Tamil cinema
Encyclopedia
Tamil cinema is the film industry
based in Chennai
, Tamil Nadu
, India, dedicated to the production of film
s in the Tamil language
. It is based in Chennai's Kodambakkam district, where several South India
n film production companies are headquartered. Tamil cinema is known for being India's second largest film industry in terms of films produced, revenue and worldwide distribution, with audiences mainly including people from the four southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala
, Andra Pradesh, and Karnataka
.
Silent film
s were produced in Chennai since 1917 and the era of talkies
dawned in 1931 with the film Kalidas
. By the end of the 1930s, the legislature of the State of Madras
passed the Entertainment Tax Act of 1939. Tamil cinema later had a profound effect on other filmmaking
industries of India, establishing Chennai as a secondary hub for Telugu cinema, Malayalam cinema, Kannada cinema
, and Hindi cinema
. In its modern era, Tamil films from Chennai have been distributed to various overseas theatres in Singapore
, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Malaysia, Japan, Oceania, the Middle East
, Western Europe
, and Northern America
.
The industry also inspired filmmaking in Tamil diaspora
populations in other countries, such as Sri Lankan Tamil cinema
and Canadian Tamil cinema, Malaysia/singapore tamil cinema
.
Film studios in Chennai are bound by legislation, such as the Cinematography Film Rules of 1948, the Cinematography Act of 1952, and the Copyright Act of 1957.
was also starting to be used widely. It is an unknown fact of who first used this word even though many sources assign the credit of using the word to many places. But Kollywood was inspired only after Hindi Cinema started using the word Bollywood.It stands as one of the top commercial film contributors.
an exhibitor first screened a selection of silent short films at the Victoria Public Hall
in Madras. The films all featured non-fiction
al subjects; they were mostly photographed records of day-to-day events. In Madras (present-day Chennai
), the Electric Theatre was established for the screening of silent film
s. It was a favourite haunt of the British
community in Madras. The theatre was shut down after a few years. This building is now part of a post office complex on Anna Salai
(Mount Road). The Lyric Theatre was also built in the Mount Road area. This venue boasted a variety of events, including plays
in English, Western
classical music concerts, and ballroom
dances. Silent films were also screened as an additional attraction. Swamikannu Vincent, an employee of the South Indian Railways in Trichy, purchased a film projector
and silent films from the Frenchman Du Pont and set up a business as film exhibitor. He erected tents for screening films. His tent cinema became popular and he travelled all over the state
with his mobile unit. In later years, he produced talkies and also built a cinema in Coimbatore
.
To celebrate the event of King George V
's visit in 1909, a grand exhibition
was organised in Madras. Its major attraction was the screening of short films accompanied by sound. A British company imported a Crone
megaphone
, made up of a film projector to which a gramophone
with a disc containing prerecorded sound was linked, and both were run in unison, producing picture and sound simultaneously. However, there was no synched dialogue
. Raghupathy Venkiah Naidu, a successful photographer, took over the equipment after the exhibition and set up a tent cinema near the Madras High Court
. R. Venkiah, flush with funds, built in 1912 a permanent cinema in the Mount Road area named Gaiety Theatre. It was the first in Madras to screen films on a full-time basis. The theatre later closed for commercial developments.
Samikannu Vincent, who had built the first cinema of South India
in Coimbatore
, introduced the concept of "Tent Cinema" in which a tent was erected on a stretch of open land close to a town or village to screen the films. The first of its kind was established in Madras, called "Edison's Grand Cinemamegaphone". This was due to the fact that electric carbons were used for motion picture projectors.
, ancient than the Sanskrit, was the medium in which many plays and stories were written since the ages as early as the Cholas. They were highly stylized and nature of the spectacle was one which could attract the people. Along with this, music and dance were one of the main entertainment sources.
The Bharata Natyam dance was the oldest dance of India
and so impacted the cultural heritage to a very great extent. Usually the kings sitting in the court were seen admiring dancers, and enjoying the music and dance along with the courtiers. These kind of themes were commonly found in the movies. The theory of rasa dating back to ancient Sanskrit drama is believed to be one of the most fundamental features that differentiate Indian cinema.
Along with the music and dance of ancient India, the novels and books written by many authors were used for making the movies and sometimes, the entire story was adopted from the book alone and made into films. The ancient Indian epics of Mahabharata
and Ramayana
which have exerted a profound influence on the thought and imagination of popular Indian cinema, particularly in its narratives. Examples of this influence include the techniques of a side story, back-story and story within a story. Indian popular films often have plots which branch off into sub-plots which were common in the early Tamil cinema.
There is a strong Indian tradition of narrating mythology, history, fairy tale
s and so on through song and dance. Whereas Hollywood filmmakers strove to conceal the constructed nature of their work so that the realistic narrative was wholly dominant, Indian filmmakers made no attempt to conceal the fact that what was shown on the screen was a creation, an illusion, a fiction. However, they demonstrated how this creation intersected with people's day to day lives in complex ways. By the end of the 1930s, the State of Madras legislature passed the Entertainment Tax Act 1939
The year 1916 marked the birth of Tamil cinema with the first Madras production and South Indian film release Keechaka Vaadham produced and directed by R. Nataraja, who established the India Film Company Limited.(The Destruction of Keechaka). During the 1920s, silent Tamil language film were shot at makeshift locations in and around Chennai, and for technical processing, they were sent to Pune
or Calcutta. Later, some films featuring M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar
were shot in those cities as well. In the 1930s AVM set up its makeshift studio in the town of Karaikudi
, and during the same decade, full-fledged Movie studios were built in Salem (Modern Theatres
Studio) and Coimbatore
(Central Studios
, Neptune, and Pakshiraja). By the mid 1940s, Chennai became the hub of studio activity with two more movie studios built in Chennai, Vijaya Vauhini Studios and Gemini Studios
. Later, AVM Studios shifted its operations to Chennai. Thus, with the undivided Madras Presidency being the Capital to most of South India, Chennai became the center for Tamil- and Telugu-language films. Also, most of the pre-independence
era drama and stage actors joined the film industry from the 1940s, and Chennai became the hub for South Indian–language film production and the cinema of Sri Lanka
before independence.
