CultureRise of Dravidian rule

Television arrives in Madras with Doordarshan Kendra

· Chennai

Doordarshan began television broadcasts from Madras, the first TV station in South India.

Doordarshan Kendra Madras began broadcasting on an experimental basis on 15 August 1975 from a makeshift studio. It was the first television station in South India and the fifth Doordarshan station overall. At first it reached about 20 receivers in and around the city, with educational and developmental programmes. Service was later extended across the state, and the channel became DD Podhigai and then DD Tamil.

Related events

  1. 1917

    1. 1917ChennaiCinema

      Keechaka Vadham, the first South Indian film

      R. Nataraja Mudaliar's silent film Keechaka Vadham, the first film made in South India, was released in 1917 or 1918.

  2. 1972

    1. 1 May 1972ChennaiCinema

      MGR wins the Bharat Award for Best Actor

      M. G. Ramachandran won the national Best Actor (Bharat) award for Rickshawkaran, the first South Indian actor to receive it.

  3. 1975

    1. 1975ChennaiLiterature

      Akilan becomes the first Tamil writer to win the Jnanpith

      Novelist Akilan received the Jnanpith Award for his novel Chithirappavai, the first for a Tamil writer.

  4. 1976

    1. 14 May 1976ChennaiCinema

      Annakili released; Ilaiyaraaja's film debut

      Ilaiyaraaja's first film score, for Annakili, carried rural folk music into the Tamil cinema mainstream.

  5. 1977

    1. 14 Dec 1977 to 24 Dec 1977ChennaiLiterature

      First Madras Book Fair held

      Organised by the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India, the first Madras Book Fair later developed into the yearly Chennai Book Fair.

    2. 15 Sep 1977ChennaiCinema

      Bharathiraja's 16 Vayathinile released

      Bharathiraja's first film, 16 Vayathinile, with Kamal Haasan, Sridevi and Rajinikanth, moved Tamil cinema from studio sets to real village settings.

Open in the timeline explorer