Logbook of a Screenwriter
My introduction to Hemant Chaturvedi could be best described as accidental. By his own admission, accidents are somewhat frequent with him, and more often than not, they have happy endings. I should include the one with me in that list. It was during the initial days of the first phase of lock-down – don’t ask me the date, I have…
19 CommentsTake a wild guess – what could be the silliest question that one can ask ace cinematographer / director Santosh Sivan. Especially when, being one among the busiest Industry professionals, whose comeback film in Malayalam Jack and Jill is ready for release – he is not likely to give you much time. Top of that, in all likelihood, staying at…
1 CommentNo, I can’t wait any more. This self-imposed exile from blogging is gnawing at my ligaments like a regiment of termites; the wobble in all my joints are asking me, can you really do anything at all about the ‘situation’ out there? If you can’t, why don’t you do what you can? Just write, without spreading misinformation; let the experts…
8 CommentsIt does seem a bit odd to write a piece on a film that I consider to be a cult-classic even while the cinema halls are closed, and the nation is under a lockdown. While that’s true, certain things can’t wait, like anniversaries. Let’s revise a old snippet of wisdom a bit then. Instead of saying the show must go…
7 CommentsRight at the onset, let me get this straight, if you are looking for objectivity, then you are likely to be very frustrated with Leena Manimekalai. Her films are her statements, often of rage. Hence, they hurt. Nothing she has done so far is impersonal, at least not in the films of her that I have seen. Leena’s documentaries like…
5 CommentsNot all winter evenings settle down like a patient etherized on a table; not each swill of yellow fog enters your perception with an insidious intent; and yes, I do think – if I search hard-enough, the mermaids will sing for me. Am I sounding crazy? Must be, but excuse me, these are crazy times. For the past few weeks…
7 CommentsRajesh Sundaram joined TV Today a couple of years after me; by then, after toying with the idea of weekend programming through Auto Shows, features and news-specials, I had been assigned to produce a daily evening show called ‘Ground Zero’. It was designed to be an OB Van based half-hour with reporters around the planet, mostly mixed live in the…
2 CommentsFor the better part of the first week of February, I was shooting at the Pong Dam Lake – a story about a bird-census and ecological conservation. This exposure to the domain of ‘birding’ did make me realize why a few of my best friends are so crazy about their feathered friends – it’s a completely new world altogether. I…
1 CommentMy camaraderie with Nepal began during my school days in Missamari, Assam, much like most of my other ‘language-group’ relationships. Staying in an army cantonment area has been a boon of sorts, because in terms of being exposed to a mixed culture, nothing can match an army-school experience. My math’s teacher, I still remember, was Mr. Limbu, from somewhere in…
9 CommentsTapas Nayak has been working in the film-industry for close to two decades now, with a number of blockbusters and award winning films under his wings. Asking him to pick a few of them to discuss their soundscape is a real challenge, since every film in which he has worked is equally dear to him. Here, I asked him to…
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