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Readers Write In #338: Understanding Indian agriculture through Indian cinema
(by Macaulay Perapulla) Ever since I fell in love with Mahabharata, I began to discover the power of a beautiful, a rather deceptive phrase: “Puranas”. Puranas means Pura Api Navam: That which is ancient AND nascent. And as someone who works on the wicked challenge of digitizing agriculture, I became obsessed with one question: How […]
Readers Write In #337: A diary of suffering
February 6, 2021
(by G Waugh) Never in my life had I ever imagined a time would come where I would be seeking treatment for something as terrible as– a mental illness. Whenever I used to call teasingly some of my friends “loosu”, “mental” it never waswithout a derogatory connotation that makes me wince today and those words […]
Readers Write In #335: Gamestop
January 31, 2021
(by Shiva Prasad) There is significant outrage, the social media is going crazy about what GameStop thing really is? As someone who has relied heavily on investments to make my ends meet for the past two odd years, I’ll admit, even for me there was still a lot of learning I had to go through, […]
Readers Write In #322: Bye Bye Miss American Pie
January 11, 2021
(by Madan Mohan) Don McLean wrote the iconic American Pie as a lament addressed to the events at Altamont, where pandemonium broke out between fans and Hell’s Angels (private bodyguards of sorts) as Rolling Stones performed their set at a music festival and also as a general critique of what he saw as accelerating cultural […]
‘Master’ is coming, but the pandemic isn’t going, so what do we do?
January 5, 2021
https://www.filmcompanion.in/features/tamil-features/tamil-movies-master-eeswaran-theatres-covid-19-master-is-coming-but-the-pandemic-isnt-going-so-what-do-we-do-vijay-simbu-baradwaj-rangan/ Now that 100% occupancy has been ensured in theatres, let’s just be safe and responsible and leave the rest to the movie gods. When the announcement came that Tamil Nadu theatres would be open at 100% capacity to accommodate Master and Eeswaran, my jaw dropped. Really? What kind of message is being sent out? […]
#AskBR – Rewind 2020
December 24, 2020
In which I answer a few questions on an older film… or a new one… or talk about actors and directors… or take on a few YouTube comments… For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2020 Film Companion.
Readers Write In #315: Mirror Cracked From Side to Side
December 19, 2020
(by Madan Mohan) No, this is not about the famous Agatha Christie novel. This is about the imminent shutdown of Mumbai Mirror, a tabloid-sized daily that used to accompany Times of India. Starting tomorrow, we are told, Mumbai Mirror will be a Sunday weekly affair. Notice I say tabloid-sized. If you aren’t from Mumbai (or […]
Eros theatre memories: Movie-going in another era
December 18, 2020
I received this on Whatsapp. It’s so brilliantly written, so evocative that I wanted to preserve this piece. (Plus, I was a frequenter of Eros theatre myself, and this write-up brought back so many memories — not necessarily of the films mentioned here, but of how movie-going used to be way back then.) Publishing with […]
Readers Write In #314: Kim Ki-duk’s Kerala connection is one of the strangest things Indian cinema has witnessed
December 16, 2020
(by Alex John) Something unprecedented happened at the IFFK in 2013, which was held in the capital city of Kerala. An art movie maker who was largely obscure in his own country got literally stunned by the movie-star welcome the crowd gave him; to an extent that he said it was the most memorable experience […]
Readers Write In #306: Of lacking Office Space… or not!
November 30, 2020
(by An Jo) The name of the movie, ‘Office Space’, itself spells out such a broad spectrum of imagined meanings that it made sense, or makes sense, now, in these days of CV-19 that have dictated WFH [Work? from Home]. And so, there are articles/pieces coming out that decry the necessary evil of WFH. Be […]
Readers Write In #302: Samsaram Adhu Minsaram, and how age changes how this movie is viewed
November 18, 2020
(by Sudharshan Garg) The movie bug bit me hard when I went to the first Laurel and Hardy movie as a 5 year old. Back then the Blue Diamond hotel (RIP) was the Satyam Cinemas of our day, talking about 1985-86. My uncle a lifelong movie aficionado (he was the room mate of Ravi K […]
PVR 2.0: The new normal in theatre-going
November 9, 2020
For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2020 Film Companion.
Readers Write In #293: Middle-class-ness
November 7, 2020
(by G Waugh) Baskar is incensed that all these days he had been dealing with a ruthless money-lender who had taken the guise of well-wisher/ family friend with a view to acquiring his rare, chemical formula, which is worth millions. He kidnaps the little daughter of the money-lender and calls to threaten him. But to […]
Readers Write In #289: Aims, a Memoir
October 24, 2020
(by G Waugh) Born into a middle class family that subsisted on a single income, there was only one purpose for which I was thrust into education- ‘settling’ in life. ‘Settling’ meant only one thing- getting a well-paid job, marrying and having kids. After slogging for over four years in an area where I was […]
Readers Write In #284: Bereavements, a Memoir
October 19, 2020
(by G Waugh) I was 16 then. At 7 in the morning on a Sunday, my dad was woken up by a phone call from Theni. He could divine from the way the landline rang that it was an STD call. “Pitchaimani here, Hey, Raja tell me. What happened?” A break of silence. A deep […]
Readers Write In #277: First American Presidential Debate 2020 as Reality TV
October 2, 2020
(by Prasanna H) The Real House-Whites of Trump and Biden “Why do celebrities wash their dirty whites in public?” an exasperated Naseeruddin Shah once said. It really makes you wonder, especially when reality TV stars do it more professionally. It is not an exact quote, meaning Naseer would have denied it completely if he were […]
The Discreet Charm of the Savarnas
September 30, 2020
Starting a thread for this short film, with its pointedly Buñuel-ian title. It’s produced by Pa Ranjith’s Neelam Productions and directed by Rajesh Rajamani.
Mammootty, Mohanlal and their long-delayed journey to ‘mass’
September 18, 2020
When did two award-winning performers turn mass heroes and what was the trigger? And, who among the younger lot will take their place? BR: We started this series about a Telugu star (Prabhas) and we went on to discuss Tamil stardom (the Vijay/Ajith phenomenon), so this time I thought it would be interesting to visit the big heroes […]
Readers Write In #271: Why should we read the Mahabharata?
September 18, 2020
(by G Waugh) I had always wanted to write exclusively about the Mahabharata. The below question from a reader Varsha Ganesh on the comments section came as an excuse for me to do it. “I’m really curious about your comment on the Mahabharata too. What made you read all those different interpretations on it? […]
Bitty Ruminations 91 – The erasure of (film) history
September 17, 2020
There are two reasons for writing this. One is awkshwayrd’s comment on the SADAK 2 thread, in response to my comment about Mahesh Bhatt: @brangan: There is a masterclass from you buried in the comments here. I’d never heard of any of these movies (MANZILEIN AUR BHI HAIN? AWAARGI? SAATHI?) and I’m a 80’s kid […]
February 8, 2021
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