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