Post-Regional Tamil Cinema
Loading...
Files
Size: 184.88 KB, File format: Adobe PDF
Date
Authors
Velayutham, Selvaraj
Devadas, Vijay
Supervisor
Item type
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Routledge
Abstract
In recent years, India's regional Telegu and Tamil cinema have experienced a meteoric rise, often surpassing Bollywood in both innovation and box-office success. This development reflects a broader reconfiguration of the Indian cinematic landscape, where regional industries are no longer subordinate to the Hindi-language mainstream but are instead producing content that commands national and global attention. In this chapter, we argue that while regional blockbusters were once local, territorial, and contextually situated, recent productions have disavowed any clear sense of locality or recognisably South Indian cultural traits. Tamil films like Vikram (2022), Jailer (2023), Leo (2023), and Indian 2 (2024) are marked by their larger-than-life storytelling, cutting-edge technology, and gripping narratives that have redefined the notion of regionality. Although these films were produced in Kodambakkam, the heart of the Tamil film industry, and the hallmarks of “regional cinema” lie in its provincial South Indian linguistic and cultural characteristics and target audience, these films do not conform to that mould. This chapter explores the emergence of post-regionalism in Tamil cinema through an analysis of select contemporary films, arguing that these productions signal a new phase in Indian cinema, wherein regional industries actively reshape and redefine the contours of cinematic identity and spectatorship.
Description
Keywords
History, 36 Creative Arts and Writing, 47 Language, Communication and Culture, 4702 Cultural Studies, 3605 Screen and Digital Media
Source
In: Gehlawat, A. & Beaster-Jones, J. (Eds.) (2025) Routledge handbook of South Asian cinemas. Chapter 10. ISBN 9781032803661 DOI: 10.4324/9781003497912
Rights statement
This is the Author's Accepted Manuscript of a chapter published in the Routledge handbook of South Asian cinemas, published by Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis, who permit the AAM posted open access in the author's institutional repository after an embargo of 18 months. The publisher's version is available at (see Publisher's version).