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75 years of Tamil talkie

The first Tamil talkie, `Kalidas,' was released on October 31, 1931, at Ginema Central (now Sri Murugan) in Chennai. T.P. Rajalakshmi was the heroine.

So it is now 75 years since the first talking film in Tamil was made. Though Kalidas was supposed to be a Tamil film, as artistes speaking different languages acted in it, each spoke in his native tongue!

Song about the charka

The multi-lingual was based on the legend and yet strangely it had a song about the charka (spinning wheel), and a classical Saint Tyagaraja piece!

On the day before the release, October 30, a small five-cm advertisement in two columns appeared and a review of the film was also published. Filmmaker L.V.Prasad played a role in the film. The first silent film, `Keechakavadham,' however, was released in 1917.

Story, screenplay, dialogue, direction, camera and production of `Keechakavadham' were by Nataraja Mudaliar.

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