A language war!

Parasakthi (Tamil, 2026)

Director: Sudha Kongara

https://letterboxd.com/film/parasakthi-2026/watch/

2026 is an election year for Tamil Nadu. The year started with a bang with two Tamil movies with explosive political themes. The highly anticipated Vijay of the newly minted party TVK, and his alleged last film, Jana Nayagan, is stuck with the censors for unknown reasons. Some insiders reckon that the dialogue is highly spiced with political innuendo or outright condemnation of his opponents, such as the DMK and the BJP.

The second movie, which did not pose a threat to Vijay’s heavyweight, not surprisingly, was cleared easily. This movie, starring Sivakarthikeyan, the game show host who found fame through sheer grit, is a historical drama based on the 1965 riots in Tamil Nadu against the imposition of Hindi as the national language. This film turned out to be a propaganda movie through and through, putting DMK and their former leaders as the sole defenders of the Tamil language. As DMK controls the whole of Kollywood, movies are and have been the mouthpiece of the ruling class. By controlling movie distribution, production and theatres, they maintain cultural and political dominance in Tamil Nadu. Through this movie, the ruling party hopes to present a false narrative to new voters, the Gen Zs, that only DMK can keep the Tamil language 'alive'.

DMK and its predecessor, DK, have been thriving on the same ‘divide and rule’ policy that the British employed to quell Indian resistance. DMK makes the Northerners their bogeyman. They subscribe to the now-defunct Aryan Invasion theory and create an aura that the Hindi-speaking people from North India are out to wipe out the Tamil language and culture. Within the state, they also accuse Brahmins of usurping others' opportunities with their perceived oppression of the rest of Tamil Nadu with Brahminical ideologies. 

The scenario for the 2026 state election is like this. With the spate of BJP wins in recent state elections, increasing the BJP’s popularity and the entry of actor Joseph Vijay into politics, are making DMK stakwart Stalin feel hot under his tall collar. His party has promised to eradicate Sanathana Dharma, but continues to be seen performing poojas for blessings. 

Recently, the perennial issue of teaching Hindi in schools resurfaced. DMK, the self-appointed defender of the Tamil language, had categorically put their foot down to deny compulsory teaching of Hindi in government schools. 

With the same rebel yell that they shrieked in 1965, DMK is entering the latest elections, and this movie lays the groundwork of their campaign.

Resistance to the introduction of Hindi into the Tamil Nadu school system has persisted for the longest time, even when the region was under the Madras Presidency. In 1937, under British rule in India, the Indian National Congress ruled this region, led by Rajaji. Congress, in preparation for self-rule, was toyying the idea of Hindi as the National language. The issue came up again just before Independence and again when the Constitution was drafted in 1950. Nehru promised Tamil Nadu that a grace period of fifteen years would be given before Hindi was made the official language. 

EV Ramaswamy, revered by DMK as the champion of Tamil, is also affectionately known as 'Periyar' (the Elder) and is anything but a bastion of the Tamil language. He had once condemned the language as barbaric¹, and it is not compatible as a modern lingua franca or for scientific purposes. 

It is ironic that in the 1930s and throughout the 1960s, the Dravida Party was hell-bent on opposing the Indian Congress Party over the language issue. Now, it has joined forces with Congress and is opposing the Central Government led by the BJP. Regardless of which party is in power, the DMK will oppose the Central Government. Remember, in the years before Partition, the Dravidian Party wanted to accede to Pakistan? And EV Ramasamy declared 15th August 1947 as a day of mourning.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IndianHistory/comments/1qcmlrf/1
965_tamil_student_protest_against_hindi/

This movie tries to retell events that led to the 1965 Hindi imposition riots. Nehru died in 1964, as the deadline to make Hindi the official language of the country approached. University students, instigated by Annadurai and Karunanithi, initiated demonstrations in multiple cities. The story tells a romanticised version of a docile elder brother who tries to save his young brother from harm. The elder brother has a violent past that resurfaces as a vengeful IPS officer who wants to squash the Tamil rebellion once and for all. In the midst of all this, a few figures from the past are shown, painting a DMK-friendly picture of them saving the Tamil language and its culture from being overrun by enemies from the North.

