Tuesday 4 October 2016

A Personal Note

 



A Personal Note

This blog contains a collection of selected essays and critiques featuring personalities in the field of arts were published during the last decade of the last millennium. Born in a family well-connected in the world of theatre, music, dance and cinema, I am personally acquainted with many artistes of the earlier generation. This early association helped me to see them off stage and away from the limelight. I had witnessed the harsh realities of their lives, their struggle to rise up in their career, the failures, ego clashes, and the wooing of the media……… seen at close quarters, these were startling revelations. In fact, the unreal world behind the curtains served to squash any notions I may have harboured of a full time career in dance. In my roles as dancer, teacher, organizer, writer and patron my sympathy for performing artistes always influenced my interaction with them.


The early nineties were a golden period for writers on arts, as many newspapers reserved large spaces for critiques and interviews with classical artistes. I am particularly grateful to enlightened editors like Shanta Gokhale and Meenakshi Shedde (Arts Editors, Times Of India) who encouraged me to introduce the stalwarts of the Carnatic music world to the North where they were quite unrecognized. ‘The Hindu’,  is also the lone champion of the arts today. The standards of writing required for this respected daily makes a byline in it a matter of prestigious for a writer. Many leading newspapers today have shifted their focus and features on theatre, arts and culture have almost vanished from broadsheet and magazines alike.
Later I focused my insight on cinema, that magical world of moving images and found art at its finest amalgamation. Cinema fascinates every one and those who bring them to us are great masters. I was an author for two years for a wonderful website named passionforcinema.com (now defunct) and I wrote on a variety of subjects in this area.


This collection ‘INSIGHT’ comprises a selection from my works published during the golden period. I hope readers enjoy a glimpse and insight into the personality of the artistes featured here.

(This photo was taken around 1952 or so by my brother Subramanian with a Roliflex camera.He loves sketching portraits, sculpting and painting.)

No comments:

Post a Comment