CONTEMPORARY TAMIL CINEMA & DISCUSSIONS ON CASTE IDENTITY

Abstract

Cinema is a popular medium of art. In earlier days, cinema in India did deal with social problems in a peripheral way. It often failed to address the social realities, especially caste disparities. Cate issues were always portrayed as economic backwardness. But recent times have witnessed that popular and commercial cinema has begun to open up towards the discussions of gender and caste. In the case of caste discussion, it is the Tamil Cinema industry that creates more movies on it. Tamil cinema is comparatively rich with Dalit representations in the arena of filmmaking. Some directors, writers, and actors initiated the discussions of caste hierarchy in popular cinema. The political situations of Tamil Nadu have been a deep influence in molding these directors and their courageous ventures of popular cinema with Dalit subjects. Dravidian Ideology, Mandal politics, and the recent revival of Ambedkarite politics have been fuel for this. Still, fitting Dalit issues into the frames of the popular and commercial film have both pros as well as cons. Hence, this article analyses the relevance of the socio-political situations of Tamil Nadu in initiating mainstream Dalit cinemas. It also looks into the pros and cons of the popular narrative of Dalit subjects.