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This fact has multiple implications for the study of caste politics. Since the displacement of Brahmins, those who wield socio-economic power here are those categorized as Shudra-or serving castes elsewhere. The Caste Backdrop to Tamil Cinemaĥ Firstly, it is important to note that there are no representatives of the Kshatriya category of warrior or kingly castes in Tamil Nadu (Washbrook 1976). We move, then, to a brief review of the literature on Tamil cinema, and an analysis of the films before closing with a wider discussion. In what follows, therefore, we begin with an overview of the key caste clusters discussed in this paper. 3 Tamil caste politics is complex, yet our analysis depends upon a basic understanding of caste dynamics in the state. We support our analysis where appropriate with observations from ethnographic research carried out by both authors.
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These so-called Backward Castes are increasingly influential in Tamil Nadu and their rise to power has coincided with the cinematic valorization of dominant castes. 3 Whilst this paper does not emerge directly from a particular research project, both authors have be (.)ĤPrimarily drawing on secondary sources and a close reading of multiple films we argue that the films of this period largely carried thematic structures and visuals depicting and glorifying the intermediate castes.This paper focuses on caste as a major element in popular films, and explores how images, screenplay, costumes, dialects and songs depict a certain normative form against which a deviant “other” is constructed. Additionally, we argue that there is a symbiotic relationship between caste politics and cinema particularly through the naturalization of intermediate caste markers and narratives. In this paper we offer an analysis of films since 1985 to suggest that the representations of caste dominance popularized in these movies have served to reinforce a social common sense-following Gramsci (1971) and Pandian (1992)-in which the Thevar cluster of intermediate castes are understood as martial, violent, and socially dominant. Given that politicians have used films to launch and sustain their careers, embed themselves in the public consciousness and shift public discourse in subtle ways, there is a need for analysis of the implicit caste norms and values carried in these films and the impact that they have.
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This is particularly surprising given the social significance of the medium. 2ģ Likewise, whilst volumes have been devoted to discussing the significance of caste in Tamil politics, there has been less attention paid to the ways in which caste is played out in the cultural sphere of film (but see Srinivas and Kaali 1998). There has been less analysis, however, of the impact of this medium on social relations in the state. All of this, of course, is well known and much has been written about the umbilical link between politics and cinema (Dickey 1993 Hardgrave 1973). Tamil Nadu produces the most films in a year, its landscape is ornamented with cinema posters, cut-outs and fan clubs, and for almost half a century the state has been ruled by politicians who made their names and secured their popularity through their association with the tinsel world (Jacob 2009).