‘Singing Is Such Sweet Sorrow’: Ambikapathy, Hollywood Shakespeare and Tamil Cinema’s Hybrid Heritage

This chapter discusses a thematic and textual evolution from 'telling' to 'showing'—from script to song, stage to screen—using Linda Hutcheon and Siobhan O'Flynn's theory of cinematic adaptation. Ambikapathy employs cinematic techniques, set elements and imagery to translate the narrative of 'telling' into 'showing', transcending linguistic distinctions for a polyglot Indian audience. Ambikapathy's singing lovers begin in discretion and end in open passion as Ambikapathy and Amaravathi's romance progresses from the first love message to the balcony scene and bedroom kiss, an evolution that further illustrates the complex negotiation between the private and public representation of romance in Tamil cinema. The lovers' union acts as a metaphor for the ideals of the liberation of the Tamil motherland and the abolition of caste-based hierarchies. The chapter considers the intertextual use of Shakespearean dialogue and songs to highlight 'telling' through 'singing', using music as a unifying language of emotion that 'replaced the presumed visual universality of silent films with a new aural universality.'.