Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 22 Issue 5

A Study on Bharat Ratna Dr. M. G.Ramachandran’s Philosophical Film Songs thatContain the Ideas of Socialistic and Communistic Ideas Which can be Compared MoreSpecifically with the Communist Manifesto as Propounded by Karl Marx and Engels – An Academic Comparative Study, using a Novel Methodology P. Sarvaharana α , Dr. P. Thiyagarajan σ & Dr. S. Manikandan ρ Keywords: bharat ratna dr. m.g. ramachandran, karl marx, context, equity and social justice, communist manifesto, alienation, thantai periyar, peraringer anna, puratchi thalaivi, pattukottaiyar, kaviyarasu kannadasan, kavinger valli, marudhakasi, m.s.vishwanathan. I. I ntroduction he former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Puratchi Thalaivi Manbumigu Amma in her thought provoking speech on the eve of 100 th Anniversary of Indian Cinema went on to indicate that “it is not an over statement to emphasize that films are the foremost among all the innovative developments that took place in the civilization of mankind. Before cinema was invented it was music, literature, arts, dance, drama that were used to entertain and educate the masses. The scientific advancement made in technology from time to time was also used in cinema and that is the reason why cinema is attracting the attention of majority of the masses unlike any other art or entertainment. In short it can be said that cinema has become an inevitable part of human life. The pride of propagating the stories of puranas, history of India’s freedom fighters and the socialistic ideology among the people is the media or cinema. It is the cinema that makes one to see at one place the scenic beauty and wonders of far away of the world. The movie industry has created employment opportunities to many. To the students and educators, it creates opportunities to learn in multi various ways. Finally she said that films greatly help to propagate the political functions, the public works that took place and the welfare schemes offered to the masses”(1). Right to live, equity and social justice are watch words that determine quality of life of the general public in a society. There is always a fight between the haves and have nots’, in the end the powerful would not only prevail but also dominate the have nots’ to the utter dismay of the social thinkers (2). Question arises whether films and film songs address the issue of social inequality and voice against the sufferings of the lowest rung of the people of Tamil Society? In his scholarly article Robert L Hardgrave states that “Film had become increasingly pervasive in almost all aspects of Tamil society and perhaps most prominently in political life”. He also states that “although Bombay is usually considered the capital of the Indian film world, it is within the south India that film has made its greatest impact (3). Robert L Hardgrave also states “when the talkie was first introduced in 1931, in the South India around 1500 films were produced in Tamil. Virtually no village in Tamil Nadu was isolated to be beyond the reach of film, and even the poorest laborer can afford the few paisee to see the latest film. Robert L Hardgrave further exclaims that socially appealing films were launched in Tamil Nadu right from 1936 which was an infusion to politics. While the congress in Tamil Nadu made early in-rode in film, in terms of bringing light to the social atrocities that took place in the society, however, most of the congressmen looked on the media of cinema with T © 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue V Version I 39 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 A Author α : Research Scholar (Part Time), Deputy Registrar, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, School of Continuing Education Department of Economics, Tamil Nadu Open University, Chennai, India. e-mail: sankarsarva@iitm.ac.in Author σ : Professor and Director, School of Continuing Education Department of Economics, Tamil Nadu Open University, Chennai, India. Author ρ : Head of the Dept., Dept. of Philosophy, A.M. Jain College, Meenambakkam, Chennai, India. Abstract- It is a fact that super-hero like Makkal Thilagam Bharat Ratna Dr. M.G. Ramachandran took upon himself the responsibility of not only producing quality movies but also paid pers onal attention to pro duce quality songs as he thought that good messages could be propagated through film songs to millions of his fans. In view of this Bharat Ratna Dr. M.G. Ramachandran availed the assistance of peers, and eminent lyricist like the great Pattukottaiyar, Kaviyarasu Kannadasan, Kavinger Valli, Marudhakasi, and also encouraged emerging writers like Na.Muthulingam to write songs for his movies. Given such extraordinary efforts made by Puratchi Thalaivar Dr.MG Ramachandran, his film songs contain ideas of ethics, denouncing corruptive practice, right to education, equity and social justice (communism). In this paper, an attempt has been made to deal with fourteen of such songs that contain the ideas that can be compared with Socialistic and Communistic theory as propounded by the Great Karl Marx. Part of the research work had been published in the World Journal for Social Science Research (http://wjss.sciedupress.com Vol. 5, No. 1; 2018; PP 46-66 Published by Sciedu Press). This is an up-bridged and improved version of research endeavour using a novel methodology.