Drama in Cinema
Recently as I was switching channels I chanced upon a song from the recent Tamil film, 'Kaviya Thalaivan'. The background for the story is supposed to be a drama troupe of the 1930s or 1940s in Tamilnadu. I haven't seen the movie so I cannot comment on how the movie dealt with this but the song was very disappointing. As a standalone tune the song is not bad but the overall effect was quite bad. No one seems to have taken any pains to recreate that era. The director, the art director, the music director: No one seems to have put in effort to give an authentic feel. Instead the dance seemed like a pale imitation of a Broadway musical rather than a song from the 1930s drama. This song and the movie reminded me of a few Indian films in which are set in the world of theater. I could immediately think of three such films (I know there are many more). I will write briefly about them. The first film I will take up is not strictly about theater. It is about a dancing troup