Tamil literature includes a collection of literary works that have come from a tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from Tamil people from south India, including the land now comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Eelam Tamils from Sri Lanka, as well as the Tamil diaspora.
Bharathidasan, was a 20th-century Tamil poet and rationalist writer whose literary works handled mostly socio-political issues. He was deeply influenced by the Tamil poet Subramania Bharathi and named himself "Bharathi dasan" meaning follower or adherent of Bharathi. His greatest influence was Periyar and his self-respect movement. Bharathidasan's writings served as a catalyst for the growth of the Self-Respect Movement in Tamil Nadu. In addition to poetry, his views found expression in other forms such as plays, film scripts, short stories and essays. The Government of Puducherry union territory has adopted the song of Invocation to Mother Tamil, written by Bharathidasan as the state song of Puducherry.
Vairamuthu Ramasamy is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first worked as a translator, while also being a published poet. He entered the Tamil film industry in the year 1980, with the film Nizhalgal, an Ilaiyaraaja musical, directed by Bharathiraja. During the course of his 40-year film career, he has written over 7,500 songs and poems which have won him seven National Awards, the most for any Indian lyricist. He has also been honored with a Padma Shri, a Padma Bhushan and a Sahitya Akademi Award, for his abundant literary output.
Sangamam (transl. Confluence) is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romantic musical dance film co written and directed by Suresh Krissna and produced by V. Natarajan of Pyramid Films. The film stars Rahman and newcomer Vindhya with Manivannan, Vijayakumar, Radharavi, and Vadivelu playing other important roles. The film's music was composed by A. R. Rahman, while Saravanan handled the cinematography. The film was released in 1999 but despite the award-winning soundtracks and rave reviews, the film became a financial failure.
Jaathi Malli is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language film directed by K. Balachander starring Mukesh, Khushbu, Nassar, Vineeth and Yuvarani. The film was released on 14 January 1993, and won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film.
24 is the soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman with song lyrics by Vairamuthu and Madhan Karky, to the 2016 Tamil film of the same name, produced by Suriya and directed by Vikram Kumar. The film stars Suriya, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Nithya Menen in lead roles. The album features six tracks and was released on 9 April 2016 by Eros Music.
G. Dhananjayan (GD) is an Indian film producer, distributor, columnist, author of four books on Indian films and founder-director BOFTA Film Institute. He has produced films in the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi languages, including Sankat City (2009), Kanden Kadhalai (2009), Mugamoodi (2012), Anjaan (2014) and Irudhi Suttru (2016), Kaatrin_Mozhi (2018), Kabadadaari (2021), Kodiyil Oruvan (2021) and many other films. He has won two National Film Awards.
Madhan Karky Vairamuthu is an Indian lyricist, screenwriter, research associate, software engineer, and entrepreneur. A holder of a doctorate in computer science from the University of Queensland, Karky began his professional career as an assistant professor at the College of Engineering, Guindy, and soon after ventured into the Tamil film industry, working as a lyricist and dialogue writer. He resigned from his teaching profession in early 2013 and began working full-time in the film industry, while also launching the Karky Research Foundation (KaReFo), an educational research organization which primarily focuses on language computing and language literacy. He also founded the Mellinam Education, which develops educational games and story books designed to propagate learning among children, and DooPaaDoo, an online music platform which promotes independent music and serves a distributor for film soundtracks.
Naam Tamilar Katchi is a Tamil nationalist party in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Kadal is the soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman for the 2013 Tamil film of the same name, directed by Mani Ratnam that stars Gautham Karthik and Thulasi Nair in the lead roles. Noted poet-lyricist Vairamuthu and his son Madhan Karky penned lyrics for three songs each. Sri Lankan rapper Aaryan Dinesh Kanagaratnam made his debut for Indian cinema with one of the songs. The album was released under Sony Music on 28 November 2012.
