Madras Studios: Narrative, Genre and Ideology in Tamil Cinema

This book documents the history of Tamil cinema, one of the most colossal film industries in the worldand studies the major studios of Madras, the largest outside classical Hollywood in the private sector.

It engages with five major studios of Madras-Modern Theatres, AVM, Gemini, Vijaya-Vauhiniand Prasad - through the origins of their foundersand explicates how their history influenced the narratives, genreand ideology of the canonical films made in Madras studios, arguing for their lasting influence on Tamil cinema.

Based on rare primary and secondary materials and oral history, this book engages with Tamil cinema at the intersection of its industrial, culturaland socio-political history to argue for its specificity in terms of its aesthetics and its belief in the potential of the medium to mobilize audiences for ideology, politics and reflexivity.

Table of Contents:

Preface

Introduction

• A Multiplicity of Influence: Modern Theatres and Its Films
• AVM and Gemini Studios: The Dravidian Movement and the Competing Narratives
• Vijaya-Vauhini and Prasad: The Other Narratives
• Traces of the Studio System: A Certain Tendency of the Tamil Cinema
• Dravidian Utopia and Dystopia: Canonical and Contemporary Tamil Cinema

Bibliography

Filmography

Index