Still few takers for the ‘dusky’ Tamil heroine

Be it expressing solidarity with the jallikattu protesters or protesting against the Neduvasal Hydrocarbon project, the Tamil film industry has been quite vociferous when it comes to fighting for causes dear to the Tamil soil.

But, despite projecting itself as a proponent of Tamil culture, the industry known for its fixation for actresses from other states is yet to make a case for home-grown

heroines

.

Experts say the two chief reasons behind the dearth of Tamil heroines is the reluctance of conservative Tamil families to allow their girls to pursue a career in films and the fetish of Tamil filmmakers for fair-skinned women, over the dusky Tamil girl. Directors on the other hand attribute the choice to the audience’s preference for "fair-complexioned actresses".

"Even the devadasis who migrated to films after the abolition of the devadasi system could not enjoy a long-standing career in films," says film critic Vamanan.

The quest for "fair skin" led filmmakers to cast women from other south Indian states in their films. Aspiring actors were required to be fluent in Tamil. Leading ladies like Saroja Devi, Savithri, Devika, Anjali Devi and Pandari Bai were not Tamils by birth, but all of them effortlessly spoke the language.

"Once a cameraman told me how directors and producers prefer fair-skinned heroines from the north and depended on talented dubbing artistes who could compensate for the language loss," says film critic Subanaguna Rajan. There however are exceptions, he adds. "Bharathiraja for instance introduced gems like Radhika — who spoke unadulterated Tamil and brought her characters to life," he adds.

Film producer G Dhananjayan says the industry welcomes everyone with an open heart. "We have Amy Jackson, who is British and is presently ruling the roost," he says. He, however, refuses to accept that Kollywood doesn’t encourage Tamil heroines. "In fact, today we have more Tamil actress than the early 2000." He cites the examples of the present crop of home-bred heroines including Priya Anand, Trisha, Sai Pallavi, Janani Iyer and Nivetha Pethuraj.

As far as actors hailing from north India are concerned, Dhananjayan says actors like Khusboo, Jyothika, Simran and Nagma — all imports from the north in the 90s and 2000 — despite facing difficulty with the language initially, carved a niche for themselves in the Tamil film industry.

"They had a huge following. A temple was built for Khusboo too. Khusboo and Jyothika later got married to south Indian men — Sundar and Surya. Today, they speak the native language and vehemently talk about Tamil pride as Khusboo did for jallikattu," Dhananjayan adds.

Rajan says even if they come from a different culture, any actor should learn the language the script is written in before facing the camera. "In the 80s heroines like Revathy, Radha, Sreepriya, Ambika and Urvashi took efforts to learn Tamil. In the early 70s, Punjabi actor

Radha Saluja

, who was paired opposite MGR, delivered her own dialogues without needing a dubbing artist. Dubbing can only help the artist to some extent and maybe it is a reason why many vanish after a short stint. Success depends on longevity in the field," Rajan adds.

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