| Mollywood:
Madras film industries |
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| Switzerland
: Favourite Tamil filming resort |
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| Switzerland
has long been a favourite filming resort for the film producers of the
world's largest film industry, Bollywood. The snow-capped Alps are frequently
used as look alike stand-ins for the mountains of Kashmir, which arecurrently
unsafe to film in because of the continued fighting there. |
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But
now it's not only the Alps that have become subcontinent film-makers' favourite
props. The medieval town of Berne, which is the Swiss capital and the country's
fourthlargest city, is the latest Helvetian mascot to find itself with
a starring role inan Indian film. This time it is not for Bollywood
(Mumbai's film industry) but for Mollywood - the prolific film industry
of Madras which makes about 125 films a year in theTamil language.
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Berne
with its sandstone buildings, its beautiful fountains and the splendid
Gothic cathedral with its 100-metre spire, simply represents "fairyland"
for the Indian audience. Berne is where Tamil-speaking people would like
to be in their dreams. Most of Mollywod's Tamil-speaking audience
come from South India and Sri Lanka and most of them are very poor. They
could never afford to come to Switzerland to see these riches, but they
do dream of such things. So with these films, Mollywood make their dreamscome
true.
On
a film set
A
Western audience however, may be excused for finding the dream sequences
a little confusing. Song and dance routine. The lead actor is dressed in
a blue shiny shell suit and trainers and he waits patiently while his face
is patted by an extra, in an attempt to absorb some of the make up, caked
several inches deep, which is slowly dripping down his face in the stifling
32 degree heat. A heavy gold medallion hangs from his neck and the signet
rings on his fingers flash against the lens of the cameras. "ACTION!" shouts
the director and suddenly,against the eternal clang ingof Berne's trams,
the market place is filled with Indian music and the actors begin to writhe
and twist as startled Swiss shoppers gawp. The Tamil audience will seethese
amazing buildings, and famous actors in Western dresses .
The
story behind the film
The
film actually produced in Berne is a remake in the Tamil language of a
popular Hindi film called Love and Marriage. Like most Tamil films, it's
a mixture of song, dance and dream sequences and centres on the relationship
between a hero and heroine who decide to marry. In the indian producer's
opinion, Mollywood films are much better than Western films. Western films
are over-categorised. Western films are comedies or a thrillers or a love
stories. Indian films have all of these elements in every film. Western
films have bedroom scene after bedroom scene. Indian producers don't allow
their actors to kiss one another but they show real love in their Tamil
films. Indian girls love them. Tamil films are presented in India,
in Sri Lanka, Canada, USA and Malaysia. There are also Tamils in Berne
and Zurich so may the Indians want to release it here in Switzerland
too.
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