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Monthly Archives: January 2006

Dr. Rajkumar: Mayura - 2

Monday, January 23, 2006

Last night, I read Devudu Narasimhashastri’s novel ‘Mayura’, and was struck by how faithfully the film had followed its plot. However, there are some major differences; the film is more political. In the novel, Kannada subjectivity, especially as a political community, wasn’t a major preoccupation but here with Rajkumar enacting the role of Mayura, what [...]

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Dr. Rajkumar: Mayura - 1

Saturday, January 21, 2006

This week, as part of Sundays with Dr. Rajkumar series, our focus will be on a historical film, Mayura (1976).
Based on Devudu Narasimhashastri’s novel by the same name, Mayura recounts the story of the founder of the Kadamba dynasty (by and large a reliable entry in wikipedia), Mayurasharma, a Brahmin student in Kanci, the Pallava [...]

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Beyond Green

Friday, January 20, 2006

As I write this posting, the workers of Michael Aram Exports, who have been on strike for the past two months, have been on my mind because of the theme: objects of beauty and those who create them. Please visit Justice for Workers for further updates on the struggle.
Last week, I saw ‘Beyond Green: [...]

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A Cricketing Test of What?

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

What would have my coach Prabhakar said about the Lahore test? My friend Krishna Prasad came up with the idea of commenting on a cricket match from the perspective of Prabhakar’s theory of cricket and I am shamelessly stealing it. My only justification: he hasn’t written his version after all these years and so I [...]

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Raghavanka - 1

Monday, January 16, 2006

Here is a story of two great medieval Kannada poets and their competing visions of poetry. What (or who) is a proper subject for poetic imagination? What ought to be purpose of poetry? Harihara and Raghavanka, uncle and nephew, are the protagonists of our story.
Raghavanka (c. 1230) was born in a Saiva Brahmin family, [...]

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Dr. Rajkumar: Challenge to Wealth

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Sundays with Dr. Rajkumar series resumes with Sampattige Saval (Challenge to Wealth). I am seriously committed to reviewing a film every sunday and will try my best to keep to this routine.
The enduring image is from an opening scene of Sampattige Saval, when Rajkumar comes on the screen sitting on a buffalo, the much [...]

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