|
|
|
|
Legends of Indian Cinema unveiled
Series Editor: Aruna Vasudev
Kuhu Tanvir
As Wisdom Tree launched a series of six books titled The Legends of Indian Cinema, one couldn’t help but notice that while six out of the seven people involved in project were women, the books were all about men. The series, edited by renowned critic and writer on cinema, Aruna Vasudev, consists of monographs on Mehboob Khan, P.C Barua, Shammi Kapoor, Sivaji Ganesan, Sohrab Modi and Guru Dutt.
Chief Guest Sharmila Tagore too wondered about this exclusion, as she told NDTV, “I welcome this book, because there is a great need for documentation of Indian cinema, it is something seriously lacking in our country. And while I’m quite happy with the selection of the six personalities, since it covers more than just Hindi films, I hope sincerely that the effort will continue and that they will also write about women who are legends of Indian cinema.”
Gathering this imminent question, both the publisher and the series
editor hurried to assured the gathering that it is an ongoing effort, and more such series are on the way. We caught Aruna Vasudev for a few moments and she explained in more detail, “I had a list of about 30 people who I wanted covered and I also had specific names in mind in terms of who should write about whom. Since there were other commitments people had, a lot of them couldn’t accept immediately and some couldn’t finish in time. Over and above that, I wanted to make sure that the first series in particular, covers some significant geographical and cultural ground.
“I’ve always wanted to write about Nargis, because her journey is incredible. She was a girl who came into films because her mother—a courtesan of sorts—wanted her to earn…and look at what she became. Hopefully, in the next series we can cover her. Certain people are most suited to write on certain personalities. For instance, Shoma (Chatterji) had moved to Kolkata and I am familiar with her writing, so I knew I wanted her for P.C Barua. This particular series doesn’t cover Bimal Roy because I have someone specific in mind for that book and till he is free, I don’t want to bring out the book.”
Some of the writers of the books were also present at occasion and explained their individual journeys and relationships with the monographs and consequently with the people they wrote about. The overwhelming feeling that came across was, as Rauf Ahmad, who has written the monograph on Mehboob Khan, put it, the need each writer felt to record the lives of personalities of the generation that shaped Indian cinema. Rashmi Doraiswamy, who was earlier associated with Vasudev through the legendary cinema journal Cinemaya, has written on Guru Dutt and is perhaps the person who had her work cut out for her, because he is the one personality in this series who has been written about the most.
She said, “What fascinated me most about Guru Dutt was his unique brand of authorship. He gave up using his name as the filmmaker, but yet his films are so strongly his own. And he is perhaps the first skeptic in Indian cinema, the first person to question the clear binaries of the home as sacred and the outside as profane that had been set. He looked at the street as home for the first time, becoming therefore a pioneer of sorts because he started using cinema as social critique.”
The interesting thing about the series is the diversity of approach that comes in with each writer. Some are academics, some not, and the focus of each is therefore unique. So while Doraiswamy looks at issues of authorship, and also examines him in the context of the 50s, Deepa Gahlot focuses on the man, Shammi Kapoor and his personal journey, his position in the Kapoor clan, his turning point, his relationship with co-stars and the titles he was the subject of.
Abdullah to write his parliament speech in a book
Indo-Asian News Service
Winning accolades for his impassioned speech during the trust vote in the Indian parliament last week, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference president Omar Abdullah now plans to pen down in a book the incidents that led up to his speech.
"The dust has not yet settled around my speech and the comments continue. Some of them critical, some indifferent but most of them positive and appreciative of what I said," Abdullah wrote in his blog on his party's website.
"I wanted to narrate the incidents that lead up to my speech in the parliament but I guess I will save them for my book if I ever get down to writing one," wrote Abdullah.
The house was adjourned following the commotion propped by the cash-for-vote scam on July 22 and many MPs, including Omar Abdullah, were asked to cut short their speech.
Many readers have posted their comments on the blog applauding Abdullah for his speech.
"The fact that my speech struck a chord in the valley and the rest of the country as well is a unique experience for me. The sad, but somewhat predictable, reaction to my speech in Jammu has been a source of much anguish for me."
"The political leaders with a vested interest are keeping this anger alive in Jammu. It obviously did not suit them to read what I said about the land with what I said about the yatra because that would have changed everything.”
In his speech, Abdullah said he would not make the "mistake" of standing again with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
"I made the mistake of standing with them once (in the previous dispensation in which he was a minister of state). I will not make the same mistake again," Abdullah said forcefully while participating in the closing moments of the debate on the trust motion in the Lok Sabha.
"I am an Indian. I am a Muslim. I'm for the deal," he maintained.
Pointing to the decades for which the annual Hindu pilgrimage to the Amarnath shrine in Kashmir had been conducted along a route that is largely populated by Muslims, Abdullah said: "As long as there are Muslims in Kashmir, the yatra (pilgrimage) will continue."
Launching an attack on the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Abdullah wrote on the blog: "It's a pity that when they burn my effigy (in Jammu) they do not also tell the people that until a few days ago they were calling me up and sending me messages to cast my vote along with the (BJP-led) NDA in parliament."
Abdullah, MP from Srinagar constituency, is a third generation politician of Kashmir.
His grandfather Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah pioneered the movement against the Dogra autocratic rule in Kashmir before India's independence in 1947. Farooq Abdullah, Omar's father, was elected as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir after the founder of National Conference, the senior Abdullah, died in 1982.
Rowling implores NY judge to block publication of Potter guide
Associated Press
A three-day trial over an unauthorized Harry Potter encyclopedia has ended with a flash of anger from J K Rowling.
The best-selling British author returned to the witness stand yesterday and told a judge that if he allows the fan-written lexicon to be published, it will clear the way for countless rip-offs of her books, as well as the work of other popular authors.
"I believe the flood gates will open," Rowling said, her voice rising. "Are we the owners of our own work?" Rowling was testifying for the second time in the
trial, which began Monday at a federal court in Manhattan. A federal judge will decide whether to grant Rowling's request to block publication of "The Harry Potter Lexicon," a guide to the characters, places and spells in her novels, written by a
passionate Potter fan.
A 50-year-old middle school librarian, Steven Vander Ark, compiled the material from a Web site by the same name that he had been operating for years. RDR Books, the small publisher that talked Vander Ark into putting the Web site into print, has argued that it is little different than any other reference guide to an
important novel, and should be allowed to go to press without interference.
On the stand, Rowling said she was "vehemently anti-censorship," and generally supportive of the right of other authors to write books about her novels. But she said Vander Ark had "plundered" her prose and merely reprinted it in an A-to-Z format.
A decision in the case is not expected soon. It will be weeks before lawyers in the case have finished filing legal documents, and possibly longer before a verdict is rendered. Patterson is deciding the case, rather than a jury. (Posted on April 17, 2008)
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Next>>
|
|
|
|
