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Community mediation in multicultural India 411Christians, proportions that have not altered drastically in the past century. 11The relationship between the media and the community social and politicalinstitutions developed at the time. Several founders of Malayali vernacularnewspapers were members of the newly formed Malayali political associationsas well as the Indian National Congress, linking their drive for autonomywith the nationalist movement for independence. Correspondingly, involvementin the region’s movements by several of cinema’s prominent personalitiesformed a link between the region’s film sector and the politicalinstitutions. This relationship was later institutionalized when the new stateutilized its resources to encourage Kerala’s media sector.After independence, these language affinities remained resolute inconfronting the attempt by the nation-state to unify modern India throughhomogenizing policies. The manner in which Hindi was promoted to replaceEnglish in post-colonial India raised concerns of discriminative policiesamong other language communities, producing widespread opposition and thesuspension of the sole language policy (Dasgupta, 1970: ch. 2). The combinationof enhanced awareness of distinct language communities, promoted bythe elite and the state, and the regional threat of discrimination furtherenhanced affinity toward language collectivities. Community media institutionsparticipated in this process by diffusing these objectives, supporting thecommunity elite, as well as becoming cultural symbols whose consumptionwas critical for community cohesion.The success of these movements and the formation of states strengthenedthe alliance between the media and the new elite. For Andhra Pradesh andKerala, territorial reorganization initiated in the 1950s provided spatialsymbols for further enhancement of their language identities. The new politicalboundaries strengthened their language community, legitimized theirdifferences, and presented an opportunity to institutionalize the objectives ofthe community movements. Simultaneously, the national and state governmentsinstated coordinating institutions to promote regional languageresources such as the Central Institute of Indian Languages and the SahityaAkademy (literary academy) to develop Indian languages.The film sectors in the two language communities reflect this relationship.Andhra Pradesh ranks as the largest film production center in the country. In1995, it produced 168 films. During the same period, Kerala produced a totalof 83 films, which ranked it as the fourth largest film industry. The Hindi filmindustry in Mumbai provides the only other corresponding figure with theproduction of 157 films in 1995 (Rajadhyaksha and Willemen, 1999: 33).Comparatively, the Punjabi film industry produced 12 films in 1995, furtheremphasizing the importance of the historical link between media institutionsand the state during the language movements. In Punjab, the presence of threelanguage movements, each associated with a politico-religious movement,