Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood, is a part of Indian cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called Kollywood - a portmanteau of the words Kodambakkam and Hollywood. The first Tamil silent film, Keechaka Vadham, was directed by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1918. The first Tamil talking feature film, Kalidas, a multilingual directed by H M Reddy was released on 31 October 1931, less than seven months after India's first talking motion picture Alam Ara.By the end of the 1930s, the legislature of the State of Madras passed the Entertainment Tax Act of 1939. Tamil film industry established in Madras (now Chennai), then became a secondary hub for Hindi cinema, other South Indian film industries, as well as for Sri Lankan cinema. Over the last quarter of the 20th century, Tamil films from India established a global presence through distribution to an increasing number of regions in Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Japan, the Middle East, parts of Africa, Oceania, Europe, North America and other countries. The industry also inspired independent filmmaking among Tamil diaspora populations in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Malaysia, Singapore, and the west.
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