. They have one of the widest overseas distribution, with large audience turnout from the Tamil diaspora
alongside Hindi films. They are distributed to various parts of Asia
, Africa
, Western Europe
, North America
and Oceania
.
Keechaka Vadham (1918) was the first Silent film
made in South India
. Kalidas
(1931) was the first Tamil
talkie film
made in 1931. Kalava
was the first Full-length Talkie made entirely in Tamil. Nandanar
(1935) was the first film for American film director Ellis R. Dungan Balayogini
released in 1937 was considered to be first children's film of South India. Marmayogi
that starred M. G. Ramachandran was the first Tamil film to receive an "Adult" certificate from the film censor board
.
Tamil films have enjoyed consistent popularity among populations in South East Asia. Since Chandralekha
, Muthu was the second Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese (as Mutu: Odoru Maharaja) and grossed a record $1.6 million in 1998. In 2010, Enthiran grossed a record $4 million in North America
.
Many Tamil-language films have premiered or have been selected as special presentations at various film festivals across the globe, such as Mani Ratnam
's Kannathil Muthamittal
, Vasanthabalan
's Veyyil
and Ameer Sultan
's Paruthiveeran
. Kanchivaram (2009) was selected to be premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
. Tamil films have been a part of films submitted by India for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language on eight occasions, next only to Hindi. Mani Ratnam's Nayagan
(1987) was included in Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list.
Tamil films enjoy significant patronage in neighbouring Indian states like Kerala
, Karnataka
, Andhra Pradesh
, Maharastra, Gujarat and New Delhi
. In Kerala and Karnataka the films are directly released in Tamil but in Andhra Pradesh they are generally dubbed into Telugu. Many successful Tamil films have been remade by other film industries. It is estimated by the Manorama Yearbook 2000 (a popular almanac) that over 5,000 Tamil films were produced in the 20th century. Tamil films have also been dubbed into other languages, thus reaching a much wider audience. There has been a growing presence of English
in dialogue and songs in Chennai films. It is not uncommon to see movies that feature dialogue studded with English words and phrases, or even whole sentences. Some movies are also simultaneously made in two or three languages (either using subtitles or several soundtracks). Chennai's film composers have popularised their highly unique, syncretic style of film music across the world. Quite often, Tamil movies feature Madras Tamil, a colloquial version of Tamil spoken in Chennai
.
Independent Tamil film production in places outside of India, including Sri Lanka
, Singapore
, Canada
, and Europe
, took prominence over the late-20th century. The history of filmmaking of Tamil language films in Canada dates back to the early 1990s. It is primarily based in the metropolitan region of the Greater Toronto Area
in Southern Ontario
. Tamil films are also made in Sri Lanka
where Tamil is one of the official languages since the ancient times. The film My Magic
directed by Singaporean
Eric Khoo
became Singapore's first film to be nominated for the Palme d'Or
at Cannes. Some of these films have involved one or more film personalities from the Chennai industry as well.
(GDP) of the state of Tamil Nadu
. For the purpose of entertainment taxes, returns have to be filed by the exhibitors weekly (usually each Tuesday). Costs of production have grown exponentially from just under 40 lakhs in 1980 to over 11 crores by 2005 for a typical star-studded big-budget film. Similarly, costs of processing per print have risen from just under 2,500 in 1980 to nearly 70,000 by 2005.
The Government of Tamil Nadu
made provisions for an entertainment tax exemption for Tamil films having titles in words from the Tamil language
only. This is in accordance with Government Order 72 passed on July 22, 2006. The first film to be released after the new Order was Unakkum Enakkum. The original title had been Something Something Unakkum Ennakkum, a half-English and a half-Tamil title. In July 2011, strict norms on entertainment tax were passed which stated that films which were given a 'U' certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification alone were eligible for tax exemption and those with an 'A' certificate could not fit into this category.
There are 3 major roles in the Tamil film value chain viz producer, distributor and exhibitor. The distributor purchases theatrical distribution rights from the producer for exhibiting the film in a defined territory. The distributor performs enhanced functions such as:
There are three popular approaches to transfer of distribution rights via distribution contracts:
There are four popular approaches to transfer of exhibition rights via exhibition contracts:
was considered to be first most influential actor of South Indian cinema. P. U. Chinnappa
, another popular actor in Tamil cinema was slotted second only to Bhagavathar, died suddenly in 1952. M. G. Ramachandran
became a prominent actor in the mid 1950s and continued to be a popular actor till the late 1970s before stepping into politics. On the other hand, Sivaji Ganesan
, the media-built rival of Ramachandran, was considered to be one of the finest method actor
s in India of his time.. Kamal Haasan
and Rajinikanth have been the biggest brands in Tamil Cinema for over twenty five years despite the arrival of the next 3 generations of actors.
K. B. Sundarambal
, a popular carnatic singer made her film debut with Nandanar in 1935 was considered to be one of the finest actresses of her time. She was paid a renumeration of 1 lakh
(highest pay for a movie star in Tamil back then; amount not adjusted for inflation)for acting in her debut film.
and A. R. Rahman
received international recognition. These two composers also hold the record of having won the most number of awards for Best Music Director
from the National Film Awards
. A. R. Rahman has won two Academy Awards
for his work in the British film, Slumdog Millionaire
. His debut film Roja
was the only Indian film to feature in Time magazine
's "10 Best Soundtracks" of all time. In the 2003 BBC
International poll, "Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu" from the film Thalapathi
, scored by Ilaiyaraaja was voted by people from 155 countries as fourth in the world's top 10 most popular songs of all time.
