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. 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). 2 Though see Leonard (2015) for a recent exception.
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