Arts...Exit to Tamil Brahmins..

[sravna]

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I think a reluctance to enter the tamil film industry might have been there for many of the talented people in the community as a commercially successful film cannot be made by getting involved in subjects that they best qualified to create because such movies would essentially be projecting the brahmins ethos prominently.

 

[sarang]

Creditable since her parents and family are not connected with the film industry.

One more actress (hot most of the time!!) Gayathri Jayaram is a Tambram.

It took me a long time to get her photo clad in a saree!

 

[vgane]

Coming to the main topic that Tamil Cinema has not attracted TB talent in droves, my view is that it is incorrect...Even during the 50's-80's period there was AVM group by the Chettiars...The top actors such as MGR, Sivaji were not brahmins...They did not speak brahminical Tamil unless required as by Sivaji in Vietnam Veedu, Gauravam & Paritchaiku neramachu...Probably the brahminical Tamil was in vogue in the 30's & 40's.

The Tamil commercial cinema which started with mythological stories started focussing on socially relevant themes in the 40's & 50's...This continued in the 60's & 70's too ...It was elitist to a large extent...The movie that ushered in a revolution of sorts with a rural theme was the blockbuster Annakili in 1976 by Devaraj Mohan...It brought Isai Gnani Ilaya Raja to name & fame...The movie ran to packed houses for almost 200 days...This was followed by 16 Vayathinile & Kizhake pogum rail by Bharathi Raja which were all mega hits...Soon the trend shifted to a rural bias...We had more movies with rural themes...I feel that the directors preferred the actors with the local slang (Madurai or Kovai)... Even here Kamal Haasan was successful...His role as Chappani was fabulous.

We have missed other TB actors in the list
1. Srikanth
2. Jayaram (Malayalam actor)
3. Saranya Mohan

The Tamil film industry is shrinking though it is the second largest after Hindi...The contribution to Tamil Nadu's GDP is a minuscule 0.1%...With revenues getting eroded due to video piracy, satellite channels the industry the industry is in doldrums (look at the opposition to Kamal Haasan's Viswaroopan in DTH one day prior to release in theatres).

Whoever has the charisma will succeed in Tamil Cinema, be it from any community

Here are the snaps:

 

[ShivKC]

film

Coming to the main topic that Tamil Cinema has not attracted TB talent in droves, my view is that it is incorrect...Even during the 50's-80's period there was AVM group by the Chettiars...

Whoever has the charisma will succeed in Tamil Cinema, be it from any community

You have a point.

1)till 40's tb's occupied 80% of govt jobs, ICS, higher education.. You cant dispute this figure.
2)Also, till 50's TBs dominated the 70% tamil movie industy/ Recording industry/All India Radio KaCcheries etc and now it got down sized to 5%

Loosing 1 get tends to blame it on the proverbial reservation, but loosing 2 is still a point to ponder..

Now you want to conclude that its all about Charisma, and so its lost.. If so, what made TBs to loose the charisma in the last fifty years?

There is more in to it.

 

[vgane]

I do not ascribe any sinister motive to that...The opportunities for TB's are vast in this globalized world....

In the 30's & 40's the cine actors also had the onerous task of singing...So we needed a different breed...

I chanced at the following article...Even in 30's you had the famous cine artists -M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, T.P. Rajalaxmi, K.B.Sundarambal from other communities who were successful...So charisma plays the key role...Who would not get swayed by the Bhakthi in KBS or MKT songs

1916-1936

In the 50's to 70's period Government jobs were the ultimate for TB for a comfortable life...The high paying jobs were in arts (cinema,drama, music in that order) followed by Medicine/Engg/Legal...The cineworld had a few producers who were willing to invest a few crores, nay few lacs for producing a movie..Artists were well paid & being an actor was a coveted job.

As far as cine technicians are concerned, there has been a steady increase in education level & skill level of other communities too (which is welcome) and hence TB's are no more the only torch bearers of that


From the late 80's the private sector has grown in leaps & bounds...In this globalized world the private sector is coveted for its high paying jobs...While the cinema has just about a dozen highly paid artists in the private sector it runs in to thousands..No wonder the charm of cinema is eroding and our TB's run behind the private sector

While there has been social justice themes in Tamil Cinema starting with Parasakthi, the TB's are not stigmatized in the arts field...They are always welcome to add to the charm and color in the cineworld...