Filmmakers have all the time used the seashore to symbolize love and life..
| Picture Credit score: VELANKANNI RAJ B
Filmmakers have all the time used sure symbols, motifs, and signifiers to symbolize concepts, ideas, and locations. Over the numerous years, fashionable metropolis landmarks, together with the resort Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai and the Cubbon Park in Bengaluru, have been used as establishing pictures to depict the town during which a movie is ready. For Chennai, it has all the time been a toss-up between Marina/Elliot’s Seaside, Central Station, Anna Flyover, Spencer Plaza, and LIC Constructing.
Whereas one might argue that the LIC Constructing established the “large metropolis” vibe and that Spencer Plaza represented Chennai’s “fashionable and capitalist” features, the seashore has all the time been used to symbolize love and life.
Keep in mind the track, Enna Paarvai, Undhan Paarvai, from Kadhalikka Neramillai, a preferred 60s movie that many, swear to be the unrivaled “evergreen romantic” comedy. The track showcases a younger couple — Muthuraman and Kanchana — shaking a leg to a melodious track on the seashore, unrecognisable with manicured lawns and the absence of vehicles. Equally, in Mani Ratnam’s Alaipayudhey, staying true to the notion of the seashore as a sanctuary for these in love, the lead-in to the track, Snehithane, reveals the hero ready for the heroine on the seashore.
The long-lasting Ilaiyaraaja track Idhu Oru Pon Malai Pozhudhu from the movie Nizhalgal showcases the seashore as a spot the place school college students go to smoke weed after bunking courses and construct grandiose desires about their future.
Filmmaker Venkat Prabhu’s debut movie, Chennai 600028, captured one other side of the seashore — its recognition as an area for taking part in sports activities, till the police started imposing restrictions. Whereas the Gen Z crowd might not be conscious, he black tar street on the seashore was the place lots of of tennis ball cricket matches befell within the evenings, whereas the fiercely contested soccer and volleyball video games occurred on the seashore sands. The ultimate “match” with the college youngsters on the seashore mirrored its recognition as an area for taking part in sports activities, till the police started imposing restrictions.
Filmmaker Vetrimaaran’s Vada Chennai portrayed the lives of those that stay close to the coast and rely on the Kasimedu Fishing Harbour for his or her livelihood. Whereas the movie itself is about Chennai’s underworld, it focuses on the trials and tribulations of these dwelling close to the seashore via varied factors in current historical past. Not simply the seashore, however its individuals, their politics and financial situations had been the main focus of the critically-acclaimed movie.
In actor Sivakarthikeyan’s Marina, the seashore turns into a spot of refuge for these operating away from house.
In a method, the Marina, the Elliots Seaside, and the sandy seashores alongside the East Coast Highway evoke completely different perceptions. Whereas the Marina has maintained its place as the town’s main landmark for vacationers, the Elliots’ Seaside and people additional down the East Coast Highway have slowly remodeled themselves to draw the hip and trendy children of Chennai.
With the town rising at a fast tempo, there could also be extra “landmarks” or cultural markers that the filmmakers will likely be taken with, however one factor is for positive, the seashores in Chennai will proceed to fascinate the storytellers for a few years to come back.
Printed – August 25, 2026 12:44 am IST
