Tamil cinema has played a vital role in Dravidian politics in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Films have been influential in Indian politics since the days of the British Raj, when movies were used for anti-British propaganda. Nevertheless, the leaders of the Indian National Congress viewed movie media with contempt. It was the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a Dravidian party, that made extensive use of this media for propaganda purposes. Adversaries of Dravidian parties despised the use of films and screen popularity for political gain, and Congress leaders like K. Kamaraj questioned the possibility of movie stars forming governments.

C. N. Annadurai, the first Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from a Dravidian party, was the forerunner in introducing Dravidian ideologies into movie scripts. Of the movies made by Dravidian politicians Parasakthi (1952) was a turning point, as it was a huge box office hit and made radical comments against the social hierarchy set by the caste system and glorified the Dravidian movement. M. Karunanidhi, former Chief Minister, scripted the screen play for Parasakthi, in which Sivaji Ganesan and S.S.Rajendran, two founding members of the DMK, made their screen debuts.

Movies produced by the DMK Party received severe censorship from the then ruling Congress government. According to Murasoli Maran, a former Union Minister from DMK, the censors would remove parts of the movies, so that the coherence of the screen play was lost, making the movies a box office failure. The script writers used equivocating phrases and words to evade the censorship.

Five out of seven chief ministers from Dravidian parties were actively involved in Tamil cinema either as writers or as actors. M. G. Ramachandran, J. Jayalalithaa was the most successful. He launched his own Dravidian party after personal differences with the leaders of DMK, and rose to power as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu mostly with the help of his movie fans and low level cadres. The legacy of politics in Tamil filmdom still continues, though less prominently than in the 1950s to 1970s.

Background

Dravidian movement

The Dravidian movement was founded in 1925 by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy (popularly known as Periyar). The movement aimed to achieve a society where backward castes have equal human rights, and encouraging them to have self-respect in the context of a caste-based society that considered them to be at the lower end of the social hierarchy. In Tamil Nadu an array of regional parties, termed Dravidian parties, owe their origin either directly or indirectly to the Dravidian movement. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its political rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) have been the major Dravidian parties. One of the major platforms of the Dravidian movement was to achieve political change by means of awareness within the society in everyday life.Hodges S (2005)Revolutionary family life and the Self Respect movement in Tamil south India, 1926–49 Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol. 39, No. 2, 251-277 Thus Dravidian politicians viewed film media as an apt vehicle to promote such a revolution.

Tamil cinema

Tamil cinema, like its counterparts in other languages in India, is known as a melodramatic entertainment form plotted around twists of fate set in exaggerated locales, and filled with songs and dances.. Although a few stars from other southern states have tried to use film popularity as a stepping stone in politics, such as N. T. Rama Rao (Andhra Pradesh), Rajkumar (Karnataka) and Prem Nazir (Kerala), it was in Tamil Nadu that it was most prominent, with five of the seven Chief Ministers from Dravidian parties hailing from the Tamil film industry. In a state such as Tamil Nadu, where no single caste is predominant, film stars were considered people with wide acceptability to lead. According to emeritus professor K. Sivathamby, the movie halls themselves acted as a symbol of social equality. He states

Politicizing Tamil cinema

Early Tamil films were mainly based on mythological stories, and movies based on contemporary society started only in 1936. With the end of the era of silent movies in the 1930s many stage actors joined the Tamil cinema, and brought the ideologies of Gandhian philosophies with them. Although the Congress party made use of movie stars such as K. B. Sundarambal to appear at political meetings, some congressmen of that era looked upon movie media with contempt. Tamil Congress leaders like C. Rajagopalachari considered movie media to be a source of moral corruption. K. Kamaraj, then president of the All India Congress, mocked DMK's desire to get into power in this statement:

DMK and cinema

Attempts made by some Congress leaders to use stars of Tamil cinema, however minimal, were limited since this media remained inaccessible to the rural population (who were in the majority). The politicising of movies by the Congress virtually stopped soon after Indian Independence in 1947. With the introduction of electricity to rural areas in the 1950s Dravidian politicians could implement movies as a major political organ.

In post colonial India, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) was the first – at the time the only – party to take advantage of visual movie media. Actors and writers of guerrilla theatre, who were inspired by the ideologies of Periyar, brought the philosophies of Tamil nationalism and anti-Brahminism to celluloid media. The movies not only made direct references to the independent Dravida Nadu that its leaders preached for but also at many times displayed party symbols within the movie. Murasoli Maran, former central minister from DMK, considered that the DMK movies reflected the faces of both the past (demonstrating the rich language and culture of Tamils) and the future (with social justice). The DMK films espoused Dravidian ideologies through use of lengthy dialogues in its initial movies. Nevertheless, as the party's political aspirations grew, the movies based on Dravidian social reformation themes were replaced with stories that would enhance star popularity.

