Kalyanaraman M
Politics

Ponniyin Selvan and the politics of Vetrimaaran

The films of Vetrimaaran have politics. His movies are to do with power, authority and a politics against it  In Adukulam, he explored the power dynamic between the guru and the disciple. In Visaranai, he critiqued lawless authoritarianism. In Vada Chennai, he talked about political forces...

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Crime

YouTuber Savukku: Can tea shop talk reform judiciary?

Media have described Savukku Shankar as activist and YouTuber. He calls himself whistleblower, someone who blows the whistle on the rot in various institutions and among people in power. His mode of expression is tea shop talk and WhatsApp rant. Savukku Shankar has said his writings or even...

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Politics

Bharat Jodo yatra: What polarized Kanyakumari shows

Amit Shah’s jibe on Rahul Gandhi’s dress and the row over him meeting a radical Catholic priest in Kanyakumari indicate how the BJP will try to counter the Bharat Jodo yatra. Rahul Gandhi’s choice of Kanyakumari as the starting point for his yatra is symbolic in several ways. Kashmir to...

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Bharat Jodo yatra
Entertainment

Nambi Narayanan effect: Is Rocketry 90% lies?

Recently, a group of ex-colleagues of former space scientist Nambi Narayanan said the movie, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, either overstated Narayanan’s importance in the Indian Space Research Institute (ISRO) or plainly falsified stuff. D Sasikumaran, a co-accused in the ISRO spy case along with...

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Around Us - About Us

Salman Rushdie and the story of India

Too often, the magic is the reality in the magical realist novel. The characters can be cartoonish, even stereotypical, yet they are living representatives of human reality. Magic happened only in the books, not in the lives of the Latin American writers who pioneered the genre. Gabriel García...

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Salman Rushdie
Culture

For Methagu director, Prabhakaran is God

Here are some facts: LTTE leader V Prabhakaran was responsible for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. He ordered the assassination of a host of Sinhalese leaders and other Tamils including long standing leaders of repute and men of unquestioned scholarship and wisdom. Prabhakaran killed almost...

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Methagu