Tamil Nadu Timeline

CinemaNational and Dravidian movements

Keechaka Vadham, the first South Indian film

· Chennai

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

R. Nataraja Mudaliar made the silent film Keechaka Vadham at his production house, the India Film Company, shooting it in about five weeks. Based on an episode from the Mahabharata, it was the first film made in South India, and because its cast were Tamils it is considered the first Tamil film. Film historians differ on whether it was released in 1917 or 1918. Its intertitles were written in Tamil, Hindi and English. The film's success led Nataraja Mudaliar to make more mythological films, and he is remembered as the father of Tamil cinema.

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