Tamil cinema is a film industry that is a part of the cinema of India, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu,[3] it's hub is the Kodambakkam neighbourhood of Chennai, which has led to the industry's nickname Kollywood, the term being a portmanteau of the words Kodambakkam and Hollywood.[4] Tamil cinema has been described as the leading industry of South Indian cinema, often rivalled by Telugu cinema (in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh), and accounting for the second-largest global box office gross after Hindi cinema (also known as Bollywood) among all Indian film industries.[5][6]
The first Tamil silent film, Keechaka Vadham, was made by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1918.[7] The first talking motion picture, Kalidas, was a multilingual and was released on 31 October 1931, less than seven months after India's first talking motion picture Alam Ara.[8] By the end of the 1930s, the legislature of the State of Ma