Historians and people who lived through the 1960s vehemently oppose the movie's alternative history of what actually transpired during that time. Others, including the Youth Congress group, are 'up in arms' about the negative portrayal of their former leaders. They scream for the film's banning.

(P.S. In the modern world, people are expected to learn as much as they can, including all the languages of the world. Alternatively, use Google Translate! Also, language is not everything, as seen in the later years. Andhra Pradesh, which was created along linguistic lines, was divided into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana because of economic imbalances.)

1. https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/nirmala-sitharaman-says-periyar-dismissed-tamil-as-a-language-his-was-a-push-for-reform/cid/2088564#goog_rewarded

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An introduction to TN separatist movement!

Viduthalai Part 1 (விடுதலை, Independence; 2023)
Director: Vetri Maaran

This story is mentioned to be a creation of fiction. Still, a connoisseur of Indian, especially contemporary Tamil Nadu (TN) politics, would realise that it is a compilation of a hodgepodge of events around TN in the 1980s and 1990s.

The movie is based on a short story titled 'Thunaivan' written by 

Jeyamohan. In this movie version, an honest rookie police constable, Kumaresan, is stationed in a god-forsaken place on the borders of TN. This place is active with Naxalite activities, and the tribal people are said to be harbouring a wanted criminal, Perumal @ Vathiyar. He is said to be heading a terrorist group named Makkal Padai (People's Army) which masterminded many destructive activities, including a bomb blast and derailing a train, which caused much damage and lives lost.

Kumaresan falls in love with a tribal girl and soon realises everything is not as it seems. The police are not interested in performing their duties. They are just eyeing their remunerations and the medal that they will receive. The officers are just yeomen to their superiors and buying time. Nobody is interested in taking the extra mile or in what vital information he has to offer. The hierarchal order in the police is so toxic. The administrators are only interested in putting up a good image and recommendations from the public for work well done. The media keeps churning out half-truths. The whole machinery works for so-called development that purportedly improves peoples' lives, but in reality, it just fattens the coffers of the power that be. But he wants to do his job to do as a policeman. The first part of the offering showcases how this rookie comes face-to-face with the feared hooligan.

Pulavar Kaliya Perumal

The Makkal Padai is fashioned after Tamil Nadu Liberation Army (TNLA). TNLA is said to have formed after a reported incident when Indian Army personnel were sent to Sri Lanka during the LTTE insurgency. Apparently, the Indian soldiers raped or molested a big group of Tamil female detainees under their care. This fringe group had a bone to pick with the Indian Central Government, hence the formation of TNLA to liberate TN. Unable to garner support from the general public, they went underground, linked with the Communists and Naxalites to engage in arms struggles.

The gruesome train accident depicted realistically in the early part of the movie did actually happen. In 1987, The Rockfort Express train travelling between Madras and Trichy was derailed when Naxalites bombed a section of a rail track. Even though somebody did alert about the bombing, the message got lost in bureaucracy. Former Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram was supposed to have been travelling on that train.

TNLA was started by Pulavar Kaliya Perumal @ Vaithiyar (note a similar name in the movie - Perumal and Vaithiyar). It has strong links to the Communist Party of India - Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) but severed its ties to follow the Naxalites' path of arms struggle. It started as a sympathetic group to LLTE and fought for a separate nation within India. It is linked to many bomb blasts within the state. Many of its leaders have perished in bombing accidents or are behind bars. It remains a front behind many legitimate organisations and has established links with the sandalwood forest brigand Verrapan's group in Karnataka. 

Just for the record, CPI started in 1921. After the war with China in 1962, patriotism to India made it difficult to show allegiance to Mao. Mao's brand of Communism concentrated on peasant revolution, versus traditional Communism, which chose ruled by a selected group of workers named the proletariat. In 1967, armed peasants seized crops around Naxalbari and surrounding areas in West Bengal, which was already ruled by a communist government, as a revolt against their non-representation. The peasants controlled harvests and ran the villages like a government. They even ran a people's court to mete instant justice. The authorities shot it down, but it became a prototype for other people-controlled Naxalite-Maoist insurgency.

