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The curious case of cinema and society

by Gyanvitaranam

   Cinema has become an integral part of our day-to-day life. Besides being a $1.6 billion industry, it mirrors the society that we have formed and living in. On the flip side, cinema that takes its inputs from the society has gathered criticism for indecent, violent, exaggerated and sometimes fictional representation of the people and culture.

   The debate of whether cinema influences society or vice versa would be useless as they co-exist and take lessons from each other. It’s like asking did the egg come first or the hen? In Tamil cinema, while the filmmakers refer to society for political, linguistic and psychological storyline for their project, the people take reference about fashion, identity and reasoning from films. For example, after the pro Jallikattu protest that happened on the sands of Marina beach in January 2017, Tamil cinema at least saw five to six films that had Jallikattu and the rights of Tamils as themes directly or....

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