Category talk:Tamil-language films

Untitled

200 up, keep up the good work! Kadavul 11:28, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

300 up

Well done guyz! Thamizhan 20:33, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

1000

1000 films. Well done Universal Hero (talk) 09:58, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Standardisation of terms used

I'd like to propose that we work towards replacing words like "Hero" and "Heroine" in Tamil film articles. While these terms are in very common usage in Tamil Nadu, and viewers of Tamil movies use these terms a lot, let us keep in mind that wikipedia serves the international community, many of whom may not understand these terms. Secondly, these terms are becoming increasingly difficult to use, because of an increasing number of films not fitting the standard stereotype films used to possess. Main characters are at many times portraying negative roles, and it's no longer accurate to refer to them as "Hero", which has some connotation of a righteous savior. There are also a large number of films that have multiple lead actors, making it difficult to call one person "the hero".

So I propose that we adopt some replacement terms, which are more in sync with the movie pages of other languages:

Word	Replacement	Notes
Hero	Lead actor / Protagonist
Heroine	Lead Actress / Protagonist
Villain	Antagonist	this specific term I am not very sure, please do reply with your thoughts
Masala	Commercial film	there are many pages which say things like "the film did well because of its masala", and there is no explanation of this term. I think it's better to drop its usage on the encyclopedia

Other terms that I think should be here, for which I cannot think of proper replacements :

A, B, C centers (a lot of pages say things like "the film did well in B and C center", but there is no explanation I can find for this term, which can puzzle non-Tamil readers)

I hope everyone can give their opinion on this issue, and also more suggestions for terms that should be standardised. If we can come up with a consensus, we can work towards dramatically improving the quality of Tamil film articles.

Ckannan90 (talk) 07:22, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Standardisation of plot section

Hey all, would like to propose some guidelines we can use to make the "Plot" section of Tamil movie pages better. Some of them are already in the Indian Cinema discussion page, but just wish to reiterate.

1. Let's keep plot summaries short. The Indian Cinema page says that summaries should be between 400 and 700 words, with an absolute maximum of 900 words.

2. The plots should be complete. This is an encyclopedia, not a promotional brochure, so let's avoid endings like "How he overcomes these problems and wins the heart of his love form the rest of the story." Let's try to patch up such pages and give full endings.

3. In plot summaries, refer to the characters by their own name, not the names of the actors portraying them. The name of the actor should be given once, when the character's name is first mentioned. Check out any popular English Film page to see what I mean. Ckannan90 (talk) 11:02, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Should not apply to articles going for GA/FA. Universal Hero (talk) 16:29, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. Which part does not apply to GA/FA articles? The first two guidelines also appear on the Indian Cinema page. If you're talking abt the third, I thought it's relevant as a number of Tamil film articles use that actor's name throughout the summary. The GA/FA articles I've seen (listed on Indian Cinema page) usually identify the actor once, and then proceed to use the character's name for the rest of the summary. For example, the page for Sivaji or Unnale Unnale.Ckannan90 (talk) 04:44, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, I meant only part 1. They could be slightly longer as per Dasavathaaram. Universal Hero (talk) 00:53, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

Films of Tamil Nadu Template

I've completed adding the template to all films starting with letters A, B and C, as well as those beginning with numbers. I'm going to continue working to add the template to all 1000+ pages in this category, with the exception of the few Tamil films made in Malaysia, Singapore, Canada etc. I would like to request anybody who creates Tamil Film pages in the future to include this template at the bottom of the page. If anybody wishes to help me do this, that would be really great too. Either reply here or on my talk page, and we can split up the workload alphabetically. If anybody's wondering what on earth I'm talking about, {{Tamilcinema}} is the "Films of Tamil Nadu" template. You can see what it looks like if you scroll to the bottom of any Tamil film beginning with A on the list. Ckannan90 (talk) 11:08, 28 February 2009 (UTC)