Censorship in DMK movies The initial DMK movies were not victims of censorship since the party was little known to the censors, but as the party gained popularity in mid-1950s censorship became stronger. According to Murasoli Maran one of the techniques followed by the censors was to make sure that the coherence of the movie was lost so that it was a box office failure. At one point DMK, having had been a target of high censorship, had to move back to stage dramas. But the Dramatic Licensing Act brought censorship to stage plays as well, and two of Karunanidhi's plays were banned.

To evade censorship DMK scriptwriters chose to use puns and equivocal phrases. The most commonly used pun was Anna which is the word for older brother in Tamil and also was the popular name for DMK chief C. N. Annadurai. When Anna was praised on screen the audience would break into applause.

Script writers of DMK

C. N. Annadurai

The use of movie media as a major propaganda vehicle of Dravidian ideologies was first introduced by Annadurai, the founder chief of DMK, through his scripts. During his initial days with Dravidar Kazhagam, Annadurai wrote dramas which promoted social reforms and non-Brahmin self-respect ideologies. After the formation of DMK, Annadurai, along with E. V. K. Sampath (Periyar's nephew and one of the founders of DMK) and actor K. R. Ramasamy, staged several plays promoting Dravidian ideologies. The DMK party's head office was purchased using the money raised through these plays. Annadurai scripted six screen plays in total.

His first movie was Nallathambi (Good Brother, 1948), which starred N. S. Krishnan. It promoted cooperative farming and the abolition of the zamindari system of taxation. His movies such as Velaikaari (Servant Maid, 1949) and Or Iravu carried the hallmarks of propaganda for Dravidian politics. On Velaikari, Annadurai said that the movie

Velaikari made direct criticisms of suppressive landlords who were traditionally allied with Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhi. When DMK won the elections in 1967, Annadurai served as its first Chief Minister until his death in 1969.

Karunanidhi

Karunanidhi, the other major leader from DMK, started his propaganda efforts with Parasakthi (1952). Parasakthi was a turning point in Tamil cinema, as until then most movies contained up to 55 songs and were mostly based on mythologies. Parasakthi was initially banned. When it was finally released in 1952 it emerged as a huge box office hit.

Like that of his political mentor Annadurai, Karunanidhi's movies carried elements of Dravidian political ideologies such as anti-Brahminism and anti Congress Party messages. Two of the movies that contained such messages were Panam and Thangarathinam. The overall themes of the movies were remarriage of widows, untouchability, self-respect marriages, abolition of zamindari and abolition of religious hypocrisy.

Until 1949-50 Tamil film dialogues were in a Brahminical slang of the Tamil language. Annadurai and Karunanidhi introduced Tamil close to formal language and void of Sanskrit influence. According to Professor Robert Hardgrave Jr, the popularity of their movie dialogues made both Annadurai and Karunanidhi "stars in their own right." After the death of Annadurai, Karunanidhi assumed the office of the Chief Minister in Tamil Nadu, and with intermediate periods of in and out of power, he served his 5th term as the chief minister from 2006 to 2011.

Actors from Dravidian parties

K. R. Ramasamy K. R. Ramasamy was an actor of both stage and screen in the 1940s and 50s. He was one of the founding leaders of the DMK and it was his earnings that initially financed the party. A talented singer and actor, he was called a Nadipisai Pulavar (acting and singing poet) by the popular masses. Improvements in technology in the film industry, including playback singing, along with personal problems ended the career of Ramaswamy. Nevertheless, he was nominated as a member of the Legislative Council (upper house of the State) by Annadurai in recognition of his service to the party.

N. S. Krishnan

N. S. Krishnan, or NSK as he was popularly known, was a Tamil comic actor and, as the times then required, a talented singer. He was never officially a member of any Dravidian party, but served the DMK to a great extent. He was one of the few non-Brahmins of his era to be popular in a Brahmin-dominated Tamil film industry. His favourite character to play in the movies was a Brahmin buffoon, which he would also enact in DMK meetings. NSK was highly influenced by the ideologies of Periyar and sowed the seeds of anti-Brahmanism in his scripts. NSK served the cause of DMK so much that the last public gathering Annadurai ever attended was to unveil a statue of NSK at a busy intersession in Chennai.

M. R. Radha

M. R. Radha was a stage actor and was popular through his roles as villain on screen. He was an ardent follower of Periyar and was close to most DMK leaders before they split from Dravidiar Kazhagam. Both Annadurai and Karunanidhi were part of M. R. Radha's troupe at different times and had even acted in his plays.

Sivaji Ganesan

Sivaji Ganesan is a veteran actor of Tamil cinema. He started his acting career at the age of six and toured with various drama troupes including that of M. R. Radha. The actor himself was named Shivaji by Periyar E. V. Ramasami after his role portraying the Maratiya king in a play named Chandra Mohan. In Chandra Mohan the Maratiya king triumphs over Brahmins and the role of the villainous Brahmin was played by Annadurai himself.