Good or bad? Depiction of crime and violence in contemporary Tamil cinema

Over the decades, studies have expressed concern about portraying crime and violence through media. Researches reveal that frequent exhibition of crime and violent content could cause insensitivity among viewers. Contents appreciated by the audience through the exposure carried over as a trend by the creators. The study aims to contribute to the existing literature of Indian cinema, specifically to the Tamil cinema of Southern India. The current work delves into the portrayal of crime and violent content in contemporary Tamil cinema for more than a decade, from 2007 to 2021. The analysis concentrates on protagonists and antagonists of the samples in the context of their roles, characteristics, involvement with crime, and violence. The study also profiles the components used to describe film violence and crimes, including depiction, details, types, participation, and relationships. The analyzed results reveal that the environment and lack of morality enable the characters to engage in aggressive actions. The egregious trend of depicting protagonists as a criminal than antagonists is emerging. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.