Several international composers have used Chennai's studios to record music for projects, as have composers from other film industries. G. Ramanathan
was a famous composer for Tamil Movies in the 1950s and was considered to be one of the most influential composers. He won the Best Music Compser award for Veerapandiya Kattabomman
at the Afro-Asian Film Festival held at Cairo
in 1960. K. V. Mahadevan
, a prominent composer in the 1960s and 1970s was the first South Indian music composer to win a National Film Award
. M. S. Viswanathan
and T. K. Ramamoorthy
duo was popular in the 1960s and 1970s, with interest in Tamil film songs being re-ignited with the audio revolution. Other prominent Tamil film score
and soundtrack composers of the present include Yuvan Shankar Raja
who is the first Indian to win the Cypres International award for music, and Harris Jayaraj
, Vijay Antony
, Deva
, Karthik Raja
, Vidyasagar
, Bharathwaj
, G. V. Prakash Kumar
and Shankar Mahadevan
who is a part of the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
trio, who are prominent composers in Bollywood
.
which is a group of all prominent Tamil film actors. Formed in 1952 under the leadership of actor Sivaji Ganesan
, the association governs film or media-related issues that may arise to its members. The association has also continued to conduct philanthropic activities, as well as public outcries for certain political and humanitarian issues. The current president of the association is the actor-turned-politician R. Sarath Kumar.
Other associations include the Association of Tamil Film Directors which is headed by director P. Bharathiraja and the Tamil Film Producers' Council, headed by film director Rama Narayanan, who often meet to make financial decisions in the economy. A more broader association that incorporates all kinds of film personalities includes the well-known Film Employees' Federation of South India (FEFSI). They often successfully pledge for the welfare of low-income film workers, such as lighting technician
s and stunt coordinator
s.
was the first film school in south India. This institute along with the Film and Television Institute of India
, Pune
and the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute
, Kolkata
is among the oldest film schools of India. An Indo-Russian film institute is about to be set up soon.
Film industry
The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...
based in Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, India, dedicated to the production of film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s in the Tamil language
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
. It is based in Chennai's Kodambakkam district, where several South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
n film production companies are headquartered. Tamil cinema is known for being India's second largest film industry in terms of films produced, revenue and worldwide distribution, with audiences mainly including people from the four southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, Andra Pradesh, and Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
.
Silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s were produced in Chennai since 1917 and the era of talkies
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
dawned in 1931 with the film Kalidas
Kalidas (film)
Kalidas was the first Tamil talkie film made in 1931. It was produced on the sets of Alam Ara by Ardeshir Irani. The director was Irani's former assistant H.M. Reddy. The film had dialogues and songs in Tamil and Telugu.-Production:...
. By the end of the 1930s, the legislature of the State of Madras
Madras State
Madras State was the name by which the Indian districts in Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Northern Kerala, Bellary and Dakshina Kannada were collectively known as from 1950 to 1953....
passed the Entertainment Tax Act of 1939. Tamil cinema later had a profound effect on other filmmaking
Filmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
industries of India, establishing Chennai as a secondary hub for Telugu cinema, Malayalam cinema, Kannada cinema
Cinema of Karnataka
The cinema of Karnataka , sometimes colloquially referred to as Sandalwood and as Chandanavana in Kannada, encompasses movies made in the Indian state of Karnataka based in Bangalore. Most of the movies are made in Kannada, with a handful of them in Konkani or Tulu. Today more than 100 films are...
, and Hindi cinema
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
. In its modern era, Tamil films from Chennai have been distributed to various overseas theatres in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Malaysia, Japan, Oceania, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, and Northern America
Northern America
Northern America is the northernmost region of the Americas, and is part of the North American continent. It lies directly north of the region of Middle America; the land border between the two regions coincides with the border between the United States and Mexico...
.
The industry also inspired filmmaking in Tamil diaspora
Tamil diaspora
The Tamil diaspora is a demographic group of Tamil people of Indian or Sri Lankan origin who have settled in other parts of the world. Significant Tamil diaspora populations can be found in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Middle East, Réunion, South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles, Fiji, Guyana,...
populations in other countries, such as Sri Lankan Tamil cinema
Sri Lankan Tamil cinema
Sri Lankan Tamil cinema, the Tamil language film industry in the Sri Lankan city of Jaffna, is not as developed as Sinhala cinema or its Indian counterpart, the Tamil cinema of Kodambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This is especially due to the high production rates of the influential commercial Tamil...
and Canadian Tamil cinema, Malaysia/singapore tamil cinema
Malaysia/singapore tamil cinema
Making Tamil films out side its motherland Tamil Nadu is actively growing. With Tamil Diaspora spread all over the world from west to east of the globe there are many enthusiastic film makers who want to make their mark...
.
Film studios in Chennai are bound by legislation, such as the Cinematography Film Rules of 1948, the Cinematography Act of 1952, and the Copyright Act of 1957.
Etymology
Tamil cinema is often referred to as Kollywood, a portmanteau of the words Kodambakkam, an area of Chennai, where Tamil language feature films are produced, and Hollywood. The term Kollywood dates back to the 1950-80s when the term began to be widely used for describing Tamil cinema, the age when the term BollywoodBollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
was also starting to be used widely. It is an unknown fact of who first used this word even though many sources assign the credit of using the word to many places. But Kollywood was inspired only after Hindi Cinema started using the word Bollywood.It stands as one of the top commercial film contributors.
Early exhibitors
In 1897, a EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an exhibitor first screened a selection of silent short films at the Victoria Public Hall
Victoria Public Hall
Victoria Public Hall, or the Town Hall, is a historical building in Chennai, named after Queen Victoria. It is one of the finest examples of British architecture in Chennai and was built to commemorate the golden jubilee of the British Empress Queen Victoria. It served as a theatre and public...
in Madras. The films all featured non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
al subjects; they were mostly photographed records of day-to-day events. In Madras (present-day Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
), the Electric Theatre was established for the screening of silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s. It was a favourite haunt of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
community in Madras. The theatre was shut down after a few years. This building is now part of a post office complex on Anna Salai
Anna Salai
Anna Salai , formerly known as Mount Road, an abbreviated form of St. Thomas Mount Road, is an arterial road in Chennai, India. It starts at the Cooum Creek, south of Fort St George and ends at the Kathipara Junction in Guindy...
