Tamil cinema

The cinema of Tamil Nadu is a part of Indian cinema, producing films in the Tamil language. Based in the Kodambakkam district of Chennai, India, the industry is colloquially referred to as Kollywood, the term being a portmanteau of the words Kodambakkam and Hollywood.

The first silent film in Tamil, Keechaka Vadham, was made by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1916. The first talkie was a multi-lingual, Kalidas, which released on 31 October 1931, barely 7 months after India's first talking picture Alam Ara By the end of the 1930s, the legislature of the State of Madras passed the Entertainment Tax Act of 1939. Tamil cinema later had a profound effect on other filmmaking industries of India, establishing Chennai as a secondary hub for Bollywood, other regional film industries in South India, as well as Sri Lankan cinema. In its modern era, Tamil films from Chennai have been distributed to various overseas theaters in Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Malaysia, Japan, Oceania, the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America. The industry also inspired independent filmmaking in Tamil diaspora populations in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Western Hemisphere.

Jayam Ravi

Ravi Mohan (born 10 September 1980), better known by his stage name Jayam Ravi, is an Indian film actor in the Tamil film industry. Ravi has appeared in films including Jayam, which has since become part of Ravi's stage name, M. Kumaran Son Of Mahalakshmi, Unakkum Enakkum, Santhosh Subramaniam, Peranmai, Thani Oruvan and Bhooloham .

Background

Ravi was born to Mohan of Tirumangalam, Madurai, who was trained by Senthil Kumar Vajjiravelu editor of South Indian cinema and Varalakshmi. He has two siblings; his elder brother M. Raja is a noted film director, with most of his films featuring Ravi in the lead role, while his sister Roja is a dentist. He completed his schooling at Jawahar Vidyalaya in Ashok Nagar, Chennai. He studied dancing under the Bharatnatyam dancer Nalini Balakrishnan and performed his arangetram at the age of 12. After completing his degree in Visual Communication from Loyola College, Chennai, he decided to get into the film industry. He has also trained in acting at the Kishore Namit Kapur Institute in Mumbai.

Venkat Prabhu

Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren (born 7 November 1975), better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu, is an Indian filmmaker, who has worked as an actor, director and playback singer in the Tamil film industry. After completing his education, he began pursuing an acting career, with his first three ventures, featuring him in a starring role, failing to release, following which he began appearing in character roles. He hogged spotlight for the first time when he turned director with the summer hit Chennai 600028 (2007). He achieved further commercial successes with his subsequent directorials Saroja (2008),Biriyani (2013) and Mankatha (2011). His father Gangai Amaren is a renowned music director.

Career

Early years