Marupakkam Online Film Screening # 23
From 6 pm, Friday (13 November); for 72 hours only
Film : Yaazhpaanam Dhedchanamoorthy
(Dir: Amshan Kumar; Tamil with English subtitles; 36 min; India)
This is a documentary on the great Tavil Vidwan Yazhpanam Thedchanamoorthy. He was lionized for his musical accomplishments by both his fans and carnatic musicians. To this day they remember his great performances in India and Sri Lanka. As an iconic figure he helped bridge the ties between the two countries through soulful music.
The film had been premiered in London, Toronto, Jaffna, Chennai, Paris and Sydney to rousing reception from his fans. It won the National Award for the Best Art Documentary in 2015.
About the filmmaker :
Amshan Kumar is a National Award winning Film director .
He has been active as a film critic for the past forty years contributing articles on Indian and world cinema.
His book `Cinema Rasanai` written in 1990 is considered a pioneering work on film appreciation in Tamil and it is prescribed as a text in many Universities in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Sri Lanka. A fully revised edition of the book was published in 2012. His book `Pesum Porchitram` is a collection of essays on cinema was published in 2010. Maatru Padangalum Maatru sindhanaigalum (Alternative Cinema and Alternative Thoughts) a collection of his recent articles on films in Tamil was published in 2013. He has conducted several workshops on film appreciation to different age groups and has been very active in the Film Society Movement in Tamil Nadu. He was a co-founder of ` `Darshana` a film society in Coimbatore and served as an Associate editor for the magazine `Salanam`.
He has made more than twenty five documentaries including Third Theatre, Modern Art in Tamilnadu, Mangrove Forests, Nobel Laureate C.V.Raman, U.Ve.Saminatha Iyer, Subramania Bharati , Ashokamitran and Manakkal S.Rangarajan. His first directorial feature film in Tamil `Oruththi` selected forwas shown in Indian Panorama based on a short novel by the renowned writer Ki.Rajanarayanan. It won the best film awards from Government of Pondicherry and Tamil Association of New Jersey.
His latest documentary on the Thavil Maestro Yazhpanam Tedchanmoorthy has won him the national film award..
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Documentaries:
1.Third Theatre-/English/1995/53mts : Third Theatre is a documentary on the theatre of Badal Sircar, the rebellious playwright-director from West Bengal who died in 2011.
The documentary has Badalda`s detailed talk on every aspect of his theatre and also the perceptive analysis of his plays by Samik Bandyopadhyay and the criticism of Dharnai Ghosh. Besides the documentary has captured the live performances of his graded plays on the occasion of a theatre festival on a pavement in Calcutta in January in 1995. The film was premiered at the MIFF in 1996 and later in many fora including the festival at Koln, Germany.
2.Subramania Bharati 1999/52mts
Subramania Bharati (1882-1921) was truly a renaissance figure of Modern Indian Literature. He brought in a new wave of sense and sensibility to Tamil poetry that continues to exert enormous influence on the succeeding generations of readers and poets.
This documentary focuses on his multifaceted life not only as a towering poet but also as a pioneering journalist, a mainstream nationalist and a thinker with unfettered spirit. Shot extensively on locales related to his life and times including Benares, Pondicherry and Tamilnadu it has rare photos and documents and the rarer interviews of two nonagenarians who knew the bard in person.
The film is produced by N.Muruganandam for Tamil Association of New Jersey and Chindhanai Vattam and directed by Amshan Kumar. Script by Indira Parthasarathy and music by L.Vaidhyanathan are the other credits. Documentary won several awards including
Best Documentary awards from European Film Festival (Switzerland) London Cinesangam and Mylapore Fine Arts.
3.Yazhpanam Thedchanamoorthy—Music Beyond boundaries. 2014/35mts
4.Modern Art in Tamilnadu Part 1 & 2. Tamil ( Each Part 28mts)
Part I traces the genesis of modern art in Tamilnadu and its growth up to the sixties.
Second Part is about the art movement from seventies till now.
The first documentary that chronicles the entire history of modern art in Tamilnadu within a limited time frame has its own charms and perils. I am not partial towards a few and biased against some of the artists. Duration of the film decided the number of artists included. Artists who are figuring in the documentary are important. And those who do not are no less important. Inclusion of all the fifty some major artists would have made the film run like a catalogue and would have done justice to none. My wish is more such films should be made and they should bring in artists who are not featured here.
Feature Film :
5.Oruthi ( 2003. /91mts)
Those were the times when Zamindars ruthlessly collected high amount of taxes from the hapless farmers and spent them frivolously. Since the revenue never reached them, the Britishers punished the erring Zamindars by ordering the farmers to pay the tax directly to the State. In a remote village in South India this transformation takes place due to the intervention of a poor Dalit girl. As a thanks the villagers are too ready to do good to her. Her simple request is to get married to a boy she has fallen in love with.
The film is an adaptation of a story written by the Sahitya Akademi Award winner K.Rajanarayanan. It participated in the Indian Panorama and won the Best film awards from Government of Pondicherry and Tamil association of New Jersey.
Script and Direction : Amshan Kumar
Interaction with Amshan Kumar, the filmmaker on 15 November, Sunday at 11 am via Zoom. Message to 9940642044 for ID and password to attend the interaction.
Click her to watch the film (from 6 pm, Friday; for 72 hours only)
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