinematographer, etc I would like to let you know about my preferences, taste and ideas that would let you know “where I am coming from”.

I do not have a favourite artist in Tamil cinema. In every movie I might like or dislike an actor, actress, director, script writer etc. So please don’t brand me as someone’s fan. For me to be a fan of someone, none of them have performed to my expectation constantly to deserve that. I do like movies that are realistic and stories that show realism. However, more and more these days I am enjoying movies that are pure entertainers – no brainers. I however do think that these pure entertainers should still be socially responsible.

Tamil cinema has a lot of influence in Tamil Nadu (South Indian state) politics, public perceptions, etc. This started off with MG Ramachandran (MGR) (who formed Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK)), who ended up being Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Then there are other cinema personalities such as script writer Mu.Karunanidhi (from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK)) and the current Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa (ex-chief minister) (from All Indian Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)) who was an ex-actress and someone who had a illicit relationship with MGR. There are also film personalities such as Cho Ramaswamy who is heavily involved with politics and also has his own magazine (Thuglak). Now there is actor Vijayakanth who has started his own party (Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam(DMDK)) and has won a lot of seats in the parliament soon as he has got into politics. Then there is Sarathkumar, who is the current president of the Nadigar Sangam (South Indian Artists Association), actor and also a politician who has started his own party (Akila India Samathuva Makkal Katchi). Then there are likes of Rajinikanth who has a huge fan following and has been flirting with the idea of coming in to politics. He has not come out publically and said anything about coming in to politics but his fan clubs have been actively promoting the idea of him becoming a politician for sometime now. Will he come in to politics is still being debated very keenly in Tamil Nadu. In fact many cinema artists have been flirting with the idea of being involved with politics, or supporting a party during the election times. I don’t mind Tamil cinema and Tamil Nadu politics being intertwined with each other. However, where I do have a problem with this fact that if you are a film personality, it is some how counted as a qualifying factor for entering politics. Someone being in cinema field shouldn’t make you a prime candidate for politics and aspiring politicians should not come into the cinema world to promote themselves as politicians. In fact I wouldn’t mind all these at least if they can not change the story of a movie in such a way that would promote them as a politician. This has been happening since MGR days, in fact most of the lyrics in songs and most of the dialogues are written to promote this, that’s a bit sad to see. Anyway, I can live with that all, but the fact that the people who watch these movies, blindly become fans and then because of this they vote for them is something that makes me wonder if this is good for the society. It’s almost like a formula that has been well practised and used by many film personalities, even the younger ones now!

And then there are a lot of movies that show female’s as just objects. This has become an increasing trend. Actresses are almost like accessories for the hero! This is very sad to see since it feels as if we are stepping back in terms of progress. If you think about older movies (mostly black & white) actresses used to portray an important character in the movie. They share the screen with the actors almost equally. There were even movies that were centered on the female character; this is hardly ever the case these days. Actresses are not challenged in their role apart from keeping their bodies slim and performing dance routines accompanying the actors. Intimate scenes are put on screen just to get people watching. Female clothing is sometimes non existent (or close to it), camera angles and dance moves that are suggestive and vulgar. All these are common formulas for a lot of movies. Because many Tamil actresses not agreeing to do this has put a high demand on other state actresses, in particular north Indian actresses, who do not fit the Tamil movies and stories in many occasions, but end up doing the roles, just because they are prepared to act more in glamour roles. And sadly this is a trend that is getting some traction.

Then there is Music - Nowadays there is a lot of acquired music from western countries that are being played as if it was their own work. This is very disappointing. Also there is more importance given to background music than the actually lyrics. This is not just a Tamil cinema related problem; this is the same case in Hindi music or even western pop music. I suppose this is a disappointing global trend.

Let’s talk about the positives in all this; there is more and more realism in characters these days in some movies. There are characters that have the good and bad qualities like in real life. Movies such as “Veyil” and “Paruthiveeran” are movies that are from young directors who are trying to show more realism.

Okay, now to how much I love Tamil movies. Well, I think I do love them enough to do the following:

• Follow reports about present and upcoming projects closely.
• Rent out and watch most movies that get released.
• Watch every single Tamil movie that gets released in New Zealand cinema (first show ;-) - I think that we get to see about one movie a month on average. I know that does not sound like much for those who live in India but believe me for New Zealand that is impressive.
• Buy original DVD’s of movies that I like as they get released.Do all the above make me a Tamil cinema fan? I think so.

I am planning to write what I think about some movies from now; like reviews. Let’s see how it is going to work out. I am not sure about you guys, but I don’t seem to be able to find any good Tamil movie reviews no matter how much I search. It seems that most if the reviews seem to come with a package attached, they will talk about a movie depending on who acts in it. I find that such a put off. Even if you look at magazines such as “Ananda Vikatan” which is a reputable magazine in Tamil. They don’t review movies well, especially these days. This frustration has made me want to write my own. Time will tell how successful this exercise is going to be!

Time to time, I am hoping to write about my views on film personalities too. Again, it will be from my perception and that might cause controversy.

For regular movie news I visit: IndiaGlitz (http://www.indiaglitz.com/), Vikatan online (http://www.vikatan.com/), Tamil Cinema (http://www.tamilcinema.com/), Chennai Online (http://www.chennaionline.com/), etc. I also search if there is anything specific I want information on and also I check orkut communities once in a while. These are my primary source of information that I base my movie related writings on.