Tamil Cinima History
Cini News
Beginning of tamil cinima
From 1950 onwards the technical milestones for Tamil cinema started coming very regularly. The first color film (Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum) and later moving on to cinemascope through Raja Raja Cholan etc. Now, we are in a period where technical advances are made at a rapid pace, be it digital photography, digital projection, live sound or CGI.
But, the point to be pondered over more carefully is whether Tamil cinema has regressed in terms of the themes and liberality of outlook. Some of the examples of daring and out of the box themes have been mentioned above. That was a period during which censors never unduly cut into a film maker’s space, except when the British objected to political content. That was also a period when actresses/heroines where given roles of substance and not used as fillers and glamour dolls. We can also see some highly experimental themes in the form of films like Andha Naal (1954). In the 1950s, one could say that the average number of songs in a film was around 10. But, here was a team that went against all norms and produced one without any songs at all. Nearly 60 years later, making a Tamil movie with no songs or even one song is still considered path breaking. While the 10 roles of Kamal in Dasavatharam were celebrated as a great achievement, we perhaps forgot that more than 40 years ago, Sivaji Ganesan did 9 roles in a single film, Navarathri. It goes to show that even though technique has progressed in leaps and bounds, the will to experiment has not grown proportionally.
Tamil cinima in 80's
It is 80 years since Tamil was first spoken on the silver screen. We have been born into a world where Tamil booms off the silver screen aided by Dolby, DTS and other world class technologies, where there is no shortage of avenues to watch a Tamil feature film on the big screen. So, it does take some time and a vivid imagination to fully understand what the first Tamil talkie film, Kalidas, would have meant to the Tamils of the 1930s who had up to that point only been treated only to silent cinema; and in some very rare cases, silent cinema accompanied by live and synchronized performances by musicians and the animated descriptions of professional narrators.
Yes, sitting in front of a computer screen in 2011, it is indeed difficult to imagine the era where cinema did not speak. That is all the more reason we appreciate the pioneering efforts of Ardeshir M Irani and HM Reddy; producer and director of Kalidas respectively. On October 31 1931, the boxes carrying the reels of the first ever Tamil talkie film arrived at the Madras port and it was escorted to the Liberty Theater in Parrys by a huge procession replete with bands and garlands. Unlike the processions of today which are mostly in celebration of a film’s star, this one was for the sheer joy of the fact that cinema would actually speak Tamil for the first time. The film had a mind boggling 50 songs.
*In comparison, we seem to have regressed in our way of thinking. Or perhaps there is the fact that the people of the 30s had far more important issues like the freedom struggle and they left such smaller matters alone!
Beginning of tamil cinima
From 1950 onwards the technical milestones for Tamil cinema started coming very regularly. The first color film (Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum) and later moving on to cinemascope through Raja Raja Cholan etc. Now, we are in a period where technical advances are made at a rapid pace, be it digital photography, digital projection, live sound or CGI.
But, the point to be pondered over more carefully is whether Tamil cinema has regressed in terms of the themes and liberality of outlook. Some of the examples of daring and out of the box themes have been mentioned above. That was a period during which censors never unduly cut into a film maker’s space, except when the British objected to political content. That was also a period when actresses/heroines where given roles of substance and not used as fillers and glamour dolls. We can also see some highly experimental themes in the form of films like Andha Naal (1954). In the 1950s, one could say that the average number of songs in a film was around 10. But, here was a team that went against all norms and produced one without any songs at all. Nearly 60 years later, making a Tamil movie with no songs or even one song is still considered path breaking. While the 10 roles of Kamal in Dasavatharam were celebrated as a great achievement, we perhaps forgot that more than 40 years ago, Sivaji Ganesan did 9 roles in a single film, Navarathri. It goes to show that even though technique has progressed in leaps and bounds, the will to experiment has not grown proportionally.
Tamil cinima in 80's
It is 80 years since Tamil was first spoken on the silver screen. We have been born into a world where Tamil booms off the silver screen aided by Dolby, DTS and other world class technologies, where there is no shortage of avenues to watch a Tamil feature film on the big screen. So, it does take some time and a vivid imagination to fully understand what the first Tamil talkie film, Kalidas, would have meant to the Tamils of the 1930s who had up to that point only been treated only to silent cinema; and in some very rare cases, silent cinema accompanied by live and synchronized performances by musicians and the animated descriptions of professional narrators.
Yes, sitting in front of a computer screen in 2011, it is indeed difficult to imagine the era where cinema did not speak. That is all the more reason we appreciate the pioneering efforts of Ardeshir M Irani and HM Reddy; producer and director of Kalidas respectively. On October 31 1931, the boxes carrying the reels of the first ever Tamil talkie film arrived at the Madras port and it was escorted to the Liberty Theater in Parrys by a huge procession replete with bands and garlands. Unlike the processions of today which are mostly in celebration of a film’s star, this one was for the sheer joy of the fact that cinema would actually speak Tamil for the first time. The film had a mind boggling 50 songs.
*In comparison, we seem to have regressed in our way of thinking. Or perhaps there is the fact that the people of the 30s had far more important issues like the freedom struggle and they left such smaller matters alone!