(Mount Road). The Lyric Theatre was also built in the Mount Road area. This venue boasted a variety of events, including plays
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
in English, Western
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
classical music concerts, and ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
dances. Silent films were also screened as an additional attraction. Swamikannu Vincent, an employee of the South Indian Railways in Trichy, purchased a film projector
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
and silent films from the Frenchman Du Pont and set up a business as film exhibitor. He erected tents for screening films. His tent cinema became popular and he travelled all over the state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
with his mobile unit. In later years, he produced talkies and also built a cinema in Coimbatore
Coimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
.
To celebrate the event of King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
's visit in 1909, a grand exhibition
Art exhibition
Art exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
was organised in Madras. Its major attraction was the screening of short films accompanied by sound. A British company imported a Crone
Crone
The crone is a stock character in folklore and fairy tale, an old woman who is usually disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in manner, often with magical or supernatural associations that can make her either helpful or obstructing. She is marginalized by her exclusion from the reproductive cycle,...
megaphone
Megaphone
A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loud hailer is a portable, usually hand-held, cone-shaped horn used to amplify a person’s voice or other sounds towards a targeted direction. This is accomplished by channelling the sound through the megaphone, which also serves to match the...
, made up of a film projector to which a gramophone
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
with a disc containing prerecorded sound was linked, and both were run in unison, producing picture and sound simultaneously. However, there was no synched dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
. Raghupathy Venkiah Naidu, a successful photographer, took over the equipment after the exhibition and set up a tent cinema near the Madras High Court
Madras High Court
The Madras High Court is a senior court located at Chennai , in India. The court buildings, which are believed to be the second largest judicial complex in the world, are located near the beach, in one of the city's major business districts....
. R. Venkiah, flush with funds, built in 1912 a permanent cinema in the Mount Road area named Gaiety Theatre. It was the first in Madras to screen films on a full-time basis. The theatre later closed for commercial developments.
Samikannu Vincent, who had built the first cinema of South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
in Coimbatore
Coimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
, introduced the concept of "Tent Cinema" in which a tent was erected on a stretch of open land close to a town or village to screen the films. The first of its kind was established in Madras, called "Edison's Grand Cinemamegaphone". This was due to the fact that electric carbons were used for motion picture projectors.
Influences
Tamil cinema has been impacted by many factors, due to which it has become the second largest film industry of India. The main impacts of the early cinema were the cultural influences of the country. The Tamil languageTamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
, ancient than the Sanskrit, was the medium in which many plays and stories were written since the ages as early as the Cholas. They were highly stylized and nature of the spectacle was one which could attract the people. Along with this, music and dance were one of the main entertainment sources.
The Bharata Natyam dance was the oldest dance of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and so impacted the cultural heritage to a very great extent. Usually the kings sitting in the court were seen admiring dancers, and enjoying the music and dance along with the courtiers. These kind of themes were commonly found in the movies. The theory of rasa dating back to ancient Sanskrit drama is believed to be one of the most fundamental features that differentiate Indian cinema.
Along with the music and dance of ancient India, the novels and books written by many authors were used for making the movies and sometimes, the entire story was adopted from the book alone and made into films. The ancient Indian epics of Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
and Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
which have exerted a profound influence on the thought and imagination of popular Indian cinema, particularly in its narratives. Examples of this influence include the techniques of a side story, back-story and story within a story. Indian popular films often have plots which branch off into sub-plots which were common in the early Tamil cinema.
There is a strong Indian tradition of narrating mythology, history, fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
s and so on through song and dance. Whereas Hollywood filmmakers strove to conceal the constructed nature of their work so that the realistic narrative was wholly dominant, Indian filmmakers made no attempt to conceal the fact that what was shown on the screen was a creation, an illusion, a fiction. However, they demonstrated how this creation intersected with people's day to day lives in complex ways. By the end of the 1930s, the State of Madras legislature passed the Entertainment Tax Act 1939
Studios
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
or Calcutta. Later, some films featuring M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar
M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar
Mayavaram Krishnamurthy Thyagaraja Bhagavathar , also called M.K.T., was a Tamil film actor, producer and Carnatic music singer. He is considered to be one of the most successful Tamil film actors ever....
were shot in those cities as well. In the 1930s AVM set up its makeshift studio in the town of Karaikudi
Karaikudi
Karaikudi is a town in Sivaganga District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.Chettinad literally 'Chetti land' in Tamil, is a collection of 76 villages/towns. Chettinad stretched from Ramnad District and Pudukottai State of 'British' India. The Chettiars, or more properly the Nattukottai...
, and during the same decade, full-fledged Movie studios were built in Salem (Modern Theatres
Modern Theatres
Modern Theaters Ltd was a motion picture movie studio in Salem, Tamil Nadu, India, started by Thiruchengodu Ramalingam Sundaram in 1935. The studio produced over more than 150 movies until 1982 in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Sinhalese and even English of which Tamil movies were the...
Studio) and Coimbatore
Coimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
(Central Studios
Central Studios
Central Studios was a motion picture movie studio in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, started by B.Rangaswamy Naidu and other prominent industrialists like Swamikannu Vincent of Coimbatore in 1935 to make Tamil and other South Indian language movies.The Studio was a major hub of Tamil Movie...
, Neptune, and Pakshiraja). By the mid 1940s, Chennai became the hub of studio activity with two more movie studios built in Chennai, Vijaya Vauhini Studios and Gemini Studios
Gemini Studios
Gemini Studios was launched when Thiruthuraipoondi Subramanian Srinivasan bought a film distribution concern at an auction and renamed it as Gemini Pictures also known as Gemini Studios. Gemini Studios served as a breeding ground for innumerable artists and technicians for the south Indian Film...
. Later, AVM Studios shifted its operations to Chennai. Thus, with the undivided Madras Presidency being the Capital to most of South India, Chennai became the center for Tamil- and Telugu-language films. Also, most of the pre-independence
Independence Day (India)
The Independence Day of India is celebrated on the fifteenth of August to commemorate its independence from British rule and its birth as a sovereign nation in 1947. The day is a national holiday in India. All over the country, flag-hoisting ceremonies are conducted by the local administration in...
era drama and stage actors joined the film industry from the 1940s, and Chennai became the hub for South Indian–language film production and the cinema of Sri Lanka
Cinema of Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan cinema encompasses the films made in Sri Lanka. It is a fledgling industry that has struggled to find a footing since its inauguration in 1947 with Kadawunu Poronduwa produced by S.M.Nayagam of Chitra Kala Movietone.Sri Lankan films are usually made in the Sinhalese language, the...
before independence.
