| type="text/javascript"> | | | | Silent movies were produced in Chennai since 1916 and |
| Tamil cinema (also referred to as the cinema of Tamil | | | | the era of talkies dawned in 1931 with the film Kalidas. |
| Nadu, the Tamil film industry, or Chennai film industry) is | | | | By the end of the 1930s, the State of Madras |
| the Chennai-based Tamil language filmmaking industry | | | | legislature passed the Entertainment Tax Act 1939. |
| of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is based in | | | | Tamil Nadu cinema has had a profound effect on the |
| the Kodambakkam district of Chennai, where several | | | | film making industries of India, with Chennai becoming a |
| Tamil language feature films are produced, which has | | | | hub for the filmmaking industries of other languages, |
| led to a colloquial reference to the district and industry | | | | including Telugu cinema, Malayalam cinema, Kannada |
| as Kollywood (Tamil:???????? kolivu?), a portmanteau | | | | cinema, Hindi cinema, Sinhalese cinema and Sri Lankan |
| of the words Kodambakkam and Hollywood. | | | | Tamil cinema in the 1900s. |