‘Tamizh,' a DVD collage of film music, classical dance and educational nuggets, which seeks to capture the Tamil ethos, was launched here on Sunday.
‘Tamizh' has been conceived by Bharathanatyam exponent Madhuvanthi Arun and her spouse Arun Vaddi as an exposition on the culture of the Tamil-speaking people by delving into their religion, arts, folklore and social life.
Kanimozhi, MP, launched the DVD (brought out by Swathi Soft Solutions) by handing over the first copies to N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu and Bharathanatyam exponent Padma Subrahmanyam.
Ms. Kanimozhi stressed the importance of preserving the art forms and cultural values that were symbolic of the Tamil identity.
It was laudable that the DVD sought to reach out to the younger generation, many of whom unfortunately did not know to read or write Tamil, she said.
She hoped that the production would serve as a bridge in promoting better understanding of the Tamil ethos among the youth.
Mr. Ram said the concept behind ‘Tamizh' raised the issue of the importance of cultural change as a process that was taking place in an uneven and iniquitous manner among countries and within societies.
Noting that it would be a calamity to lose the distinctive characteristics in the quest for globalisation, Mr. Ram said the challenge was in balancing the tensions between preserving the traditional and the classical against the need to accommodate the new.
Ms. Padma Subrahmanyam said bringing out a DVD on the creative effort would help reach out to a larger audience.
Madhuvanthi Arun said putting together the DVD package was a learning experience on Tamil culture and heritage. Though ‘Tamizh' had been performed on stage earlier, a DVD production was being launched to reach the theme to a wider audience.
The film music ranging from K.B. Sundarambal to A.R. Rahman was filtered from about 2,000 choices and used to complement the dance performances, she said.
Y.G. Parthasarathy, Dean and Director PSBB Group of Schools and S.B. Khanthan, Creative Director of the production, dancers and other creative artistes involved in the production were felicitated.
