Film in Chennai

Kamal Hassan is a leading method actor; he has won both popular and critical acclaim for his range of roles – from playful to action to intense drama. He has been acting since the age of six, writes screenplays and lyrics, sings playback, is a trained classical dancer, director and producer.

"In the early days of cinema, the characters spoke the language of the upper classes - either with the Mudaliar inflection or the Brahmin one. It was considered fashionable to speak in the Brahmin language and even the underdog spoke a language that was very Brahmanical. I guess somewhere audiences felt left out like the Afro Americans did in America. Not quite like that, but in some sense. There has been an anti casteist movement in Tamil Nadu from the 6th century, started by the Jains even before Periyar (Periyar Erode Venkata Ramasamy, 1879 –1973, who fought against social inequity and formed the Dravidar Kazahagam, the self-respect movement of Dravidians). The shoonyavadis, as they were called, left behind a solid stamp on Tamil culture.

It all filtered down to this amalgam at some point that led towards the betterment of man - the potpourri of pre-nationalistic thoughts to the Renaissance to the printing press that created a Periyar. This was bound to reflect on cinema too. People like Mr Karunanidhi (DMK Leader and Chief Minister) have been steeped in Tamil literature and are at the same time aware of what was happening around the world. Cinema itself was an eye opener for them, which they used to the best effect when it came to propagating their messages and ideologies. I would say they watched the media with eagle eyes and learned about things around the world to the extent that they even incorporated colours of different political countries into the colour of their flags. But then I would like to caution that what we see in films has really nothing to do with the actual history. Cinema is not really the best medium to study history."

"Tamil cinema is not very simplistic. It is a highly complex system that reflects a lot about the state and its people. The Brahmin community retreated from this medium thinking it to be very low class. They moved out and went to the Music Academy. They thought that was art and this was not. But now they are also aspiring to be part of this larger medium. And this is the future and this is where roles are being reversed. There was a time when the Make Up Union refused to take a woman. Women could not play any technical part. They could not be assistant directors. A woman was only fit to play some roles. All this is changing. Tamil cinema, which according to me, was very inbred is undergoing several changes. People are looking at the world outside and films from different countries thanks to the video, internet and things like that. It is very acceptable now to be part of it all and that is how it should be. It is a versatile medium and all consuming. And a lot of people do not have a problem with that anymore.

Change will come to Tamil cinema as people become more aware of international cinema. Just as good writing came about when writers like Jayakantan, Sujatha Sundar Raman Swamy and Jayamohan read other literature which spurred them to do great work too, film makers need to be aware of the world. We survive all kinds of cinema, including the bad ones. It is like the Coovam ( a river that passes through Chennai). It is there and it exists. And we exist along with it.”