I’m beyond-beyond-beyond thrilled that my blurb for Anand Pandian’s excellent book, “Reel World: On Location in Kollywood”, is featured alongside one by Walter Murch, the legendary sound designer and editor, whose film work includes The Godfather movies, Apocalypse Now, and The English Patient.
Flipkart link for the book: https://tinyurl.com/hvkphqd
Copyright ©2016 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Posted in: Personal
Baradwaj Rangan 
Govardhanen Gopal
January 26, 2016
For readers here in the USA, here’s the amazon link/google play/kobo link. The book has a different title here it looks like.
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=IbLNCgAAQBAJ
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/reel-world
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Ka
January 26, 2016
You deserve every bit and more.
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Anu Warrier
January 26, 2016
Congratulations. 🙂
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brangan
January 26, 2016
Thank you Ka and Anu Warrier 🙂
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Ram Murali
January 26, 2016
Congratulations, @brangan!
Here would be a blurb from Mani Ratnam when you write CWKH
“Baradwaj Rangan made me talk. Now he makes Kamal Hassan not only talk but also act, sing and even dance. The book starts off with a discussion on ‘Kamalisms’ and by the time I finished reading it, I had coined a new term -‘branganisms.’ A must read.”
– Mani Ratnam, award-winning film director.
@Govardhanen Gopal – thank you so much for the link. I placed a Kindle order already. Can’t wait to read it!
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tonks
January 26, 2016
Congrats 🙂
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Saurabh
January 26, 2016
Congratulations Brangan. Awesome!!! Also, I cant seem to be able to find the link now but I remember reading the following.
Walter Murch on his blog:
I’m beyond-beyond-beyond thrilled that my blurb for Anand Pandian’s excellent book, “Reel World: On Location in Kollywood”, is featured alongside one by Baradwaj Rangan, the legendary film critic and author, whose writing includes the book Conversations With Mani Ratnam.
Also, I really like Saurabh’s comment on Rangan’s blog and read them with great joy. 😉
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
January 26, 2016
Ram Murali has said it all ! Anything more will fall short
BR – The day is not far off when your name will be mentioned in the same breath as Richard Corliss and Pauline Kael.
Best Wishes !
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
January 26, 2016
BR gets Top billing in the blurbs.
We are already on our way !
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brangan
January 26, 2016
sravishanker1401: BR gets Top billing in the blurbs.
Actually, that doesn’t mean anything. In the sense that it’s just a marketing thing.
This is the Indian edition of the book, so the recommendation by the author of a Mani Ratnam book would carry more weight to the general public than that by Murch. Especially in Tamil-film circles, given that the book is about Kollywood.
By the same token, Murch would come out on top outside India. I’m pretty sure my name/blurb isn’t even there in the US editions.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
January 26, 2016
Congratulations Baddy!
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Rahul
January 26, 2016
Congrats BR!
I will utilise this occasion to brag about something too. Please check this image to see who follows me on twitter
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Sutheesh Kumar. P. S.
January 27, 2016
Hurrah BR! You deserve every recognition coming your way, above all, you are a great human being that is why. Slowly but surely what Anuja wrote about you is turning to be prophetic. You have consistently proved that you possess a mind that is creative, artistic and analytical.
You are “Kalaignan Paathi, Poriyaalan Paathi”. I see nay, the world acknowledges this aesthetic of yours.
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Sutheesh Kumar. P. S.
January 27, 2016
Is that Arya on the cover?
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newbie
January 27, 2016
Many congratulations! Feel guilty that I haven’t yet made time to read your ‘Conversations with Mani Ratnam’ – a book about one of my most favourite directors; but its definitely definitely on my top things to read list for this year.
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Mambazha Manidhan
January 27, 2016
Congrats, BR!
I think the cover is from Sarvam, which happens to be one of the slick, superbly shot Tamil films.
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Yossarian
January 27, 2016
Congrats BR!
Do you plan to write a review-post on the book sometime?
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Vanya
January 27, 2016
Congratulations!
(Any chance this Hopkins connection will cause you to visit the area some day?)
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sanjana
January 27, 2016
He should be proud to have BR with him.
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brangan
January 27, 2016
Sutheesh Kumar. P. S.: “great human being”? Whoa. Let’s back up a bit there.
Two rules of life. (1) Never guesstimate the real person from the writing/ composing / acting/ painting whatever. (2) Never use a film critic to decide whether a film is “worth watching” or not.
Okay, the second rule I just added because I felt like it 🙂
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Mani AJ
January 27, 2016
Hola BR – Could you please add one more to the rules of life :
Beauty is in the eyes of the beer-holder … ;-}
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Sutheesh Kumar. P. S.
January 27, 2016
BR, you are being self-effacing now, that was a spin on “good thing happens to good people”.
I’ve been following your work from 2012 and have noticed a few things, like how you treat a newbie’s film, whenever a movie gets bad rap from other quarters you always find something redeeming to say about it, your equanimity and humour in response to the comments whether negative or positive. There have been exceptions of course, but by and large you have been consistent.
Without us realising it there is always an essence of what we are that percolates into our work and i appreciate what i see in yours.
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SUNDAR
January 27, 2016
Congratulations sir!!!
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apex
January 27, 2016
Congrats ‘BR’: 2 celebrate this gud news, v ol can hav ‘beer’…
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mailmanju
January 27, 2016
Congratulations BR 🙂 Very well deserved !!!
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
January 27, 2016
Never guesstimate the real person from the writing/ composing / acting/ painting whatever.
Ippo enna neenga nallavarae illanu solreengala? 😛
Congrats. I’m not a bookworm, but will give a try!
