Dear Sir,for long there has been a question running in the mind of general tamil public and movie goers,
why there are not many tamil women coming on top as heroines
and nearly 95% of the tamil heroines are non tamil people.
and these thoughts will further be discussed elaborately in this topic.
before 1950 most of the heroines were tamil as knowing and speaking fluent tamil(even singing)is a compulsory for all actress.
but when india become independent there was large state of Madras covering most of 4 southern states and chennai served as the hub of film producing for all 4 southern languages, so from there the invasion of non tamil actresses begun
also playback singing become popular and these non tamil actress spoke fluent tamil.
but north indian actress are literally unknown till 1980s.
in the fifties and sixties most of the tamil heroines were telugu(banumathi,savitri,anjali devi)or kannada(saroja devi,jayanthi,bharathi)or mallu(padmini&sisters), and they talked fluent tamil,though many popular tamil heroines were also there like vijayakumari etc.
also many non tamil heroines were natives of madras so no linguistic problems arose.
most notably the beautiful and fantastic tamil actress ever vyjayanthi mala,born and brought up ion chennai chose hindi film for tamil ones.
hemamalini,rekha,sridevi,meenakshi seshadri followed her footsteps and made enormous success in hindi films.
one cinema analyst pointed out the reason not so many tamil actress coming on top in kollywood is that most of the fair and beautiful tamil women in tamilnadu are from brahmin community and becausse of anti brahmin sentiments of 50s and 60s they fled to other film world or feared enterimng tamil industry.
exception to this view are jayalaitha and lakshmi who remained top heroines of their time.
by 70s most of the heroines were from telugu or malayalam.
and with rathi agnihotri's debut in tamil, the stage was set for great bombay invasion.
since 1970s tamil fil ndustry mostly produced low budget flicks and indusstry dominated by directors with MGR left and sivaji running a lone race, the importance having a glamorous heroines was unwarranted
but bharati raja introdueced rathi agnihotri a punjapi who made huge success , but she too moved northwards to telugu then to hindi like sridevi.
so when sridevi left there was huge vaccum created in tamil films for a complete actres,who is beautiful ,glamourous, talentd and loved by many.
that vaccum was occasionally filled by many but for a brief period and true cinema lovers were sincerley longing for a actress like sridevi for decades.
top actress from the time sridevi left tamil till now.
criteria is beauty,popularity,box office record,number of films, dancing acting skills and having a fan following among male youth population(they now account for 75% of BO collections)
1. 1983-86 ambika radha
2.1986-90 revathy,amala,nadhiya,seetha(all quit after marriage)
3.1990-1993 kushboo(for unknow reasons she was removed from all films in mid 1993)
4.1993-96 meena roja
5.1996-97 invasion of bollywood nagma(from 94),aishwarya rai,tabu,sushmita,shilpa shetty,kajol, simran and a host of unknopwn bombay actresses(there were nearly 25-50 debutants in the late ninties)
6.1997-2004 simran(till her marriage)
7.2004-05 trisha and sneha
8.2005-07 asin
9. 2007 shreya(upto 1.1.2008)
10.2008 nayathara
in 1980s when there is no TV or net, with only govt.controlled radion, most of the movie related info.on cinema came through magazines.
though many magazines like bommai,pesum padam and cinema express gave detailed information on everything about cinema, ther are 100s of yellow magazines that gave bad,unproved and titilating info on actresses.
they talked about actresses compromises onachieving stardom and the abuse and exploitation of women by cine people.
these are further spread through word of mouth as gossips which gripped the mind of genberal public even now.
this prevented aspiring actresses to enter cine field and to mover toward more honourable professions.
though this attitude changed in late 80s and early 90s and many tamil women tested their luck at kollywood.the problem is most of these women came from higher levels of society or from a cosmopoiltan setups with increased social and economic liberation,they too failed to make a mark.
so they moved to other fields or married and settled p[eacefully.
suganya is the only one to reach top actress status by a tamil women,she too sidelined after kushboo's success
also the north indian actresses are extroverted by nature, comfortable in western dresses and came in huge number to choose from.
if yoy see the films released in mid ninities you can see how many new faces were debuted, over 50% of films had newcomers from bombay.
