Category: Biography

Geeta Dutt ‘Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, But being too happy in thy happiness,— That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees In some melodious plot Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, Singest of summer in full-throated ease. – John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale   In Geeta Dutt’s warbling voice, subdued smile […]

Kamal Haasan “The fact that I’ve lived this long is not really an achievement, Time passes; we age… it’s natural. This is why it annoys me when a person watches a movie and tell me that it was ‘time pass’. Would time not have passed if he hadn’t watched the film?” -Kamal Haasan   All […]

Shabana Azmi  Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety   These lines from Antony and Cleopatra, originally woven by the Bard of Avon to sing a paean to the Egyptian queen, seem apt for Shabana Azmi. There is an unwritten norm that most celebrities much before they approach seventy opt for retirement […]

When I was completing the edit of my film ‘Remembering Bimal Roy‘ on my father, my editor asked me who would do the final sound design. This was the first time I heard the term sound design and realised that my documentary would need one. Shajith By sheer serendipity a dear friend Meena Pillai mentioned that […]

Sharmila Tagore ‘From the east to western Ind, No jewel is like Rosalind. Her worth, being mounted on the wind, Through all the world bears Rosalind. All the pictures fairest lined Are but black to Rosalind, Let no face be kept in mind But the fair Rosalind’ –Shakespeare, As You Like It (Act III, scene […]

When renowned poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz watched Gaman (1978), he was overcome by so many emotions that it was nearly impossible not to say anything about it. He wrote a letter to Muzaffar Ali, the 34 year-old adman who had directed the film. Faiz wrote, “Gaman is a poem in visuals. Its tragic lyricism and […]