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Readers Write In #133: Parasite and The White Tiger: Doing what it takes
(by Adhithya K R) The White Tiger was one of the darkest books that I’ve read. The book started with a former driver explaining that he had murdered his employer. It hadn’t been very difficult because his master had trusted him. For a while, after reading it, I was puzzled by how people trusted others […]
Readers Write In #129: My 2019 in Books – Top 10
January 10, 2020
(by G Waugh) 1. Rishi Moolam by Jayakanthan Jayakanthan’s take on the Oedipus Complex just blew me away. I don’t know why I have this obsession with small books. This is easily the greatest novella ever written in Tamil. 2. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth The second place is taken by the longest book […]
Hariprasad Chaurasia: Breath of Gold
December 5, 2019
A plug for my friend Sathya Saran’s book: HARIPRASAD CHAURASIA: BREATH OF GOLD, in her words (from the book). I thought it would be of interest to many readers of this blog. .1957. He watches the terrain swiftly sweep past, as the train rattles along. He is leaving behind everything familiar. Home, family, friends, and […]
Nine rupees an hour
November 23, 2019
A plug for my friend Aparna Karthikeyan’s book: NINE RUPEES AN HOUR, in her words (from the book). I thought it would be of interest to many readers of this blog. Introduction When a livelihood dies a way of live vanishes; and the language too is diminished. Cho Dharman Let me tell you a story. […]
Bitty Ruminations 90 – A Little Life
November 17, 2019
I’ve not had a very good run with fiction of late. I can’t read the really junky books anymore. Once in a while, I may pick up a Harold Robbins or something, just for a change — but I prefer slightly (but not too) highbrow fiction. It’s almost always fiction. I am not much of […]
FC Recco: Tamil Translated Books, Pesamozhi Publications
September 10, 2019
A weekly series where I recommend a film-based book, a foreign film or an Indian movie. For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNulta Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
FC Recco – ‘Directors’ Diaries: The Road to Their First Film’
July 18, 2019
A weekly series where I recommend a film-based book, a foreign film or an Indian movie. For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_Ym39kMJD0 Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Forty years on, Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’ remains a great example of movie-poetry, easier to experience than explain
July 11, 2019
Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/forty-years-on-tarkovskys-stalker-remains-a-great-example-of-movie-poetry-easier-to-experience-than-explain-6973641.html In 1972, the brothers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky published a Russian sci-fi novel titled Roadside Picnic, which centres on an extraterrestrial event called Visitation. This event results in “Zones”, mysterious (possibly supernatural) areas that have been cordoned off by the respective Governments. Instead of a single exposition […]
Books that changed you
July 9, 2019
Jeevan R asked this question in the K Balachander #AskBR thread. I think it deserves a separate thread, especially if readers can chip in. What books have challenged your perception of world.. can you suggest few Good ones?
FC Recco – ‘Reel World: On location in Kollywood’
July 4, 2019
A weekly series where I recommend a film-based book, a foreign film or an Indian movie. For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_Ym39kMJD0 Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
FC Recco – ‘The Film That Changed My Life’
June 6, 2019
A weekly series where I recommend a film-based book, a foreign film or an Indian movie. For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_Ym39kMJD0 Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Readers Write In #76: Thamizh Cinema – Punaivil Iyangum Samoogam
May 27, 2019
Is cinema merely a reflection of society or does it reinforce the existing beliefs of a society? This is the question left lingering in my mind after reading ‘Thamizh Cinema – Punaivil Iyangum Samoogam’ (Society living in Fiction). Stalin Rajangam’s book is an interesting collection of essays about Tamil cinema, its many layers and the […]
FC Recco – ‘Writers at the Movies’
April 25, 2019
A weekly series where I recommend a film-based book, a foreign film or an Indian movie. For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
FC Recco: ‘Masala Shakespeare’, by Jonathan Gil Harris
April 4, 2019
A weekly series where I recommend a film-based book, a foreign film or an Indian movie. For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Subramaniya Bharati’s poetry in Tamil cinema
September 11, 2018
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/subramaniya-bharati-poetry-tamil-cinema-southern-lights-baradwaj-rangan The great Tamil poet, activist and social reformer died on September 11, 1921. Here are some of his songs that made it to the big screen. Had this been a literary web site, I would have used this occasion to talk about AR Venkatachalapathy’s Who Owns […]
Truffaut/Hitchcock, and 50 years of ‘The Bride Wore Black’ (aka the ‘Kill Bill’ of its generation)
May 14, 2018
Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/truffauthitchcock-and-50-years-of-the-bride-wore-black-aka-the-kill-bill-of-its-generation-4468333.html François Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black, starring Jeanne Moreau, turned 50 this April. Today, the film better is known as the film Quentin Tarantino claimed not to have seen when he made his two Kill Bill movies, despite the absurd similarities in plot (a bride is widowed […]
Readers Write In #26: 50 Films That Changed Bollywood, 1995-2015
November 1, 2017
The following is an excerpt from journalist/critic Shubhra Gupta’s book, 50 Films That Changed Bollywood, 1995-2015. From the back cover: Hindi cinema was trapped in formulaic clichés for decades: lost-and-found themes, sacrificing mothers, brothers on opposite sides of the law, villains lording over their dens, colourful molls, six songs, the use of rape as a […]
Readers Write In #25: A Tropical Sojourn
October 22, 2017
The following is a note from Anand Raghavan… Hi BR, Poetry is one of the most expressive forms of art. From time immemorial humans have captured all facets of their life across the world in this form. In this book, it is effectively used as a medium to capture the beauty of nature and life […]
Readers Write In #20: Yama’s Lieutenant…
July 8, 2017
The following is a note from Anuja Chandramouli… People always want to know what prompted me to write books in the currently red – hot, alleged cash cow that is the mythology genre. I have no idea what to say except that it is not something that I thought long and hard about, given my […]
Butterflies, Parathas and the Bhagwat Gita
March 12, 2017
Regular reader and occasional commenter ‘doctorhari’ has written a book titled “Butterflies, Parathas and the Bhagwat Gita,” which he calls “a fictional work interspersed with the Gita’s wisdom. It traces the journey of two flawed, irreverent men pushed to come to terms with the Gita, and how that ended up transforming their lives.” The book is […]
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