Book Republic is an alternate book publishing and distribution platform founded by a group of Malayalam bloggers. Their aim is to bring in talented writers to the mainstream and to implement a decentralized distribution system. Their first book, “Nilavliliye kurichu kadam kathakal”, which is a collection of poems by T P Vinod (who writes in the name Lapuda), has been published on last Saturday. You can order the book from www.bookrepublic.in. And their blog is here.
Mutiny has made it to the final list of 2008 Weblog Awards in the Best Small Blog category. Every vote counts, so please go ahead and vote for us. Thank you in advance!
[Today’s is a guest post by K K Moidu].
A look at the career graph of Mammootty and Mohanlal and their dominance at the box office. At the end of 2008, front line Malayalam superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal had reason to be happy — they remained in the top slot. Their box office successes with super hit films and success guaranteed projects in their hands show their strong presence in the industry.
He started 2008 with the hit film Roudram by playing a cop for the 25th time in his career. His double role in Anwar Rasheed’s superhit Annan Thampi was one of the biggest superhits of the year. Other films of Mammootty like Parunthu and Maya Bazaar didn’t do well at the box office. But the actor, who started the year by playing a cop ended it by shining in a lawyer’s role in the magnum opus Twenty 20.
Compared to the seven releases in 2007, Mammootty had only five films last year including Twenty 20. In 2007 the actor had two offbeat films like Ore Kadal and Kaiyoppu, which has screened in various film festivals and won few awards. But this year the actor didn’t have an art film.
The biggest achievement of the actor last year is not the released films, but his completed projects like Pazhassi Raja and Kuttishranku. The epic movie Pazhassi Raja, made on a big budget, reunites the literary genius MT Vasudevan Nair and Mammootty. The film, directed by Hariharan, also stars senior Tamil hero Sarath Kumar and veteran Ilayaraja scores music. Like Pazhassi Raja, Mammootty is playing a rare role in Kuttishranku directed by National Award winning director Shaji N Karun. Both the movies have a chance of benefiting him by winning accolades at the national and international levels.
Mammootty has already completed the shooting of few commercial entertainers and the first release of 2009 will be Love in Bangkok directed by Rafi-Mecartin. Telugu heroine Navneet Kaur is making her Malayalam debut as his love interest. His bilingual film Vandemataram titled in Tamil as Aruvadai has only few scenes left for completion. Tamil action hero Arjun plays an important role in the film. Mammootty romances Sneha and their pairing in Thuruppugulan was a hit at the box office.
According to reports, three times national award winners Mammootty and Kamal Hassan are expected to team up in a forthcoming film in different South Indian languages. The film will be a remake of Bollywood offbeat hit A Wednesday. If Kamal succeeds in buying the rights of the Hindi movie, he himself will act in the role of Naseerudheen Shah and Mammootty will once again fit the cops cap as a police officer, which was enacted by Anupam Kher in the original.
Mammootty will play the lead in director Jayaraj’s forthcoming film scripted by Renjith. The ace director’s earlier movie Johny Walker with Mammootty in the lead, released one-and-a-half decades earlier, was also scripted by Renjith. In the forthcoming film Thaappana, which means an elephant used to train wild elephants, Mammootty plays the proud owner of a famous elephant. The film will be the next directorial venture of Akku Akbar, after his runaway hit Veruthe Oru Bharya. It will also feature the elephant owned by actor Jayaram featured earlier in Rappakal.
Continue reading Looking Back to 2008: Mammootty & Mohan Lal
Choosing the top 10 Malayalam songs of 2008 was not at all a difficult job. It was pretty easy as most of the songs were run-off-the-mill junks. However, there were still some songs, not exceeding 8, from the year 2008.
The most notable music director of 2008 was Sreevalsan J Menon with his songs for the movie Laptop. Bijibal is also a promising young music director. The notable fresh new voice for the year 2008 was Amal Antony for the songs he sang for Laptop. Music directors Dakshina Moorthy and Sarath have made a comeback to Malayalam with the movies Mizhikal Sakshi and Thirakkatha. And the interesting thing to note is that Malayalam is hearing very less of Yesudas in the recent years.
So here is my Top 8 Malayalam songs list for 2008.
