Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Talking Singing and Dancing Pictures: A Cultural History of Early Tamil Sound Cinema, 1931-1951

Talking Singing and Dancing Pictures: A Cultural History of Early Tamil Sound Cinema, 1931-1951

Shankar, M.

Hardcover

Film StudiesGeneral Political Science

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 9374513412
ISBN13: 9789374513415
Publisher: Manohar Books
Pages: 322
Language: English
The book offers a richly detailed account of the birth and consolidation of Tamil talkies in the first two decades of sound. Situating cinema within the cultural landscape of the erstwhile Madras Presidency, this book traces how a new audiovisual medium emerged at the intersection of theatre, literature, journalism, music, and politics.

Drawing on extensive archival sources and critical scholarship, the study reconstructs the vibrant world that shaped early Tamil sound cinema. It examines the flourishing of silent films in South India, the powerful legacy of musical drama, and the transition from stage to screen that transformed performance styles, narrative structures, and audience expectations. The book also explores evolving scriptwriting practices, the rise of film journalism, and the growth of print culture, showing how these parallel developments collectively forged a distinct Tamil cinematic language.

Beyond aesthetics and industry practices, the work illuminates the dynamic relationship between cinema and politics during the era of anticolonial nationalism. It reveals how competing ideological forces mobilized cinema as medium to articulate social reform, cultural identity and political aspiration-making early Tamil cinema a crucial arena of public discourse.

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