When Tamil cinema and railways cross tracks

There’s a monitor the place Tamil cinema and the railways intersect in Madras. Several hit movies and iconic scenes, that are etched within the reminiscence of filmgoers, had been shot on railway premises. These locations present good backdrop to a number of movies, a lot so, that they’re remembered extra for being set in these places than their actors.

A movie track devoted to the practice itself featured in Gentleman, the place Prabhudeva danced to the hit quantity Chikku Bukku Chikku Bukku Raile. The means the track, which additionally launched music director G.V. Prakash as a toddler singer, sways in sync with the practice’s motion endeared each the track and the railway station to audiences.

M. Senthamil Selvan, Chief Public Relations Officer of Southern Railway, stated income from movie taking pictures permission was a superb supply of non-fare earnings for the railways. The Public Relations Department is in command of giving permissions for movie taking pictures, which necessitates a number of formalities as passengers or practice operations shouldn’t be affected. Southern Railway earned round ₹60 lakh from the charge collected for movie taking pictures licences throughout 2024-25, he added.

D. Om Prakash, Senior Public Relations Officer, Southern Railway, stated among the favorite movies that had been shot on railway premises had been Alaipayuthey on the Tambaram railway station, Gentleman on the Egmore railway station, and Agni Natchathiram and Singaravelan on the Southern Railway Headquarters, situated subsequent to the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station.

Many movie administrators, together with Mani Ratnam, Shankar, Myskin, and Fazil, characteristic trains together with railway stations both as a key setting or backdrop throughout memorable scenes. A notable instance was Thodari, a movie totally set on a working practice, to not point out Bharathiraja’s basic Kizhekke Pogum Rail, which features a track sequence on a transferring practice. Additionally, films akin to Chennai Express and Anbu Karangal have train-related sequences, although they is probably not totally train-based flicks. The Tondiarpet railway yard was featured in Kamal’s hit movie ‘Vikram 2’. The Royapuram railway station, from the place the primary practice in south India was operated, is a heritage station and is fashionable taking pictures spot within the Tamil movie trade.

‘Rail’ Ravi, a retired officer from the railways, reminisces in regards to the movies that had been shot on railway premises. Actor Sivaji in Pachai Vilakku stars as a practice driver, with the movie having been shot on the Basin Bridge railway station. Also, actor Kamal’s hit movies Anbe Sivam, Kurudhipunal, Vasool Raja MBBS, and actor Rajinikanth’s Sivaji had scenes that had been shot on the railway headquarters, he stated.

Interestingly, for the movie Madrasapattinam, the producers, as an alternative of renting the Chennai Central railway station, constructed a wholly new set of the station to deliver the texture of the Pre-Independence period.