Arts/Literature

Holi

“…the destruction of what you people call evil, is less just and desirable than the conversion of this evil into what you call good…”  — The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov We play with the colours of dawn, spraying the world with spring, with happiness, with birds that are willing to   sing. Liturgies lace our lives with absolutes.[Read More...]
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The Hero With Idealism Is Much Less Visible Now in Hindi Cinema

The post-independence years are regarded by many as the golden age of Hindi cinema. The idealism of  the freedom movement was still alive and this was reflected well in the films of those days. Since many Hindi films tend to be more dominated by heroes or the male lead roles, the idealist film hero  figured significantly in many films and[Read More...]

Enjoy Enjaami: A call for ecological and social justice

Enjoy Enjaami, a Tamil new music-video album released early March 2021, is gaining popularity on several fronts. A rap song by Dhee ft Arivu and music composed by Santhosh Narayan and directed by Amit Krishnan is a product of Maajja, a new platform for independent artists founded by A. R. Rahman and company. The power bank of the video is[Read More...]

Is Hindi Cinema’s Creativity for Promoting Relevant Social Change Drying Up?

While surely the main concerns of the Hindi film industry have always related to entertainment as business, nevertheless there has been generally a significant space also for taking up and promoting issues of high social concern. Such a space may have been more in the early post-independence years and may have decreased with the passage of time, but surely such [Read More...]

75

1. 75… and still alive! Just live to give; just yearn to learn! “To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield.” But, can we be kind? Can we still build? Nourish… and flourish…. Take delight in a new insight? Recall old rhymes from childhood’s times? Can we be serious, not deleterious? Dialogue, not monologue? 2. 75 years Leak[Read More...]
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Why Pyaasa Remains the Most Defining Film for Idealists

Idealist persons are a steadily decreasing component of the human species and in fact are  seen is such small numbers these days that  they can almost be called an endangered component of the human species. Nevertheless, and this  needs to be emphasized, even in their small numbers they retain their very important role in society as they keep reminding of[Read More...]

Picasso’s Early Years

                       “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”                       –Pablo Picasso 1. First, he mastered the masters: From his earliest sketches at his father’s knees, Through Rembrandt, Velasquez and Goya. (El Greco and Goya he loved Almost as much as his father.) They stalked his[Read More...]
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