Real Estate

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Abstract

The Tamil-language blockbuster film Madras revolves around a disputed stretch of wall that political parties compete over for advertising space, and the movie was hailed for its realistic portrait of contemporary politics. This being the case, it is entirely apt that the two main political characters in the script—Dalit youth Anbu and his powerful political opponent Kannan—are depicted as ‘real estate’ businessmen, with a signpost for Anbu A. R. Real Estates on view in key scenes of the film. This cultural sub-plot reflects the increasing commercialisation of land in India’s liberalised economy. ‘Real estate’ has entered the lexicon in parallel with this process and connotes the slightly shady world of money, muscle power and persuasion engaged in by political brokers who help to negotiate and complete land deals. ‘Real estate’, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, refers to ‘property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources’. It goes on to define what it calls the ‘business of real estate’ as ‘the profession of buying, selling, or renting land, buildings, or housing’. People in India increasingly use the term ‘real estate’ in this second sense. Since the 1990s, the liberalisation of the economy, combined with rapid urbanisation, has witnessed a huge increase in property deals. The opening up of the Indian economy, the rise in the non-agricultural rural economy and the increase in special economic zones have freed up huge areas of land for sale and the demand for this land has risen. Real estate has flourished as an occupation because brokers are needed to facilitate deals, secure land deeds, negotiate with various parties, and obtain official clearance. They can also help with the reclassification of agricultural land and fuel the buying up of peripheral areas by those hoping to develop them. Given their extensive socio-political connections and the close relationship between business and politics, activists are often engaged in real estate, which is why conversations around real estate in India almost invariably connect it to politics or muscle power. Having access to planning applications and decisions and the muscle to encourage landowners to sell are central to the murky world of real estate. The massive expansion of