(NB There is an active movement to take Tamil Nadu out of the Republic of India. There is a feeling that TN is treated as a stepchild compared to the other states. The present political parties are mostly all self-professed atheists who oppose the current rise of Hindu consciousness in India. Ironically, a region that is testimony to the glory of Hindu architecture and knowledge has spiralled into this. And 'God's own Country' @ Kerala is governed by a godless Communist government!)

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When Ali met MGR!

Sarpatta Paramparai (சர்பட்ட பரம்பரை, Tamil, 2021)
Written, Directed by Pa Ranjith

One can learn a thing or two by watching films, i.e. if one is bothered to check the backstory. This is one rare full-length boxing film in Tamil, coming from a land that usually infuses familial masala to the storyline. In keeping with the timeline the story is set in, in the 1970s, there is ample sprinkling of Tamil Nadu politics to set the mood.

For once, we see actors who really look their part as boxers. The make-up, boxing techniques and the make-believe props that cradles us back to the mid-1970s are convincing enough.

Before watching this film, I did not know that boxing was a passionate sport in northern Madras even before the 1940s. Boxing came to India with the British. In Tamil Nadu, it was named 'kuttu chandei', and it came with its own set of rules. Boxers could not hit each others' faces, not the body. In the early 1940s, it seems there was a black British boxer (some say he is Anglo-Indian) by the name of 'Tiger' Nat Teri was a fighter to be reckoned with. He defeated most South Indian boxers. Arunachalam, the greatest boxer of Madras of yore, fought him but died during the match. Three months later, an up and coming star, Kitheri Muthu, fought him and beat the British at their own game. He hailed from the Sarpatta Parampai (Sarpatta Clan).

Kitheri Muthu and ‘Tiger’ Nat Terry 

The clan does not refer to any caste or creed. It is basically a group of people who live together in the same locale and show allegiance to the Club/Clan/Paramparai. This area in north Madras where this sport became famous comprise shipyard workers and fishermen of all religions, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and Muslims. The other prominent clans were Idiyappa Naicker Parambarai and Ellappa Chettiyar Parambarai.

With 'Quit India' yells in full force in 1942, Kitheri's victory over Teri was hailed as a booster to the Indian psyche. Periyar and his people in the Justice Party feted him as a Dravidian hero. With that win also, the sport gained popularity. The game went on full force, with enthusiasts from other districts making trips to learn and perfect their techniques.

This movie loosely overlaps with Kitheri Muthu's story but is set during the 1975 Indian emergency. Kabilan, a fervent boxing enthusiast, has his boxing aspirations clipped by his mother. His mother fears that the fate that befell Kabilan's boxer father's life would repeat on her son. Kabilan's father used to be a feared fighter when gangsters from a rival clan knifed him down.

The story tells the competitiveness of the various parambarais and their effort to stage a boxing match amidst the background of National Emergency, witch-hunting of DMK party members (who opposed Indra Gandhi's government), internal squabbling and sabotaging of members.

The hero, Arya, as Kabilan poses with his opposer, Vembuli, in a pre-match photoshoot (Lt) and with his coach, Rangan, played by the talented Pasupathy (Rt). 

M Kitheri Muthu, one of the earliest boxers of the Sarpatta Parambarai.

Ali, the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, and MGR, the Kollywood heavyweight, hold hands. An electrifying sight to the film-crazed Tamil movie-goers to see the star-politician and inspirational boxer together. Ali came to Chennai in 1980 for a bout with Jimmy Ellis in Chennai's Nehru Stadium. Boxing must have been that popular here that Ali decided to 'dance like a butterfly and sting like a bee' in Chennai. Before boxing became popular in Tamil Nadu, silambam was the primary self-defence sport. Gymkhanas and sports clubs were present even in ancient India.

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