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Surveillance and survival

In post-war Sri Lanka, Sinhala cinema is all about triumphal cultural nationalism. What options does a Tamil film-maker have, faced with the twin thre

SIVAMOHAN SUMATHY

Requiem for film

WE have known for some years now that the days of film as film are numbered, that movies are being increasingly produced and delivered in the digital

Changing values of Hindi cinema

From films highlighting moral values to those portraying “illegality as enterprise”, ethical motifs in popular Hindi cinema have undergone a tremendou

M.K. RAGHAVENDRA

Eurasian images

The 9th Eurasia International Film Festival in Almaty, Kazakhstan, had a bouquet of memorable films.

FL18BALACHANDERTAMIL

The KB school

AN hour-long discussion on his films, many of which defied established social norms and customs of the middle class, brought to the fore the c

Ilangovan Rajasekaran

Cinema's century

Contemplating a century

Mainstream Indian cinema’s hundred year spree makes for a pulsating narrative. Though it has gone from selling dreams in the initial days to commodify

In first person: M. Karunanidhi

Cinema for a cause

THE topic “Tamil cinema in the past 100 years” takes me back 70 years to an era of transition from “silent films” to “talkies”. The “silent films”, in

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TIRUCHI: 13/08/2007: FOR METRO PLUS: _Cinematographer Balu Mahendra.._Photo:Handout..

‘Cinematography has changed, so also the way films are made’

I graduated in cinematography from the Film Institute in Pune in 1969 with a gold medal. While we were at the institute, we were exposed to a lot of w

Mumbai: Mega actor Amitabh Bachchan plays KBC with a journalist during the announcement of the 7th edition of the Kaun Banega Crorepati show in Mumbai on Thursday. PTI Photo by Shirish Shete(PTI8_30_2013_000027A)

Dream merchants

The convergence of brand culture, television and stardom has forever changed the profile of the Indian film star, generating new sites for the product

Nostalgic about a bygone era

I GOT into the entertainment business when I was a small child. After Partition, my parents and I moved to Kolkata, and here we lived in dire poverty,

VISAKHAPATNAM, 23/06/2012: Veteran actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao at a function organised to felicitate him with 'Ghantasala Puraskara Satkaram' at a function organised in the city on June 23, 2012.
Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

The long journey from Gudivada

I GUESS I am probably one of those few people who really took the plunge into performing arts in order to get out of poverty. It goes without saying t

Samik Bandopadhyay film analyst and Vice Chairman of National School of Drama during an interaction in Hyderabad on August 15, 2006.
Photo: K. Gajendran

Centenary and selective memory

WHAT I find Indian is in the “regional” cinemas of India. For instance, they go into the history of that region, language or culture closely and try t