Description

Tamil cinema is a film industry that is apartof the cinema of India, dedicated to the production ofmotionpictures in the Tamil language. Based in the Indian state ofTamilNadu, its hub is the Kodambakkam neighbourhood of Chennai,whichhas led to the industry's nickname Kollywood, the term beingaportmanteau of the words Kodambakkam and Hollywood. Tamilcinemahas been described as the leading industry of South Indiancinema,often rivalled by Telugu cinema (in the states of TelanganaandAndhra Pradesh), and accounting for the second-largest globalboxoffice gross after Hindi cinema (also known as Bollywood) amongallIndian film industries.

The first Tamil silent film, Keechaka Vadham, was made byR.Nataraja Mudaliar in 1918. The first talking motionpicture,Kalidas, was a multilingual and was released on 31 October1931,less than seven months after India's first talking motionpictureAlam Ara. By the end of the 1930s, the legislature of theState ofMadras passed the Entertainment Tax Act of 1939.

Tamil cinema later had a profound effect on otherfilmmakingindustries of India, establishing Madras (now Chennai) asasecondary hub for Hindi cinema, other South Indian filmindustries,as well as Sri Lankan cinema.Over the last quarter ofthe 20thcentury, Tamil films from India established a globalpresencethrough distribution to an increasing number of overseastheatresin Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Japan, the Middle East,parts ofAfrica, Oceania, Europe, and North America. The industryalsoinspired independent filmmaking in Tamil diaspora populationsinMalaysia, Singapore, and the Western Hemisphere.