Popular Cinema and Politics in South India: The Films of MGR and Rajinikanth S. Rajanayagam 9780815373179

This work breaks new ground in the understanding of South Indian cinema and politics. Through incisive analysis and original concepts it illustrates the private, public and cinematic personas of MGR and Rajinikanth. It challenges the popular and scholarly myths surrounding them and shows the constant negotiation of their on-screen and off-screen identities. The book revisits the entire political history of post-Independent Tamil Nadu through its cinema,and presents a refreshing psycho-political and cultural map of contemporary South India.

This absorbing volume will be an important read for scholars, teachers and students of film studies, culture and media studies, and politics, especially those interested in South India.

The cinema-politics nexus is a powerful narrative that animates the political and cultural landscape of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In this thoughtprovoking book, Rajanayagam deconstructs this natural symbiosis . . . to reveal a more complex and rich reading of the transition from the screen to politics.

- Selvaraj Velayutham, Macquarie University

Rajanayagam provides a penetrating and unprecedented insight into the political commentary of two of India's leading film stars. A must read for anyone interested in their work, or the connection between film and politics.

- Richard C. Reuben, University of Missouri School of Law