The election season is upon us in India and in the run up to the polls, we will keep hearing a lot of stuff like Mood of the Nation, Pulse of the voter, Ground reports, Elections on the plate and so on. While there is so much riding on these polls politically, can cinema be... Continue Reading →
Carnatic Music and Maniratnam – Does it ring a bell?
The “December Music Season” in Chennai is on us. A season, when from all over the world, Carnatic musicians throng Chennai to be a part of the platform. For a long time, it has been widely believed that Carnatic music only appeals to a narrow set of audience and has not broken the class divide.... Continue Reading →
Looking forward to Shankar 2.0!
Director Shankar’s upcoming film 2.0 we hear, is going to hit the screens finally on the 29th of November, this year. This film featuring none other than the Superstar Rajinikanth has been awaited with bated breath by the director’s fans for quite some time now. That will be a in a long time that a... Continue Reading →
Bringing Carnatic music to mainstream Tamil cinema, the K.Balachander way!
(This piece was written for the news website thenewsminute.com and was first published on the 9th of July, 2018 - https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/bringing-carnatic-music-mainstream-tamil-cinema-k-balachander-way-84430 In one of the most impactful and memorable scenes in the Tamil film Sindhu Bhairavi, the male protagonist, who is a famed Carnatic vocalist, is shown rendering a Telugu kriti ‘Mari Mari Ninne’ in a concert. The assembled audience in... Continue Reading →
Sanju and the Question of Morality in Biopics!
In Indian cinema, it’s raining biopics of late, the latest, much talked about and at the same time reviled one being Sanju, the biopic on Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt by Rajkumar Hirani. As we speak, this film is running to packed houses even 1 week after it hit the theatres and has already crossed Rs.... Continue Reading →
Tamil Cinema’s Masssss… trap!
Mouse Trap or Elipathayam is a 1981 Malayalam film directed by one of the most acclaimed film directors of Indian cinema – Adoor Gopalakrishnan. This film is considered as a bench mark for art and probably excruciatingly realistic cinema. Films of this genre though, suffered from poor box office response since they could only cater... Continue Reading →
Agni Natchathiram & the emergence of a Hot Star!
(This piece was written for the news website thenewsminute.com and was first published on the 15th April, 2018 - https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/30-years-ago-star-emerged-agni-natchathiram-story-pc-sreeram-79602) This day, exactly 30 years ago, in the sweltering summer heat, director Mani Ratnam’s stylish flick Agni Natchathiram released. A film which defined “cool” to young boys and girls alike in TN those days. It was an unapologetic... Continue Reading →
Padmini to Padmavati to Padmaavat – The Journey from history to a ballad to Opera to a film!
(This post was first published on my personal blog http://anandkumarrs.com on 28th Jan, 2018) Finally Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus hit the screens in Mumbai last week and I happened to watch it. I liked the film for its making apart from other reasons which make for a good one time watch! No, this is... Continue Reading →
The rise and rise of the Censor Senas!!!
(This post was first published on my personal blog http://anandkumarrs.com on 19th Nov, 2017) Acclaimed film maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has again been engulfed in a controversy. This time around his soon to be released magnum opus Padmavati, which has enraged a section of people in North India - Rajputs in particular, who have threatened to... Continue Reading →