Distribution
The Chennai film industry produced the first nationally distributed film across India in 1948 with ChandralekhaChandralekha (1948 film)
Chandralekha is a 1948 Tamil epic film directed and produced by S. S. Vasan. It features an ensemble cast consisting of M.K.Radha, Ranjan, T. R. Rajakumari, N. S. Krishnan and T. A. Madhuram...
. They have one of the widest overseas distribution, with large audience turnout from the Tamil diaspora
Tamil diaspora
The Tamil diaspora is a demographic group of Tamil people of Indian or Sri Lankan origin who have settled in other parts of the world. Significant Tamil diaspora populations can be found in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Middle East, Réunion, South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles, Fiji, Guyana,...
alongside Hindi films. They are distributed to various parts of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
.
Keechaka Vadham (1918) was the first Silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
made in South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
. Kalidas
Kalidas (film)
Kalidas was the first Tamil talkie film made in 1931. It was produced on the sets of Alam Ara by Ardeshir Irani. The director was Irani's former assistant H.M. Reddy. The film had dialogues and songs in Tamil and Telugu.-Production:...
(1931) was the first Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
talkie film
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
made in 1931. Kalava
Kalava (film)
Galava is a 1932 Tamil language film directed by P. P. Rangachari. It was the first Full-length Talkie made entirely in Tamil. The film was based on a play about Arjuna, one of the Pandavas....
was the first Full-length Talkie made entirely in Tamil. Nandanar
Nandanar
Nandanar was a Nayanar saint born in South India who became a great devotee of Lord Shiva.Nandanar was born in a village called Adhanurin a poor family. He was born at the cruel time where untouchability was being practised, as he belonged to Paraiyar community, which was considered as an...
(1935) was the first film for American film director Ellis R. Dungan Balayogini
Balayogini
Balayogini is a 1937 film made in Tamil and Telugu. It was directed by K. Subramanyam. It is one of the earliest Tamil films to be set in a contemporary social setting and to advocate reformist social policies. This film is considered to be first children's film of South...
released in 1937 was considered to be first children's film of South India. Marmayogi
Marmayogi (1951 film)
Marmayogi is a 1951 Tamil film directed by K. Ramnoth and starring M. G. Ramachandran and M. N. Nambiar. The screen play was written by A. S. A. Sami based on a Marie Corelli novel. This film cemented the onscreen image of MGR as a social rebel and fighter for justice. It was also made in Hindi ...
that starred M. G. Ramachandran was the first Tamil film to receive an "Adult" certificate from the film censor board
Central Board of Film Certification
The Central Board of Film Certification is a Government of India regulatory body and censorship board of India controlled by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It reviews, rates and censors motion pictures, television shows, television ads, and promotional material...
.
Tamil films have enjoyed consistent popularity among populations in South East Asia. Since Chandralekha
Chandralekha (1948 film)
Chandralekha is a 1948 Tamil epic film directed and produced by S. S. Vasan. It features an ensemble cast consisting of M.K.Radha, Ranjan, T. R. Rajakumari, N. S. Krishnan and T. A. Madhuram...
, Muthu was the second Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese (as Mutu: Odoru Maharaja) and grossed a record $1.6 million in 1998. In 2010, Enthiran grossed a record $4 million in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
Many Tamil-language films have premiered or have been selected as special presentations at various film festivals across the globe, such as Mani Ratnam
Mani Ratnam
Mani Ratnam is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and producer. He made his directorial debut with the Kannada film Pallavi Anu Pallavi starring Anil Kapoor in 1983...
's Kannathil Muthamittal
Kannathil Muthamittal
Kannathil Muthamittal is a 2002 Tamil drama film directed by Mani Ratnam. It stars P. S. Keerthana, R. Madhavan, Simran, Nandita Das, Pasupathy, J. D. Chakravarthy and Prakash Raj. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman. The film's title is a famous phrase from a poem...
, Vasanthabalan
Vasanthabalan
-Career:The director began his career with Album, which failed at the box-office. His second film, produced by the prestigious S Pictures company, Veyil became a blockbuster and was shown as the Indian representative at Cannes in 2007...
's Veyyil
Veyil
Veyil is a 2006 Tamil-language film directed by Vasanthabalan. Bharath and Pasupathy are the heroes where Bhavana, Priyanka and Sriya Reddy plays the female leads.-Plot:...
and Ameer Sultan
Ameer Sultan
Ameer Sultan ; born 5 December 1966) is an Indian film director, producer and actor, working in the Tamil film industry. He has directed three films and has gained notable critical praise for two of them, the mystery thriller Raam and the drama Paruthiveeran...
's Paruthiveeran
Paruthiveeran
Paruthiveeran is a 2007 Indian Tamil film written and directed by Ameer Sultan. The film stars Karthi in his feature film debut as the titular character, with Priyamani as the female lead and Ponvannan, Saravanan and Ganja Karuppu and Sujatha essaying supporting roles...
. Kanchivaram (2009) was selected to be premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
. Tamil films have been a part of films submitted by India for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language on eight occasions, next only to Hindi. Mani Ratnam's Nayagan
Nayagan
Nayagan is a Indian film, written, directed, and co-produced by Mani Ratnam which released on 21 October 1987 coinciding with Diwali. Upon release, the film got rave reviews across India. Kamal Hassan's performance as Velu Naiker earned him a National Film Award for Best Actor. The film also...
(1987) was included in Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list.
Tamil films enjoy significant patronage in neighbouring Indian states like Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
, Maharastra, Gujarat and New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
. In Kerala and Karnataka the films are directly released in Tamil but in Andhra Pradesh they are generally dubbed into Telugu. Many successful Tamil films have been remade by other film industries. It is estimated by the Manorama Yearbook 2000 (a popular almanac) that over 5,000 Tamil films were produced in the 20th century. Tamil films have also been dubbed into other languages, thus reaching a much wider audience. There has been a growing presence of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
in dialogue and songs in Chennai films. It is not uncommon to see movies that feature dialogue studded with English words and phrases, or even whole sentences. Some movies are also simultaneously made in two or three languages (either using subtitles or several soundtracks). Chennai's film composers have popularised their highly unique, syncretic style of film music across the world. Quite often, Tamil movies feature Madras Tamil, a colloquial version of Tamil spoken in Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
.
