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Tamil is suddenly all pervasive..

It’s been hard to live down the image of the quintessential Tamilian, that Mehmood so kindly immortalised as the dhoti-wearing, nammam-sporting, tum kya bolta ji-spewing Brahmin from Madras in the 1968 hit Padosan.

But those days of suffering were long before Kareena Kapoor gyrated in titillating red to Chammak Challo, taunting her robot lover with Kannil kannai pooti vital, sirikka matiya.

And, not without good reason. From our Chennai Super King's Whistle Podu number to Kolaveri Di, Tamil has gone from being just about ‘mind it’ jokes to a lingo that youth across the nation don’t mind interspersing with dialogue-baazi.

The catty idli-dosa references and appadiya clichés have given way to more hip usage of words like machan, dai and paavum.

And with folk artiste Chinnaponnu sharing the stage with Shaan and B’town hotties grooving to her rustic live performance or Ranbir and SRK mouthing-off lines in Tamil at a recent awards function, it’s telling of the fact that Tamil is the new language of cool.

Suddenly, Tamil is all pervasive! Says Chanrachoodan Gopalakrishnan, who hosts photo walks in Chennai and is involved with Puram, a podcast on Tamil Nadu’s political scenario, “What’s been happening over the last few years is that people from Madras have been migrating everywhere.

Old bastions and boundaries have fallen. As more and more people marry outsiders the scope and reach for all things Tamil grows. Tamil classical music (Pittsburg tyagarajar festival etc.) and folk music have now become viral on the concert circuit globally. Be it Shankar Tucker’s Shruti Box or the Chennai Super Kings campaigns, Twitter — largely populated by people from Chennai — has taken things from here and turned them into a national phenomenon.”

Ushering in the change, rapper BlaaZe says, “It’s a great time for Tamil music and Tamil art to really reach out to the world. As a member of a diverse society, when we are exposed to different languages and cultures, it’s only natural to be amused at first, accept it next, and then grow fond of it,” he smiles.

But the syntax and rich phonetic collection of the language surely do make it unique? Says lyricist Madhan Karky, “I’ve studied different languages in the course of my work and find that Tamil is very beautifully designed. A lot of thought has gone into its construction. It has a big range of phonetics and sounds. From a musical and lyrical point of view especially it’s very pleasing.”

Tamil may very well soon be the language of Gen Y, but actress Shruti Haasan believes that Tamil has never had to fight a popularity contest. "Tamil is such an ancient language, it has nothing to prove to anyone. Having lived in America and later Mumbai too, I've always held my mother tongue in high regard and believe that no one can mock something that one is proud of,” says the actress who has a vernacular tattoo on display.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tablo...oo-cool-da-081