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
January 27, 2016
BR – “By the same token, Murch would come out on top outside India. I’m pretty sure my name/blurb isn’t even there in the US editions.”
With your assessment, I’ll agree with a heavy heart but the undercurrent or tailwind or Macguffin 🙂 appears to be very strong. With Amitash and Dhanush of VIP making waves with Hollywood projects recently lets hope part of the India ointment rubs off on a deserving person called BR.
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
January 27, 2016
Rahul – Re’ William Friedkin – Amazing !
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Raj Balakrishnan
January 27, 2016
Congratulations on this well deserved recognition.
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castingreflections
January 27, 2016
And the third guy is David Shulman, BR. Don’t forget him. Not a bad company to be featured along. 🙂
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MANK
January 27, 2016
Brangan,Congrats. But is it really such a big thing for you? 🙂 Walter Murch is a great film editor – may be perhaps the greatest editor and sound designer ever – but still for me, your blurb means a lot more than his. Also, i am always disappointed to see you mentioned merely as the author of CWMR. you are so much more than that. when will the world realise your true worth? 🙂 I suppose this could be a good start.
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brangan
January 27, 2016
Rahul: So Rahul, if you don’t mind sharing, what do you do? Just curious because of the Friedkin thingee…
MANK: Oh but it is absolutely a big deal for me. One, because of his work and all the 70s stuff. But more importantly, his book of conversations with Michael Ondaatje is a bit of a religious text for me. I’ve rarely been as mind-blown by a book.
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MANK
January 27, 2016
But more importantly, his book of conversations with Michael Ondaatje is a bit of a religious text for me
Oh Ok ok, i forgot about that one. sure i get it now.Thanx
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ramitbajaj01
January 27, 2016
Outside India also, if one is interested in Kollywood, Maniratnam’s name would carry weight. Hence, your blurb. 🙂
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Ram Murali
January 27, 2016
@brangan – “But more importantly, his book of conversations with Michael Ondaatje is a bit of a religious text for me.”
–> On a related note, would you mind listing your top 3 books on cinema other than this one with Michael Ondaatje? I vaguely remember you mentioning a book about the Hollywood auteurs of the 70s. Is that a must-read? Any other strong recommendations?
By the way, I just started reading the Reel World book; just finished the foreword. The Coppola anecdote (with the nervous actor who kept gesticulating wildly) was priceless. Can’t wait to start reading the book. Thanks for the article about the book…
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Rahul
January 28, 2016
BR, I am just another IT guy, and my zindagi, that will na milegi dobara, is as much full of tedium as the Akhtar siblings and Imtiaz Ali will have you believe. I follow Friedkin, and I retweeted something that he said about “Making a murderer”, adding something innocuous from my side, and the next thing i know is I get a notification that he is following me!
I thought I would call my mother to share this news, but even if I could explain who Friedkin was, the difficulties involved in explaining twitter made me drop that idea. And I don’t think anyone in my friend circle gives a shit about this, except you guys. So thanks for giving me this opportunity to share this, and apologies for being Kanye to your Taylor Swift.
Thanks sravishanker!
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Ram Murali
January 28, 2016
@brangan – when time permits, could you answer my q above on books on cinema?
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chhotesaab
January 28, 2016
Congratulations Badesaab !!! You have always been a big deal, the world recognizes this now.
Rahul – congrats to you too ….. ‘Being Kanye to your Taylor Swift’ LOL !
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Anu Warrier
January 28, 2016
@Rahul – you made me smile. 🙂 Brag away. Life is indeed made up of these tiny pleasures. Congratulations.
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MANK
January 28, 2016
Rahul, that is great man. Just show your mother The exorcist and tell her that the fellow who directed this film is now getting directed by you, simple 🙂
Ram Murali, i have a terrible suspicion that it is Brangan who is downvoting you from all the Mobiles in Hindu office, since you keep pestering him all the time with queries and the same queries 🙂
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venkatesh
January 29, 2016
Kudos BR.
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Ram Murali
January 29, 2016
MANK – I am eager to learn. So, I ask questions and sometimes re ask them when I am really curious. Two things – (1) I feel like I am polite when I pose the queries and (2) BR himself has neither mentioned to me nor suggested that I “pester” him. If (1) is untrue or (2) is true that’s when I would stop asking him questions.
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MANK
January 29, 2016
Ram Murali, chill out man. that was a joke – that’s if you didnt get it. it is none of my business whether you want to ask him questions and how many times you want to ask him. I myself have posed several queries to Brangan in the past – some of them have got answers, some didnt – and i will continue to do so in the future too. that was not meant to be a put down. i regret if you were hurt by that statement.
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Ravi K
January 29, 2016
Ordered a copy. Can’t wait to read it.
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brangan
January 30, 2016
Ram Murali: I think you are referring to Easy Riders Raging Bulls…
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donna
February 4, 2016
This is so exciting, I’ll have my copy soon. Sent the link to a good friend who works at the George Eastman Museum and a copy will reside there as well.
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Rahul
February 5, 2016
BR, I am sure you know, that Mike Tyson shared your review on facebook and expressed the desire to see Saala Khadoos.
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Ram Murali
February 17, 2016
BR – That was an excellent read. I honestly thought that the book took a while to hit the ground running. But once Myshkin came into the picture, man, the book got into top gear. My favorite portions were the ones on editing. It was very illuminating. Loved the comment attributed to Murch – “It’s not just how fast you’re going but also where are you going so fast.” I smiled when I read the line because of the two people that came to mind – Scorsese and…director Hari, both for completely opposite reasons!!
Thank you for recommending the book.
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