Bad politics and cinema is corrupting youth: Paamaran

COIMBATORE: Is the present day Tamil cinema a healthy influence on the youth? Writer Paamaran believes that despite the emergence of a parallel cinema culture in the Tamil Nadu, bulk of Tamil movies tend to be a regressive influence on the society in general, and the youth in particular. He traces the falling standards in Tamil cinema to the decline of the Dravidian movement.
Addressing a group of students at Rathinam College of Arts and Science here on the occasion of International Writers’ Day, he argued that the erosion of the Dravidan movement’s principles after the death of Periyar has led to the growth of a yuppie culture and the dominance of vulgar elements in Tamil society. He extended his criticism to other forms of popular media such FM radio and print media. These, he said, were neither informative nor truthful.
The death of the Dravidian movement was responsible for the current regression in Tamil society, Paamaran said.
“Dravidian political parties have contributed to this decay. When I say the Dravidian movement, I refer to days of Periyar, who wanted women to be given the police uniform as early as in the 1930s. But an all-woman police station appeared in Tamil Nadu only in the 1980s,” he told the students. He drew a parallel between the lack of concern for women to their depiction in cinema.
“Women are always shown running after their men around trees in our films. This is commodification of women. It is vulgar and wrong,” he said.
In his speech laced with his trademark humour and Coimbatore slang -- much of which is visible in his writings – he kept the audience interested by regaling them with jokes at the expense of the film industry.
“I focussed on speaking about cinema and how it exploits youth because I wanted to the gathering to be interested in my speech. Everyone goes to movies and it is ideal hook to draw the youth in for a debate. The response was tremendous,” Paamaran later told TOI.
Paamaran started writing in 1988 and has many collections of essays to his credit. His columns have appeared in magazines including Kumudam, Theeranadhi, Thinamalar and many newspapers.
He has also been a vocal critic of the Kudamkulam nuclear plant and wrote a tract, Anu Anuvai Savoom, as early as in 1990, a year after the accord for the plant was signed between the governments of USSR and India.
“But no one took notice then. Now, everyone is on the anti-nuke bandwagon,” said Paamaran, who has since updated the book twice.
He turned a full-time writer after taking voluntary retirement from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, where he was a clerk.
“There is corruption everywhere. It is not blatant at TNAU, but is very much present. It is just a little better than a government office. But I know nothing about the technical side,” he told TOI.