Independent Tamil film production in places outside of India, including Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, took prominence over the late-20th century. The history of filmmaking of Tamil language films in Canada dates back to the early 1990s. It is primarily based in the metropolitan region of the Greater Toronto Area
Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...
in Southern Ontario
Southern Ontario
Southern Ontario is a region of the province of Ontario, Canada that lies south of the French River and Algonquin Park. Depending on the inclusion of the Parry Sound and Muskoka districts, its surface area would cover between 14 to 15% of the province. It is the southernmost region of...
. Tamil films are also made in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
where Tamil is one of the official languages since the ancient times. The film My Magic
My Magic
My Magic is a 2008 Singaporean Tamil language drama film directed by Eric Khoo and produced by Zhao Wei Films in association with Infinite Frameworks. My Magic was the 1st Singapore film to be nominated for the Palme D'Or, the top award for film at the Cannes Film Festival. Its has been also...
directed by Singaporean
Cinema of Singapore
Despite having a flourishing Chinese and Malay film industry in the 1950s and 1960s, Singapore's film industry declined after independence in 1965. There were a few films that featured Singaporean actors and were set in Singapore, including Saint Jack and They Call Her Cleopatra Wong...
Eric Khoo
Eric Khoo
Eric Khoo is a film director from Singapore. He was introduced to the world of cinema at a very early age. He was educated at United World College of South East Asia before attending City Art Institute in Sydney, Australia where he pursued cinematography...
became Singapore's first film to be nominated for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at Cannes. Some of these films have involved one or more film personalities from the Chennai industry as well.
Economics
Average annual film output in Tamil film industry peaked in 1985. The Tamil film market accounts for approximately 0.1% of the gross domestic productGross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
(GDP) of the state of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
. For the purpose of entertainment taxes, returns have to be filed by the exhibitors weekly (usually each Tuesday). Costs of production have grown exponentially from just under 40 lakhs in 1980 to over 11 crores by 2005 for a typical star-studded big-budget film. Similarly, costs of processing per print have risen from just under 2,500 in 1980 to nearly 70,000 by 2005.
The Government of Tamil Nadu
Government of Tamil Nadu
The Government of Tamil Nadu, headquartered at Chennai is the governing authority for the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at the Fort St. George...
made provisions for an entertainment tax exemption for Tamil films having titles in words from the Tamil language
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
only. This is in accordance with Government Order 72 passed on July 22, 2006. The first film to be released after the new Order was Unakkum Enakkum. The original title had been Something Something Unakkum Ennakkum, a half-English and a half-Tamil title. In July 2011, strict norms on entertainment tax were passed which stated that films which were given a 'U' certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification alone were eligible for tax exemption and those with an 'A' certificate could not fit into this category.
There are 3 major roles in the Tamil film value chain viz producer, distributor and exhibitor. The distributor purchases theatrical distribution rights from the producer for exhibiting the film in a defined territory. The distributor performs enhanced functions such as:
- part-financing of film (in case of minimum guarantee / advance based purchase of film rights)
- localised marketing of film
- selection of exhibition halls
- managing the logistics of physical print distribution
There are three popular approaches to transfer of distribution rights via distribution contracts:
- Minimum Guarantee + Royalty - Here, the producer sells the distribution rights for a defined territory for a minimum lump sum irrespective of the box office performance of the film. Any surplus is shared between the producer and distributor, in a pre-set ratio (typically 1:2) after deducting entertainment tax, show rentals, commission, print costs and publicity costs. Effectively, the distributor becomes a "financier" in the eyes of the market. This is the most common channel available to high budget producers.
- Commission - Here, the distributor pays the producer the entire box office collection after deducting commission. So, the entire risk of box office performance of the film remains with the producer. This is the most common channel available to low budget producers.
- Outright Sale - Here, the producer sells all distribution and theatrical rights for a defined territory exclusively to a distributor. Effectively, the distributor becomes a "producer" in the eyes of the market. So, the entire risk of box office performance of the film remains with the distributor.
There are four popular approaches to transfer of exhibition rights via exhibition contracts:
- Theatre Hire - Here, the exhibitor pays the distributor the entire box office collection after deducting entertainment tax and show rentals. So, the entire risk of box office performance of the film remains with the distributor. This is the most common channel for low budget films, casting rank newcomers, with unproven track record.
- Fixed Hire - Here, the exhibitor pays the distributor a maximum lump sum irrespective of the box office performance of the film. Rental is not chargeable per show. Any surplus after deducting entertainment tax is retained by the exhibitor. Effectively, the exhibitor becomes a "producer" in the eyes of the market. So, the entire risk of box office performance of the film remains with the exhibitor. This is the most common channel for high budget films, casting established front-runners, with proven track record.
- Minimum Guarantee + Royalty - Here, the exhibitor pays the distributor a minimum lump sum irrespective of the box office performance of the film. Any surplus after deducting entertainment tax and show rental is shared in a pre-set ratio (typically 2:1) between the exhibitor and distributor. But risk of deficit remains with the exhibitor. This is the most common channel preferred by single screens.
- Revenue Share - Here, the exhibitor shares with the distributor, in a pre-set ratio (typically 1:2), the entire box office collection of the film after deducting entertainment tax. Rental is not chargeable per show. So, the entire risk of box office performance of the film is shared between the exhibitor and distributor. This is the most common channel preferred by multiplex screens.
Actors
M. K. Thyagaraja BhagavatharM. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar
Mayavaram Krishnamurthy Thyagaraja Bhagavathar , also called M.K.T., was a Tamil film actor, producer and Carnatic music singer. He is considered to be one of the most successful Tamil film actors ever....
was considered to be first most influential actor of South Indian cinema. P. U. Chinnappa
P. U. Chinnappa
Pudukkottai Ulaganathan Pillai Chinnappa , also popularly known as P.U.Chinnappa, was a popular singer and Tamil movie actor during 1930's and 1940s from Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu, India. He is also credited to be one of the first major influential actors of South Cinema...
