It is not just Tamil films but recently even Marathi films have sadly gone the same way. What is most shocking is that top hits in the last 2-3 years have featured and promoted love affairs between underage teenagers, in which invariably the girl is shown from cultured, educated families and the boys from lower class, living in settlements etc. Following these films, a few cases happened where girls from good families foolishly fell for uneducated, uncouth boys working in garages and other such places and had to be rescued and  counseled after significant emotional damage and in one instance, even physical abuse by the boy!

I doubt if we can do anything to stop such films being produced because sadly, these films get a large fan following and these people flock to cinemas to see them.

The influence of Cinema on the public, especially on youth is not a new thing. This trend is there even in AP. Kannada Cinema and Malayali Cinema are better than AP and Karnataka. 20 years ago the movie madness and craze was not this worst. I know Balachander of Tamil Nadu, Girish Karnad from Karnataka, Sethu Madhavan of Kerala and K. Viswanath of AP produced Memorable movies.

Today's trend is quite different. Most of the Movies produced are business oriented. Youth of today find pleasure in imitating Mediocre movies and the Heroes.

There are several road accidents caused because of  youth imitating their Favorite Movie heroes riding a Bike on the Public Roads.

Youth should know that the movie world is " make believe " world.

Ramkumar's case who is involved in Swati's murder case is not an exception.

Madam, why not promote some debates on local electronic media, even with the help of the police. so that this horrible trend can stop?  In fact, some debate is already on in electronic media, though there are some stupid souls who say that the boy was innocent, he "thought" that the girl would love him, because she had always talked very well with him and so on.  She had even explained that she was just a friend, but our boy went to the other ridiculous levels.

Only a huge amount of debates and some serious counseling of girl children in terms of being discreet in dealing with any man, can possibly help.  But we seriously need far more reforms and one wonders where to start and how to go about it.

ABSIVAKUMAR wrote:

Madam, why not promote some debates on local electronic media, even with the help of the police. so that this horrible trend can stop?  In fact, some debate is already on in electronic media, though there are some stupid souls who say that the boy was innocent, he "thought" that the girl would love him, because she had always talked very well with him and so on.  She had even explained that she was just a friend, but our boy went to the other ridiculous levels.

Only a huge amount of debates and some serious counseling of girl children in terms of being discreet in dealing with any man, can possibly help.  But we seriously need far more reforms and one wonders where to start and how to go about it.

The problem with such debates is that they simply remain debates and nothing happens from it, it is all futile. I tried broaching this topic in the group of moms of my son and some of his classmates. We are a group 8-9 moms who frequently meet and discuss things and generally do something with our kids. There is a recent Marathi hit called Sairat which is again a story of underage love, the couple elopes, marry, has a kid and then one fine, the girls brother arrives and killes them both. It is a very big hit and just yesterday, one youth was arrested for burglary of lakhs of rupees simply because he needed money to go and see this heroine in real life. She is a 10th std student!!

'So when I broached the topic and tried to present my views against such movies, only one mom agreed with me and others were all quite fascinated by the movie! So I feel it better to keep my thoughts to myself and limit my education to my son and whoever agrees with me! Electronic debates are pointless, I can see no way it can ever reach any conclusion or positive outcome as far as such films are concerned.

@ AB

I don't think  any number of debates will solve this problem. Because Movies are meant for in expensive entertainment for majority of the people. In this scenario, youngsters are bound to be influenced by these movies.But News Channels are condemning such heinous acts of youth. Swati's case has been highlighted in both print and  Electronic media.

I agree with you that we need far more reforms on such issues.

it is very hard to stop the influence which one gets from seeing a film but if he/she will understand that bad or wrong deeds will always result in negative for them.

It is wrong to blame films for wrongs in the society. Does it mean before films were invented nothing of this sort was happening. Let us not become prudes.

All Cinemas will not have a  negative influence on the people. It's up to the people use their discretion.

Sir, I do agree with the view that all movies will not have a corrupting influence.  The main point is the movies that show how a very ordinary guy with very modest background, goes about chasing a very educated and cultured girl, literally buying her "love", stage after stage, through sympathy or whatever.

Most Tamil Cinema heroes look like servers in hotels and roadside romeos who have no other work, except to chase girls.  This is the kind of movies that I am talking about.  We should do something to ensure that such harmful movies with a hugely distorted, unnatural and totally male-dominated view of "love" do not get released at all.  Perhaps some social organizations can even go to court to stop this menace.

Only then can we open up the larger debates of how such ridiculous movies badly influence young men.  I hope I have made the point very clear.  In fact, in one of my articles I had talked about how movies such as "Kakka Muttai", which is a superbly crafted story about two slum children wanting to eat a pizza, are exactly the kind of realistic movies needed to at least keep society from taking to bad habits.  Reform of society may not be so easily possible, but let us do our best.

Reforming the Society is possible only when YOU set an example. Charity should start from Home first. In my case, I see Movies of yesteryear. Even though I do not know Tamil. Malayalam and Kannada, I go all the way  to view Vintage Movies made by Balchander, or Kodiyattam or Movies made by Syam Benegal.