Bharathidasan (April 29, 1891 to April 21, 1964), an iconic Tamil poet of the Dravidian movement, wore several hats in his lifetime. Of his pursuits as a Tamil teacher (he joined the French government school at Niravi in Pondicherry at age 18), a politician, an orator, a journalist and a film...
The Tamil New Year’s Day happens to be the birthday of the fearless contrarian of Tamil films and theater – M R Radha. Called Nadigavel by Periyar, Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan, M R Radha. (April 14, 1907 to September 17, 1979), dazzled Tamils with his unique acting, voice modulation,...
Body shaming shamed the 94th Oscars ceremony held in Los Angeles on March 27, 2022. It grabbed headlines the world over not because of the customary glamour and glitz but because a best actor winner was worked up to the point of ascending the stage and catching the presenter and comedian...
Over 50 years ago, a man in his 80s, named Rangaswamy Nataraja Mudaliar, approached the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce for some financial help to make a film. But his old age and anonymity made the people there look at him skeptically. A brief background study on the man startled them...
Ranjan, the star of the Tamil cinema of 1940s, was a multi-faceted personality that dwarfed all other hero wannabes. Kollywood was going to be under his thumb in the years to come, prophesied his growing ranks of fans and movie buffs. But fate had thought otherwise. The lesser mortals of his...
When the International Women’s Day went by this week, it was time to reconsider the portrayal of women in Tamil cinema over time. Recently I saw a meme showing a bunch of young girls commenting on the archival poster of a film with the title Kanavanae Kankanda Dheivam (Husband alone is the...
Though born in a brahmin family, Jayalalithaa grew to become arguably the most popular Dravidian party leader. The irony could not have been missed on her birthday. Putting behind it the recent civic election reverses and loss of power last year, the AIADMK on Thursday (Feb. 24, 2022) stuck to...
Thirtyfour years on since his death, MG Ramachandran (MGR), the matinee-idol-turned-politician, founder of the AIADMK and former Chief Minister, is obviously still a force to reckon with in the Tamil Nadu political landscape. There have been several scholarly attempts to decode the MGR...