, another popular actor in Tamil cinema was slotted second only to Bhagavathar, died suddenly in 1952. M. G. Ramachandran
M. G. Ramachandran
Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran , popularly known by his initials , was an Indian film actor, director, producer and politician....
became a prominent actor in the mid 1950s and continued to be a popular actor till the late 1970s before stepping into politics. On the other hand, Sivaji Ganesan
Sivaji Ganesan
Viluppuram Chinnaiahpillai Ganesan Manrayar , commonly known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan , was an Indian stage and film actor active during the latter half of the 20th century. He is one of the most respected film actors in India. He is well known for his versatility and acting skills with...
, the media-built rival of Ramachandran, was considered to be one of the finest method actor
Method Actor
Method Actor is an eponymous album released in 1988 featuring American singer Eva Cassidy. It was re-released on CD in 2002, six years after her death.- Track listing :# "Getting Out" – 4:19# "Look in to My Eyes" – 4:16...
s in India of his time.. Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
and Rajinikanth have been the biggest brands in Tamil Cinema for over twenty five years despite the arrival of the next 3 generations of actors.
K. B. Sundarambal
K. B. Sundarambal
Kodumudi Balambal Sundarambal was a renowned stage artist and singer of South India. She was popularly referred to as the "Queen of the Indian stage." She was noted both for her resonant, vibrant voice and for the dignity of her performances. A political activist during the Indian independence...
, a popular carnatic singer made her film debut with Nandanar in 1935 was considered to be one of the finest actresses of her time. She was paid a renumeration of 1 lakh
Lakh
A lakh is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand . It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and is often used in Indian English.-Usage:...
(highest pay for a movie star in Tamil back then; amount not adjusted for inflation)for acting in her debut film.
Musicians
Music composers such as IlaiyaraajaIlaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja is an Indian film composer, singer, and lyricist mainly in the Tamil film Industry. He is regarded as one of the finest music composers in India. Ilaiyaraaja is also an instrumentalist, conductor, and a songwriter...
and A. R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and philanthropist. Described as the world's most prominent and prolific film composer by Time, his works are notable for integrating eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres and...
received international recognition. These two composers also hold the record of having won the most number of awards for Best Music Director
National Film Award for Best Music Direction
The National Film Award for Best Music Direction are given annually. In years 1994, 1995 and 2010, an award for Best Background Score was instituted by the Jury, which was won by Johnson and by Ilaiyaraaja . Ilaiyaraaja and A. R...
from the National Film Awards
National Film Awards
The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.Every year, a national panel...
. A. R. Rahman has won two Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for his work in the British film, Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...
. His debut film Roja
Roja
Roja is a 1992 Tamil political drama, romance film directed by Mani Ratnam. The film was subsequently dubbed in Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam and Telugu....
was the only Indian film to feature in Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
's "10 Best Soundtracks" of all time. In the 2003 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
International poll, "Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu" from the film Thalapathi
Thalapathi
Thalapathi is a 1991 Indian Tamil film written and directed by Mani Ratnam, and produced by G. Venkateswaran under the banner of G. V. Films. The film stars Rajnikanth, Mammootty and Shobana in the lead roles with Arvind Swamy, Srividya, Amrish Puri, Bhanupriya, Nagesh, and Charuhasan essaying...
, scored by Ilaiyaraaja was voted by people from 155 countries as fourth in the world's top 10 most popular songs of all time.
Several international composers have used Chennai's studios to record music for projects, as have composers from other film industries. G. Ramanathan
G. Ramanathan
G. Ramanatha Iyer was a famous Music Composer for Tamil Movies. He is also known as 'Isai Methai' or 'Sangeetha Chakravarthy' and considered to be one of the influential Tamil Music composers to take Carnatic Music to the masses. Notable for his association with M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar...
was a famous composer for Tamil Movies in the 1950s and was considered to be one of the most influential composers. He won the Best Music Compser award for Veerapandiya Kattabomman
Veerapandiya Kattabomman (film)
Veerapandiya Kattabomman is a 1959 Tamil feature film written by Sakthi T. K. Krishnasamy and directed by B. R. Panthulu. The cast includes Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Padmini, S. Varalakshmi, and V. K. Ramaswamy....
at the Afro-Asian Film Festival held at Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
in 1960. K. V. Mahadevan
K. V. Mahadevan
Krishnankoil Venkatachalam Mahadevan was a South Indian music composer.-Career:K.V.Mahadevan was born in Tamil Iyer family in 1918 in Krishnancoil, Kanyakumari district. A contemporary of M. S. Viswanathan, T. K. Ramamoorthy, KVM has scored music for over 600 films, spanning four decades, after...
, a prominent composer in the 1960s and 1970s was the first South Indian music composer to win a National Film Award
National Film Award for Best Music Direction
The National Film Award for Best Music Direction are given annually. In years 1994, 1995 and 2010, an award for Best Background Score was instituted by the Jury, which was won by Johnson and by Ilaiyaraaja . Ilaiyaraaja and A. R...
. M. S. Viswanathan
M. S. Viswanathan
Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan , is a Tamil music director. He is popularly known as "Mellisai Mannar" . His major works over the past five decades have been in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films...
and T. K. Ramamoorthy
T. K. Ramamoorthy
T. K. Ramamurthy, Tiruchirapalli Krishnaswamy Ramamurthy, is a popular South Indian Tamil music composer and violinist. He hails from the from a family of violinists. He is popularly known as Mellisai Mannar . His major works are in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. Along with M. S...
duo was popular in the 1960s and 1970s, with interest in Tamil film songs being re-ignited with the audio revolution. Other prominent Tamil film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
and soundtrack composers of the present include Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer, singer and occasional lyricist. He has predominantly scored music for Tamil as well as several Telugu films. His musical career began in 1996, at age 16, as he composed the film score for Aravindhan...
who is the first Indian to win the Cypres International award for music, and Harris Jayaraj
Harris Jayaraj
Harris Jayaraj is an Indian film composer. He has written scores and soundtracks for Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films.- Early life :Harris Jayaraj hails from a pious Christian Nadar family and was born and brought up in Chennai. Harris studied at Krishnaswamy Matric School, Nungambakam. His father,...
