South First's stories spanned across heritage celebrations, global art recognition, festivals, history and also paid tributes to icons.
Published Dec 31, 2025 | 6:19 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 31, 2025 | 6:19 PM
Banu Mushtaq
South First covered a plethora of stories related to art, community, and culture in 2025. Our stories spanned across heritage celebrations, global art recognition, festivals, history and also paid tributes to icons — reflecting South India’s evolving cultural landscape.
Some of the key pieces which made people take notice have been highlighted below:
Kerala artist PS Jalaja’s “Museum of Debt” is a poignant act of solidarity with Gaza, using postcards and concrete shelves as metaphors of memory and resistance. Alongside her live series The War Face of Truth, Jalaja transforms public spaces into sites of witness, redefining art as protest, remembrance, and collective responsibility against war, erasure, and injustice.
In Malabar’s monsoon month of Karkkadakam, five-year-old Prayan Prashanth transforms into Vedan Theyyam, embodying Lord Shiva to bless homes and communities. Rooted in Mahabharata’s Vana Parva, Aadi Vedan Theyyam is performed by children, preserving tradition and offering prosperity. Guided by his father, a theyyam artist, Prayan balances school with ritual, visiting nearly 100 houses. Though revered as a deity in costume, he returns to being a child at day’s end, symbolising faith, continuity, and cultural resilience.
The Karnataka government’s proposal to rechristen the Shivajinagar metro station after St Mary, patron saint of the nearby Basilica, has sparked political controversy. BJP leaders, including Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, condemned it as “appeasement politics,” citing Shivaji Bhonsle’s legacy in the area. Supporters highlight Bengaluru Metro’s precedent of naming stations after historic figures, while critics suggest Shankar Nag deserves recognition. The debate intertwines the heritage of St Mary’s Basilica and Shivaji’s early years in Bengaluru, reflecting tensions over history, identity, and symbolism.
18th-century ruler Tipu Sultan’s contested legacy survives in fragments across Bengaluru and Mysuru through forts, gardens, palaces, armories and dargahs. A military innovator and fierce British adversary, Tipu advanced rocket warfare, horticulture and architecture while remaining a polarising figure accused of brutality. These surviving sites—from Taramandalpet to Lalbagh and the Summer Palace—reflect innovation, cultural exchange and conflict, underscoring how history, memory and politics continue to shape perceptions of his rule. South First takes you back in time to tell the tale.
South First reports on ‘Gaana’, a music genre rooted in Chennai’s slums and burial grounds, has evolved into a powerful voice of struggle and resilience. Popularised nationally by Isaivani’s controversial songs and Casteless Collective’s protests, Gaana blends Madras Bhasai dialect with rhythmic beats to challenge injustice. Despite stigma and discrimination, artists like Gokul, Kaali, Harish, Diva, Naren, and Purushoth continue performing, united in preserving tradition. They seek recognition, respect, and legitimacy for Gaana as an art form born from the soul of Tamil Nadu’s working-class communities.
In Tamil Nadu’s 2025 Vinayagar Chaturthi, youngsters in Thoothukudi created “Operation Sindoor Vinayagar”, a military-themed idol inspired by India’s counter-terrorism action against Pakistan. Themed idols, including depictions of politicians and film stars, reflect a growing trend mixing devotion with contemporary symbolism. While the festival engages thousands of youth and sustains a commercial ecosystem, critics warn of Hindutva groups using it for political influence. Scholars trace its evolution from Tilak’s nationalist platform to present-day polarisation, raising concerns over faith being turned into propaganda.
Banu Mushtaq’s International Booker Prize win has spotlighted Kannada literature’s radical legacy, rooted in movements like Bandaya Sahitya and Mahila Samvedhane. Emerging in the late 1970s, these movements challenged caste, religious and gender oppression, bringing Dalit and women’s voices to the forefront. Writers such as Banu Mushtaq and Sara Aboobacker used literature as social intervention, reshaping Kannada writing into a platform for equality, dissent and political consciousness that continues to evolve today.
Five decades after captivating Kerala’s readers, Kottayam Pushpanath’s Malayalam reimagining of Dracula is set for a historic revival in 2026, led by his grandson Rayan Pushpanath with the support of the Stoker family. More than a translation, Pushpanath built a unique Dracula universe rooted in Indian and Asian settings. After a 7-year search to recover the lost 1975 edition, the relaunch restores missing chapters, adds rare material, and celebrates a gothic legacy that transcended borders, generations and languages.
Iyothee Thass Pandithar (1845–1914), a pioneering anti-caste intellectual, used journalism and Buddhism to challenge both Brahminical dominance and colonial erasure. Through his weekly Oru Paisa Tamilan (1907), he demanded land redistribution, education, and dignity for Dalits, declaring them Adhi Tamilar and descendants of Tamil Buddhists. Founding early movements like the Advaitananda Sabha and Panchamar Mahajana Sabha, Thass fused Tamil identity with Buddhist revival, anticipating decolonisation and inspiring Ambedkar. His ink-driven revolution remains a living voice for justice and equality.
The self-immolation of journalist K Muthukumar in Chennai in January 2009 became a powerful symbol of Tamil Nadu’s anguish over the Sri Lankan civil war and the plight of Eelam Tamils. South First’s story here traces the final phase of the war, alleged mass civilian killings, UN failures, and contested narratives around the LTTE. It also examines decades of political and student-led mobilisation in Tamil Nadu, showing how Muthukumar’s sacrifice continues to shape Tamil Eelam solidarity, memory and demands for international justice.
The Vaikom Satyagraha was a 603-day-long civil rights movement in early 20th-century Kerala. It was a historic struggle against caste discrimination, challenging the rigid hierarchies in the then Kingdom of Travancore. While the movement’s prominent leaders are well remembered, the thousands of ordinary protestors who endured arrests, brutal repression, and violence have more or less been forgotten. To honour their sacrifices, the Kerala State Institute of Encyclopaedic Publications has released Vaikom Satyagraham Vijnanakosham, an encyclopaedia dedicated to preserving the legacy of these forgotten heroes.
Vaikom Satyagraha is often remembered for its male leaders, but women played a decisive role. The Vaikom Satyagraham Vijnanakosham focuses on figures like Kayyalakkal Narayaniamma, Susanna, PK Kalyani, Nagamma, and SR Kannamma, who led protests, raised funds, and defied police bans. Women from marginalised communities and Tamil Nadu sustained the struggle when men were arrested, using strategies like the Handful of Rice Movement. Their courage and activism reshaped Kerala’s social reform history.
Kerala marked 69 years of its formation on 1 November 2025, the day is less about its physical borders and more about honouring Malayalam, the language that shaped the state’s identity long before its political birth. South First delves deep into the archival debates from the early 1900s in Travancore and Cochin reveal how reformers and legislators fought to make Malayalam the language of the courts, classrooms, and government at a time when English dominated public life.
