Tamil Cinema

Tamil Cinema

Previously, the academic study of Indian cinema has focused primarily on Bollywood, despite the fact that the Tamil film industry, based in southern India, has overtaken Bollywood in terms of annual output. This book critically examines the cultural and cinematic representations in Tamil cinema. The chapters outline the cinema’s history and distinctive characteristics, and proceed to consider a number of important themes such as gender and the portrayal of women, religion, class, sexuality, cinematic genre and the politics of identity. Throughout, the book manages to link the analysis to wider social, political and cultural phenomena in Tamil and Indian society. As interest in Indian cinema grows across the globe, Tamil Cinemais an exciting contribution to an under-studied field, facilitating a fresh consideration of the existing body of scholarship on Indian cinema.

Tamil Cinema in the Twenty-First Century

Tamil Cinema in the Twenty-First Century explores the current state of Tamil cinema, one of India’s largest film industries. Since its inception a century ago, Tamil cinema has undergone major transformations, and today it stands as a foremost cultural institution that profoundly shapes Tamil culture and identity. This book investigates the structural, ideological, and societal cleavages that continue to be reproduced, new ideas, modes of representation and narratives that are being created, and the impact of new technologies on Tamil cinema. It advances a critical interdisciplinary approach that challenges the narratives of Tamil cinema to reveal the social forces at work.

The Eye of the Serpent