I is the soundtrack album to the 2015 Indian romantic thriller film of the same name written and directed by S. Shankar. A. R. Rahman composed the original songs and background score for the film. The album consists of seven tracks, which include a remix and a reprise. Recording of the songs began in 2012 and was completed by 2014. Songs in the film vary in genre like EDM, bhangra, opera, urban. The original version of the soundtrack has youth oriented voices. The original version of the album was released on 6 September 2014. The audio was launched at a grand function at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai on 12 September 2014, with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Chief Guest. The dubbed Hindi version of the album was released at a promotional event held in PVR, Mumbai on 31 December 2014. The dubbed Telugu version of the album was released digitally on the same day.
Vivegam (transl. Prudence) is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Siva. It stars Ajith Kumar in the lead role, Vivek Oberoi as the main antagonist, Kajal Aggarwal and Akshara Haasan in supporting roles. The film marks the Tamil debuts of Oberoi and Haasan. The music was composed by Anirudh Ravichander, while the cinematography and editing were done by Vetri and Ruben.
Kavan (transl. Catapult) is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language political thriller film, directed by K. V. Anand, written by Subha and Kabilan Vairamuthu and produced by AGS Entertainment. The film stars Vijay Sethupathi and Madonna Sebastian. It also stars T. Rajendar, Vikranth, Darshana Rajendran, Pandiarajan, Akashdeep Saighal, Bose Venkat, Jagan and others in supporting roles. The film, which has a soundtrack and score composed by Hiphop Tamizha, began its production in July 2016. The film released on 31 March 2017. The film received positive reviews from critics and audience and became a commercial success.
Silambarasan is an Indian actor, director, producer, music director, playback singer and lyricist working mainly for the Tamil film industry apart from some Telugu songs. He work with notable composers like AR Rahman, yuvan Shankar Raja, Harris Jayaraj, Deva, Srikanth Deva, James Vasanthan, R.P patnaik, D Imaan, Hip Hop Adhi, Dhina, Anirudh, Devi Sri Prasad, G.V prakash kumar etc.
Kaatru Veliyidai is the soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman, to the 2017 Indian Tamil romance film of the same name, written and directed by Mani Ratnam starring Karthi and Aditi Rao Hydari. The soundtrack album consists of six tracks each, in the original Tamil, and in the Telugu version of the album. Four of the tracks for the original version were penned by Vairamuthu, one by his son Madhan Karky, and one by Shellee. The lyrics to the Telugu version were written by Sirivennela Sitaramasastri. The album won Rahman the National Film Award for Best Music Direction in the “Songs” category at the 65th National Film Awards. The choreography for the songs were done by Brinda and the cinematography for the film by Ravi Varman.
Vaasanthi is an Indian journalist and writer.
Traffic Ramasamy is a 2018 Indian Tamil language biographical drama film co-written and directed by Vicky, an assistant of SA Chandrasekhar on his directorial debut. The film stars veteran film director S. A. Chandrasekhar alongside Rohini, Prakash Raj, Upasana RC, Livingston and Ambika in pivotal roles and features Vijay Sethupathi, Vijay Antony, Khushbu, Seeman, and Kasthuri in special appearances.The satellite rights of the film is sold to Colors Tamil.
Dhamayanthi is a Tamil fiction writer, poet, lyricist and film director.
K. Pazhanisamy was a Tamil language writer, Marxist thinker, literary critic and scholar from Tamil Nadu, India, who wrote under the pen name Kovai Gnani. He introduced the Marxist ideology in Tamil literature, in the early 1990s, and authored 28 books on literary criticism, five collections of essays, three collections of poetry, eleven anthologies and edited many books.
Ponniyin Selvan: I is the soundtrack album for 2022 Indian Tamil-language epic period drama film of the same name directed by Mani Ratnam which features an ensemble cast of Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Prabhu, R. Sarathkumar, Vikram Prabhu, Jayaram, Prakash Raj, Rahman and R. Parthiban. The film’s soundtrack and score were composed by Ratnam's norm composer A. R. Rahman, marking the duo's 30th year collaborating.
