மணமக்கள்!

Kollywood and the Eelam Connection

By  Shanthi Sachithanandam

“ Bid farewell to us, our Land
Our home where the sea laps at the door,
where Palmyrah groves abound providing warm nests for the birds,
will we ever see you again at least once?
We wander as empty skeletons
After burying our smiles into our lips
and burying our souls into our bodies …”
- Scene of refugees fleeing to Tamil Nadu in the film Kannathil Muththamittaal

This was back in 2003. As I entered the LTTE office at Puliyankulam in the Vanni to obtain my ‘visa’ to enter the North, I noticed a familiar figure in the waiting room. My heart beat a trifle faster at his sight. He was Nizhalgal Ravi , a famous actor in the South Indian Tamil film industry who had acted under recognized directors in films such as Mani Ratnam’s Nayagan and Balu Mahendra’s Marupadiyum. “I have heard about Mankulam so much. I was determined to see it for myself and that is the purpose of my visit here..” he was heard explaining to someone sitting next to him. He was on his pilgrimage to Mankulam!

Sure enough, the heroic battles waged by the LTTE in the defense of Mankulam town during Jayasikurui operations had fired the imagination of the film world in Chennai. But that could not be the only reason why Kodampakkam filmdom (popularly known as Kollywood), that is now being rated to be at par with the commercialization and technological development of the international film industry, had got starry eyed about the affairs of the Sri Lankan Tamils. It is a highly professional outfit dictated to by the market, and the market only. There had to be a more solid reason than the idealism of a national liberation struggle.

Perhaps market was the reason that Tamil films hardly referred to the existence of Sri Lankan Tamils during the pre 1980s. After all, we were a mere 3 million compared to their 80 million. In the films of yesteryears, occasionally a character might run away to ‘Ceylon’, that was all one heard about in reference to this country. Although the influx of thousands of refugees from Sri Lanka in the 1980s forced the Tamils in Tamil Nadu to take notice of this group called Sri Lankan Tamils, it did not significantly alter the existing status quo of the Sri Lankan Tamils. As far as their cinema was concerned, this had not made any impact. Yes, evergreen hero and the then Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran was known to hold a candle for Prabakaran; some music directors and singers did work on music albums produced for the various SL Tamil militant groups; being an ardent supporter of the Eelam cause, hero actor Vijayakanth did produce and act in a film titled “Captain Prabakaran” ( which story incidentally was not even remotely connected to the real struggle taking place here). But, leaving these peripheral factors aside, Kollywood made no attempts to depict nor take the message of Sri Lankan Tamils to their audience.

The large scale emigration of Sri Lankan Tamils to western Europe, North America and Australia began to change this equation. The economic opportunities that opened to the new immigrants in these countries helped develop their entrepreneur skills. Ever enthusiastic in nurturing and developing their language and cultural traditions, it were the Sri Lankan Tamils who initiated the 24 hour Tamil radio and television transmissions in these countries. Tamil language magazines abounded and Hindu temples sprouted practically everywhere. It is remarkable that despite the presence of larger numbers of South Indian Tamils, these initiatives had to come from the Sri Lankans who were late arrivals and that too as asylum seekers. Anyway, inevitably all the mentioned ventures needed fund raising events and also various celebrations, for which South Indian Stars were invited. This is where the new found economic power of the Sri Lankan Tamils began to be
felt by Kollywood.

Beginning around the 1990s, the most popular stars of the South Indian cinema were invited to North America and western Europe for musical and dance shows. These shows provided considerable incomes to the actors and actresses outside of their usual film commitments, which were rather seasonal. Not restricting themselves to merely hiring stars for shows, the diaspora Tamil community began to dabble in film production. In 1988 a Sri Lankan Tamil living in UK financed director Balu Mahendra’s film “Veedu” (meaning house), which was acclaimed and went on to win national awards in India. This financier was the former member of the Thamil Maanavar Peravai (Tamil Students Forum) in Jaffna, and one of the suspects arrested in 1974 in connection with the early acts of sabotage there and subsequently released. “Veedu” is significant as probably the first film that brought out the dilemmas of the growing educated middle class of South India through depicting the struggle of a working couple trying to acquire land and build a house in Chennai. Thus opened the possibility of Sri Lankans investing in
Kollywood films.

Films identified as having Sri Lankan investors started appearing around the 1990s. Some of them were specifically marked as sponsored by the LTTE. “Kattrukkenna Veli” (meaning can the wind be fenced in) was one such film which traces the experiences of a female tiger cadre taken across to Tamil Nadu for medical treatment after a major Army camp attack. Director Seeman’s “Thambi” (meaning younger brother) released in 2005, was also rumoured as having been financed by LTTE’s television channel. There was a strong basis for this suspicion , as the title name is what Prabakaran was popularly known amongst his peers in the 1970s and 1980s due to him being the youngest of them all. Also, this film script was based on the argument that only violence produces social change. The hero, significantly named as Velu Thondaimaan, is supposed to be a revolutionary characterized as possessing infinite love along with immense anger intolerant of injustice. The popular heart throb Madhavan and the part Sri Lankan heroine Pooja acted in this film which ran 150 days full house. Seeman was interviewed in the magazine ‘Anantha Vikaten’, a weekly sold over a million copies in Tamil Nadu. “I dedicate this film to both Periyaar (the great Tamil intellectual E.V. Ramasamy) and Prabakaran..” he declared.

