Film Music: Southern Area

In South India, the film industry is the leading source of popular music. Centered in Madras, a handful of film companies produce most of the popular songs in the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada languages. To South Indian audiences, film music is much more than just music they hear at the movies. Every film is a musical, and the songs from the films are continuously played over the radio and through playback technology (primarily audio cassette players). Film songs are heard on buses, in general stores, in homes and tea shops, and during festivals. In fact, it is almost impossible to walk through a South Indian village, town, or city today without hearing such film songs.