What’s common between Parinda and Ardh Satya? Or Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and Hyderabad Blues, Pardes and 1942: A Love Story? Her name was Renu Saluja. Renu was the creative force behind at least a quarter of all “parallel” movies made in the 80s and 90s. As a point of fact, her roster as a […]
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Mahishasur Marddini “So many years past being raped, I tell myself what happened is ‘in the past.’ This is only partly true. In too many ways, the past is still with me. The past is written on my body. I carry it every single day. The past sometimes feels like it might kill me. It […]
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Despite mimesis as a narrative necessity and primary constructive principle of cinema being virtually absent in the lexicon of Indian filmmakers, their films work for the intended audiences, finds MK Raghavendra in his latest visitation of Indian films in the seminal book, ‘Philosophical Issues in Indian Cinema: Appropriate Terms & Concepts’. The cinema of […]
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Fire asks society a few uncomfortable questions. Is the desire to love someone beyond the periphery of the heteronormative relationship a sin? Can a woman not love another woman, or a man love another man? Even in this modern age, why do certain societies step backwards and attempt to regulate the bodily desires of individuals? […]
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Every era imprints its cultural vogue on its arts. Just over a decade following the onslaught of the information-technology wave thus the template of popular Malayalam cinema predictably underwent a radical change. Since someone has already coined a now-widely-accepted term for this revolutionary template, ‘new-gen Malayalam cinema’, I shall use the same term—even though it […]
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AFTER SPENDING OVER FORTY-FIVE years in media and entertainment, actively working in all sectors at the top, I decided it was time to quit working for profit. However, having spent a lifetime pursuing not only a passion but being involved with various arts and crafts of different media, I wanted to do some academic work […]
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Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Anantaram (1987), his fifth film and its three preceding films have a common approach of a biography of an individual. They get deeper and deeper as we move from his second film onwards. While Kodiyettam (1978) follows the carefree Shankaran Kutty attaining maturity, in Elippathayam (1982), Unni is like a rat in a […]
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In the present landscape of Indian cinematic productions, the ever-growing number of female authors brings a fresh breath of air that comes with interesting stories, powerful female characters, and challenging perspectives on various social, political, and cultural aspects. The great benefit brought about by the digitalization of the Indian film industry, mainly of the processes […]
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digital What has caused the death of single screen theatres? Unlike in the past when were they were the only platform for watching feature films, today a variety of alternative media are readily available. The technological wave has effectively ensured that the spectator isn’t required to travel any distance at all to watch their desired […]
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Shyam Benegal: the Affable Auteur “Weave a circle around him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.” -Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ‘Kubla Khan’ The most endearing aspect of Shyam Benegal as an individual and a director is his unassuming demeanour. He is an […]
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