Storytelling & Media
A selection of videos exploring Tamil language, heritage, and identity. Each piece is guided by an exploratory lens — asking how and why certain traditions, practices, or ideas emerged, and what they can tell us today. These works connect research with accessible storytelling, inviting global audiences to engage with Tamil culture in meaningful ways.
Long-Form Explorations
Traditional Tamil Trades Series
Documentary-style videos capturing the process of four traditional trades such as clay pot making and traditional oil pressing. Beyond showing how these trades are practiced, it explores their cultural significance, the benefits of these methods, and the struggles artisans face today. These films asks how such trades can evolve and survive in a modern context while carrying forward ancestral knowledge.
Thai Pongal 101
A guide for beginners on what Thai Pongal, the secular Tamil festival, is, its importance, and how to celebrate it.
Why are the Tamil Days of the Week Named After Planets?
​This video explores how Tamil days of the week came to be named after planets -- comparing scientific ordering of celestial bodies with ancient Babylonian systems and highlighting striking parallels with Tamil astrology.
The Pottu: Beyond Ornamentation
The tradition of wearing the pottu is challenged as a secular practise, proposing its beginnings could have been tied to varma pullikal in traditional Siddha medicine.
Easy Guide To Tamil Family Relationships
Family and community remain foundational in Tamil heritage, reflected in texts, oral traditions, and lived practices. This video introduces the Tamil system of kinship terms, asking why such detailed naming exists and what it reveals about the cultural importance of family and community.
Short-Form Explorations
Traditional Tamil Views Explored through Language
Tamil expressions surrounding death suggest that death was not viewed as an ending, but as transformation. This reel explores how language itself can serve as a window into ancestral thought, offering insight into how Tamils may have understood life and death.
1 million views across social media platforms
Benefits of the Banana Leaf
We often take cultural practices for granted - like serving meals on banana leaves. Beyond being eco-friendly, could there be deeper reasons this tradition has lasted for centuries? This short video unpacks the science and heritage behind the practice, from chemical compounds activated by heat to antibacterial properties researchers are still studying today.
Sweets Kill Jealousy
Why do Tamils share sweets when announcing good news? Beyond celebration, this tradition may have been a way to protect against jealousy - combining cultural ideas of the “evil eye” with modern science on how sugar influences mood.