The Paradigm shifts in the Portrayal of Caste in Tamil Cinema and its impact on the Tamil Society

The film industries of India, among the largest in the world, can be broadly classified into two: one is the Bollywood Industry, the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai, and the other is a number of regional film industries, which produce films in different languages of India.This article analyses the portrayal of caste in Tamil cinema, one of the regional film industries based in Tamil Nadu, South India.Discrimination based on caste is one of the fundamental and most profound problems in India since it determines one's status, lifestyle, profession, and one's entire life.Moreover, it is also the source of conflict and discrimination among people of different castes.Tamil cinema has produced many films which deal with the caste system in Tamil Nadu.There have been many paradigm shifts in the portrayal of caste in the history of Tamil cinema in terms of higher castes, lower castes, inter-castes, and subaltern classes.This paper examines the paradigm shifts in portrayal of caste in different Tamil films in different periods of the history of Tamil cinema and its impact on the Tamil society.2 Ibid.