Dear Sir,
I personally feel that this topic is not right for this forum unless it is going to contribute to the welfare or upliftment of Tam.Brahmin community.However you are at liberty to air your views
I would agree with suvarchas. But if you are discussing this you may also discuss why the Tamil Nadu government prefers junior North Indian Brahmin IAS and IPS officers with Brahmin surnames over senior Tamil Brahmins without caste names in the case of top appointments in the Government.
You have hit the bull's eye.The rampant Jaathi veri is only after the advent of DMK.In the name of upliftment of downtrodden,DMK and other Kazhagams have only fanned communal and sectarian feelings.This could be gauged from the fact that nearly in all years strife between communities are taking place in places like Kamudhi,Interior Tirunelveli and other sensitive places during temple festivals.One consolation is Brahmins are never involved in any of those incidents.Fact: Tamil Brahmins have been Chief Secretary in almost all other states. Assam, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, U.P. The last two are supposed to be the caste ridden states.
The fact is that Tamil Nadu is the most caste dominated state.
Periyar would be turning in his grave (so to say) to see North Indian brahmins dominating the civil services in Tamil Nadu.
The average Tamilian feels inferior to the Hindi speaking North Indian.
I have personal experience because my children are often mistaken for Setthu (fair and fat) and get royal treatment in Chennai.
My idea of posting is to say that the case of actresses and civil servants are both based on personal whims and fancies.
But both are based on Caste. Jathi Veri is rampant in Tamil Nadu in all circles with no exceptions. No state is this bad.
I have a question for sapr333.
I do not think the Blacks in the U.S go around looking for fair brides.
P.S. I have been wanting to ask this question to some one for a long time.
Dear Sri Nacchinarkiniyan Ji,
Unfortunately, lately this whiter skin phenomenon has been creeping in to the African American community here in USA as well. Like in India, products to make the skin fairer are becoming popular among blacks.
We Indians are very color conscious. During my life here in the US, I have always noticed a subtle racism shown by our folks towards the blacks, coining even a derogatory name to call them.
Just an observation.
Regards,
KRS
I have a question for sapr333.
You had posted about the number of blacks acting in Hollywood movies. But tell me when was the last time we had a black heroine in a Tamil Movie? . .
Fact:
>>>>Periyar would be turning in his grave (so to say) to see North Indian brahmins dominating the civil services in Tamil Nadu.>>>
I Stand by you!! No words to counter.
>>>The average Tamilian feels inferior to the Hindi speaking North Indian.>>>
Not really..In this modern I.T era, I have heard Tamil verbatim is flowing in the IT corridor.. Rather, its time, Tamils used to tease Hindiwallas, for their poor English and accent.. And TB' contribution is great on that.. Please read my blog.
>>>I have personal experience because my children are often mistaken for Setthu (fair and fat) and get royal treatment in Chennai.>>
Couldnt comprehend this.. esp, Setthu.. You mean Plumy..???
>>>>My idea of posting is to say that the case of actresses and civil servants are both based on personal whims and fancies.>>
Yes, Tamil movie industry is occupied by fair skin.. Now,kollywood is behind much fair skins than Tamil-Copper coloured-skins.!!!.. They are all hanging out with Punjab and Gujarath skins.
>>>>But both are based on Caste. Jathi Veri is rampant in Tamil Nadu in all circles with no exceptions. No state is this bad.>>>
Varna is all about Colour supremacy right... Why Blame, they are all working on this doctrine of Skin Colour..
Varna is all about Colour supremacy right... Why Blame, they are all working on this doctrine of Skin Colour..
no sir, varna is not about skin colour, certainly not abt color supremacy at all...
i think i had already mentioned the context of varna to diff hindu schools.
ppl say agastya was brown, short and pot-bellied. ppl claim he was a kshatriya by birth...ved vyas was dark skinned and skinny. ppl make varna claims of 2 diff varnas abt both of them...
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