1)
Song: Ilam neela neela
Movie: Laptop
Singer: Sreevalsan J Menon
Music: Sreevalsan J Menon
Lyrics: Rafiq Ahmed
2)
Song: Arikil Nee Illa
Movie: Thirakkatha
Singer: Madhu Balakrishnan
Music: Sarath
Lyrics: Rafiq Ahmed
3)
Song: Kaanin Vaathil
Movie: Mulla
Singer: Gayatri
Music: Vidya Sagar
Lyrics: Vayalar Sarathchandra Varma
4)
Song: May Maasame
Movie: Laptop
Singer: Amal Antony
Music: Sreevalsan J Menon
Lyrics: Rafiq Ahmed
5)
Song: Mizhi thammil
Movie: Minnaaminni Koottam
Singers:
Music: Bijibal
Lyrics: Anil Panachooran
6)
Song: Paalapoo Eethalil
Movie: Thirakkatha
Singers: Nishad, Swetha
Music: Sarath
Lyrics: Rafiq Ahmed
7)
Song: Chethiyum
Movie: Mizhikal Sakshi
Singers: K S Chitra
Music: Dakshina Moorthy
Lyrics: ONV Kurup
8 )
Song: Kanalukal
Movie: Mulla
Singers: V. Sreekumar, Sujatha
Music: Vidya Sagar
Lyrics: Vayalar Sarathchandra Varma
The Grammy® Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra announces the launch of Orpheus RAGA, a groundbreaking 12-part web series documenting the orchestra’s unique and creative process during the rehearsals for this Third Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra commissioned by Orpheus. Filmmakers Chris and Alex Browne filmed the series, dubbed the Raga Saga, which follows several members of the orchestra through the process of practicing, rehearsing, and performing in this unique collaboration. The episodes, will air daily beginning January 21 on WNYC.org and PlaybillArts.com, and capture the artistry, skill, and drama which are inherently part of the Orpheus music-making process. The three to five minute segments may also be viewed collectively at OrpheusRAGA.com.
The first “webisode” of Raga Saga will debut on Wednesday, January 21 beginning at 8 a.m. and covers the first reading of Mr. Shankar’s new work with the orchestra and soloist. Subsequent webisodes, posted everyday at 8 a.m., will follow the orchestra from rehearsals in New York to performances in Chicago and New Jersey. The series concludes with a performance at Carnegie Hall on January 31, which will be posted on February 1.
Free registration at OrpheusRAGA.com allows participants to access streaming audio of the following recordings courtesy of EMI Classics: Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra featuring violinist Sarah Chang; Mozart Piano Concertos with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with Jonathan Biss; Ravi Shankar’s Concerto No. 1 for sitar and orchestra with Shankar and London Symphony Orchestra; his Concerto No. 2 for sitar and orchestra by Shankar and London Philharmonic Orchestra; and a recital by Anoushka Shankar Live at Carnegie Hall.
(Image courtesy: orpheusraga.com)
(Info via email from Jim Bredeson of Orpheus)
Today’s is a guest post by K K Moidu, who is working in The Gulf Today newspaper published from Dar Al Khaleej Group, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. He reports Entertainment news, local news and writing cinema features, profile, movie reveiws, Television programmes, artistes interviews etc. In this post, Thilakan, one of Indian cinema’s finest actors, speaks to KK Moidu about his personal experiences in showbiz.
———————————————————————————————————–
A two-time National Award winner for film acting, Surendranath Thilakan, was in town recently to receive an award for his lifetime achievement and contribution to Malayalam cinema at a star-studded AMMA Award function held at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. This rare honour came at a time when the thespian is facing a boycott from those of his ilk following a war of words. An acclaimed actor, known for speaking his mind, Thilakan has just chosen to ignore the industry reaction but alleges that the actors’ guilds were being used to safeguard the interests of a few people. He has said this before and in September, except director Thulasidas and some small-screen artistes, none of the Malayalam film industry personalities attended his daughter’s wedding. But even his detractors cannot deny the fact that he is a brilliant actor.