Whatever these may be, the diaspora community made more impact as viewers and fans rather than as investors of films. Tamil films began to be heavily dependant on the market in the developed countries especially amongst the Sri Lankan Tamils. It is claimed that top actor Kamalhasan earns his income for acting in films by buying the rights to distribution in these countries. Nowadays Tamil films run in the main film circuits in the UK in London as well as other cities such as Birmingham. Recently, actor Vijay’s (rated as the future super star) film “Pokkiri” (meaning Rascal) ran to box office records in UK prompting the star to publicly thank his Sri Lankan fans. Mani Ratnam had the premiere of his film “Guru” starring Aishwarya Rai and Abishek Bachchan, not in any cities of India, but in Torronto!

Thangar Bachchan, a director of serious films and a prominent member of the Film Actors Guild burst out at other big stars in an interview to Ananda Vikaten. “ You invest 20 and 30 crores in your films, trusting whom? Isn’t it on the market created by the Eelam Tamils living all over the world? (If they contribute so much to your coffers) then is it not proper that you share in their grief as well?…..He (the Sri Lankan) has lost his land and has been humiliated. Each of you go and perform in cultural shows and grab his money earned through melting his life, isn’t it” He was castigating all the top actors for their inadequate vocal support extended to the cause of theTamil liberation struggle.

Even though these actors and directors as Thangar Bachchan claims have not climbed up on political stages to vocalize their support, they have brought out some powerful films on the Eelam struggle and the situation of the immigrants. The classical director Bala did “Nanda”, shot in Rameswaram about a local overlord getting entangled in the politics of the boat refugees from Sri Lanka. This film is undoubtedly one of the greatest to emerge from Kollywood. Mani Ratnam made “Kannathil Muththamittaal” (meaning if your cheeks are kissed) about an adopted nine year old girl from Chennai going in search of her biological mother who is a LTTE cadre in the Vanni. Kamalhassan produced and acted in “Thenali” a serious comedy where the hero is a young Sri Lankan living in Tamil Nadu traumatized by his experiences during the war. Kamalhassan made another film “Nala Damayanthi” where the heroine is a Sri Lankan single woman living in Australia. Another recent release is “Cyanide”, originally made in Kannada about one of the accomplices in the Rajiv Gandhi murder, Sivarasan. This has become a runaway success in Karnataka and is now dubbed and released in Tamil Nadu. Cyanide’s director Suresh was asked as to why he shone Sivarasan as a hero in that film. He had explained that even though killing Rajiv Gandhi was unacceptable, the struggle waged by the Tamils in their homeland had to be given due respect.

Apart from films made in India on the Eelam struggle, attempts have been made also to produce them in the authentic setting of the Vanni. Art director Mahendran’s son John was invited by one Mr. Prabakaran (not the LTTE leader) who heads the Tamil Living Media Network in Switzerland, to make a film in the Vanni. Accordingly “Aaniver” (meaning tap root) was filmed in the Vanni under LTTE’s supervision. The director admitted that leader Prabakaran advised extensively on the storyline , desiring it to deal exclusively with the plight of the war affected Vanni Tamils. This film has now been nominated for the International film festival to be held in Hyderabad in April 2007 purely on the initiatives of the jury. During the period of making this film, Mahendran also traveled to the Vanni to conduct film production classes for artistes there. Joining this line of film directors, Bharathiraja has vowed to make a film on the Eelam struggle, after his travels to the Vanni around the same time. “When I met leader Prabakaran, I developed goose pimples..” he was later to recount his experiences in an interview.

Not only directors, but song writers too jumped on to the political platform of Eelam. After the year 2000 many love songs have been composed where references are made to the Eelam war. “ When the Eelam war ceases, I want to decorate your hair with the flowers blooming from its soil..” says one lover. “Let all noises cease including the sounds of war from Eelam so I can hear only the noise of your breath..” says another. In another film where the hero and heroine come from different social classes, she poses a series of questions to her lover in a song. “What if you are America and I am Afghanistan, where can we hold our wedding?” is one such question. The hero answers all the questions except when she asks “what if you are Sri Lanka and I am LTTE..?” To this question he can only howl “Aiyo, please shut your mouth..” All these songs have been mega hits.

The Tamil cinema has changed very much in many ways except one. That is the sway it has over Tamil Nadu politics. Being an actor sought by the market also means that one has the possibility to become the chief Minister of the State. M.G. Ramachandran, a Malayali by birth, was never defeated till he died. Even Karunanidhi had to maintain his links with the cinema world in order to strengthen his political fortunes. Super star Rajinikanth, a Kannadiga, was persuaded time and again by his fans to contest elections in Tamil Nadu. Vijayakanth is another up and coming political personality. Actually, at present, the situation is that almost all the stars who are professionally on the wane have jumped into political work. Apart from creating political leaders, the Tamil cinema has also played on the caste politics in Tamil Nadu. Sometimes the theatres where new films of popular actors are released become the arena where these caste conflicts are fought out. The urban under class doubles up as fans as well as the mass base of these parties.

I was traveling in an auto in Chennai. As is usual to Chennai traffic the ride was hazardous, prompting me to let out screams of fear. “What Amma, you people are fighting the Sri Lanka Army so heroically in your country and you are scared of such small things here..?” the auto driver asked me to my utter surprise! He, is that participant in the demonstrations that the Tamil Nadu political parties organize in support of Eelam cause, and also, the politicized voter. In both roles he can exert significant influence on his government which in turn would do the same on the government in New Delhi. Unless we are aware of the moods displayed by Tamil Nadu, we will never be able to fathom the moves of New Delhi. Those wandering skeletons which left our shores in search of new homes in the West, after having buried their smiles in their lips and their souls in their bodies, might determine our politics, after all.

Courtesy: http://www.viluthu.org/Articles.html