, Vijay Antony
Vijay Antony
-Biography and career:Antony first worked as a sound engineer, later becoming a music director. In 1998 he studied at Loyola College, Chennai after which he founded his own studio, 'Audiophiles', composing and sound engineering for TV jingles and documentaries. The soundtrack of the film Sukran,...
, Deva
Deva (music director)
Deva is an Indian film composer and singer. He has composed songs and provided background music for Tamil films in a career spanning about 20 years. Many know his gaana songs, written mostly using Madras Tamil. He is known as the "Father of Gaana Genre" in the Tamil film industry.Deva has composed...
, Karthik Raja
Karthik Raja
Karthik Raja is a Tamil musician from Chennai, India. He made his debut as music composer in the Tamil film Alexander.-Personal life:Karthik Raja is the eldest son of musician Ilaiyaraaja and Jeeva. His brother Yuvan Shankar Raja and sister Bhavatharini, who are also Kollywood music directors and...
, Vidyasagar
Vidyasagar (music director)
Vidyasagar is an Award-Winning Indian film music director and music composer in the Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi film industry. He is very popular in South Indian music industry and best known for his soulful melodies. His fast numbers to many films have earned him much fame too. He has...
, Bharathwaj
Bharathwaj
Bharathwaj is a Tamil film composer. He has since scored music in languages including Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. trained in Hindustani, Western and Carnatic music.He is a recipient of Kalaimamani Award for the year 2008 from Tamil Nadu Government...
, G. V. Prakash Kumar
G. V. Prakash Kumar
G. V. Prakash Kumar is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer. He has mainly scored music for Tamil, while also doing three Telugu films and a Hindi film...
and Shankar Mahadevan
Shankar Mahadevan
Shankar Mahadevan is an Indian music composer and singer. He is a part of the Shankar Ehsaan Loy trio team that composes for Indian films and a playback singer.-Early life:...
who is a part of the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy are an Indian musical trio consisting of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa. Record producers, musicians and multi-instrumentalists, they have composed music for over fifty soundtrack across four languages...
trio, who are prominent composers in Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
.
Union associations
The industry includes several groups who organize their own events based on different issues of major concern. Rather than forming separate and distinct groups, each association occasionally collaborate for certain events. These associations are based on profession in the industry, such as a directors' association or producers' association. The most notable association is the South Indian Film Artistes' AssociationSouth Indian Film Artistes' Association
The South Indian Film Artistes' Association , also known as the Nadigar Sangam, is an Indian organization consisting of film actors and actresses from the Tamil film industry in Tamil Nadu, India. Formed in 1952, the group has organized several events due industry-related issues and, more recently,...
which is a group of all prominent Tamil film actors. Formed in 1952 under the leadership of actor Sivaji Ganesan
Sivaji Ganesan
Viluppuram Chinnaiahpillai Ganesan Manrayar , commonly known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan , was an Indian stage and film actor active during the latter half of the 20th century. He is one of the most respected film actors in India. He is well known for his versatility and acting skills with...
, the association governs film or media-related issues that may arise to its members. The association has also continued to conduct philanthropic activities, as well as public outcries for certain political and humanitarian issues. The current president of the association is the actor-turned-politician R. Sarath Kumar.
Other associations include the Association of Tamil Film Directors which is headed by director P. Bharathiraja and the Tamil Film Producers' Council, headed by film director Rama Narayanan, who often meet to make financial decisions in the economy. A more broader association that incorporates all kinds of film personalities includes the well-known Film Employees' Federation of South India (FEFSI). They often successfully pledge for the welfare of low-income film workers, such as lighting technician
Lighting technician
Lighting technicians are involved with rigging and controlling electric lights for art and entertainment venues or in video, television, or film production. In a theater production, lighting technicians work under the lighting designer and master electrician...
s and stunt coordinator
Stunt coordinator
A stunt coordinator, usually an experienced stunt performer, is hired by a TV, film or theatre director or production company to arrange the casting and performance of stunts for a film, television programme or a live audience...
s.
Film schools
The Madras Film InstituteMadras Film Institute
The Film & Television Institute of Tamil Nadu is an advanced Technical Institute, which is imparting education on film techniques and aesthetics. The main objective is to impart training in various techniques of Film and Television Production and allied subjects. The Film and Television Institute...
was the first film school in south India. This institute along with the Film and Television Institute of India
Film and Television Institute of India
Film and Television Institute of India , is an autonomous Institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India. It is fully aided by Central Government of India. It is situated in the premises of the erstwhile Prabhat Film Company in Pune, India...
, Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
and the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute
Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute
Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute is a film institute in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.The institute was established in 1995, and registered as a Society on 18.8.95 under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961 and is an autonomous society funded by Ministry of Information and...
, Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
is among the oldest film schools of India. An Indo-Russian film institute is about to be set up soon.
See also
- Cinema of the world
- Cinema of IndiaCinema of IndiaThe cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...
- Filmfare Awards SouthFilmfare Awards SouthFilmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the South Indian film industry. The awards are separately given for Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films...
- Tamil Nadu State Film AwardsTamil Nadu State Film AwardsTamil Nadu State Film Awards are the most notable film awards given for Tamil films in India. They are given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The awards are decided by a committee headed by...
- Vijay AwardsVijay AwardsThe Vijay Awards are presented by the Tamil television channel STAR Vijay to honour excellence in Tamil cinema. It has given annually since 2006. The awards are decided by a jury, consisting of noted filmmakers, critics and technicians, while winners in a separate category named "Favourite awards"...
- International Tamil Film AwardsInternational Tamil Film AwardsThe International Tamil Film Awards is an awards ceremony that honours excellence in Tamil language films around the world since 2003.- Awards :* Best Picture * Best Director* Best Actor* Best Actress* Dream Girl* Best Supporting Actor...