In his own estimation, the creative freedom that film-makers give him has helped him breathe life into the characters he portrays. Osteoarthritis has imposed physical limitations and he has fewer assignments now but he still managed a national level special mention performance in 2007 for Ekantham. Even the film technicians’ guild, MACTA, made an exception recently and honoured him though he is not a technician. His boundless talent is likely to bring him into reckoning once again. In an acting career spanning over five decades, he has gifted the audience many memorable characters. The first screen character he portrayed in 1973 mouthed famous lines from Shakespeare’s works like Hamlet’s words “to be or not to be.” He fondly recalls the dialogues as well as each frame of that film. In the climax, after both the character’s father and sister die, he wonders aloud “Two deaths for one love, so how many deaths for love since the beginning of the world.”
Continue reading Thilakan: Master of Expressions
The latest to join the celebrity bloggers from India is Malayalam actor and 3 time national award winner Mammootty. He has started blogging from today onwards and he blogs in Malayalam. His first post is titled “Sampad Vyavasthayude Raashtreeyam” which could be roughly translated to “The politics of economics”. With the rumors of Mammootty going to contest in the next general elections with support of the Communist party, his blog would make an interesting read.
[This article first appeared as the cover story (on regionalism) in the December edition of Mutiny print. Mutiny is the first blog to go print. Click here to subscribe to Mutiny.]
My home is in a small town in the middle part of Kerala and I work in Kerala’s capital city. There is a common perception that people in this southern capital city are arrogant and cannot be trusted. When I was about to move to this city, I was told by many people that “do not trust them, they always cheat” or “the women out there are so clever and cunning” etc. Even people who live in the other southern districts were of the same opinion when it came to the capital city. After I moved to the new place and started interacting with my colleagues, some of them had curious questions about the northern part too. Questions like, “I heard that in the northern part, women head families and men are like mere servants?” or “I have had bad experiences while I was in your town. Don’t take me wrong, but most of the people from the northern part are not trust worthy”. I couldn’t help myself but laugh at these questions and I told them that it is the same perception that exists in the northern part about people from south.
And I am not talking about North India, when I say North. It is just the northern part of a state in India – Kerala. This is among the people who share the same language, culture and customs. And I think that the regional conflicts are going to be the next biggest threat that India will have to face after the current phase of communal issues. Or I should say India is seeing it already?
Ever since India has got freedom from the British, the nation has seen separatist movements from several parts of the country. The fact that India was a land divided of small countries in itself was a huge task for the people who took over the administration from the British to establish national integrity. It is a mysterious thing that we still stand united even though we have huge differences in many levels.
The differences were many – racial, linguistic and cultural. Telangana movement which dates back to the independence era was among the first of this kind which was based on the linguistic difference where Telugu speaking people did not want to be a part of Tamil dominated Madras state. There was Jharkhand movement which later became separate state. Take the anti-Hindi movement, led by the eminent Tamil leader Periyar Ramasamy, which was a result of fighting against making Hindi as official language of India. Or the Gorkhaland movement. Or the Khalistan.
But it is not just in the history that we have to search for examples of regionalism. Kashmir still stands in the front row when we look into the current issues. The north-eastern states in India feels alientated by the rest of India and separatism has taken form of militancy in some of parts of this area. ULFA in Assam for example. People fight in the name of linguistic pride whenever two states have a conflict between them. Remember the riots between Kannadigas and Tamilians in the south India? Or the discrimination and violence against north-east people and their women in the northern part of India. Or Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s violent anti-North movement. Or the Biharis being targeted by the militants in Assam.
The other day I was discussing with my friends about the possible solutions to end religious conflicts in India. So many suggestions came up – like promoting agnostism and atheism, a stricter implementation of a secular state etc. Then one friend suggested that the only possible solution is more and more of a globalized world. “Globalization would displace people. It will force them to migrate to other parts of the country or world, in search of a better living and earning. Then they will be forced to mingle with other linguistic, religious groups and they will be stayed away from their regional/religious/community cocoons of comfort. This would give them no space to organize and fight for causes like regionalism or religion. Yes, they will be alienated from their roots. But peace will return.” But then, if globalization had helped people to alleviate conflicting issues, there would not be so much troubles still existing in the world.
India is witnessing more and more internal conflicts these days which are based on the regional and linguistic differences. The fact remains that we do not see this under current in the present situation of religious tensions. But once that is gone, is it going to be regionalism and related differences which will emerge as a stronger enemy to the very concept of India?