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Will an Ilayaraja song open London Olympics?
Naanthaan ungappanda (Tamil for I am your father), a song composed by Ilayaraja for the 1981 Kamal Haasan film Ram Laxman, and sung by S.P. Balasubramanyam, is reported to be …
When a tiger has sex with a tornado: Rajnikanth
The release of Endhiran aka The Robot this Friday is creating sufficient noise in the media as almost every movie seems to do these days. But since it is Rajnikanth, and …
A satirist takes on the star of the millennium
The reverberations of Amitabh Bachchan‘s blog comments on the Academy Award-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire are now being felt in the “cesspool” of Indian journalism. In his reaction to the movie, …
Kapali Anand, Gate Ganesha, Poone & the haircut
S.R. RAMAKRISHNA writes: MiD-DaY has been reporting on Bangalore’s gangland murders these past couple of weeks. The murder of Narasimha Murthy, alleged don of what is known as the ‘coolie …
Every picture tells a tale. Babu’s can fill a tome.
Unlike India’s big cities, “happening” Bangalore has had a stunning inability to inspire writers and movie makers. Mention Bombay and a welter of books springs to mind, only the latest …
Real-life zeroes taking credit for reel-life heroes
ARUNDHATI ROY in Dawn: “So now everyone, including the Congress Party, is taking credit for the Oscars that Slumdog Millionaire won! The party claims that instead of “India Shining” it …
Because Oscar Fernandes is an ordinary minister
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: That the Minister was not in a good mood was evident to the chairman of the slum clearance board, Shri Jhuggi, by the way the Minister twisted …
MIDWEEK MASALA: Do not believe this sad rumour
The Association of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Los Angeles-based organisation that hands out the Academy Awards also known as the Oscars™, has in an urgent press release clarified …
Why A.R. Rahman is India’s first global rock star
S.R. RAMAKRISHNA writes from Bangalore: Many say A.R. Rahman‘s music for Slumdog Millionaire is “noisy but nice”. That phrase could come in useful when you look at his oeuvre as …
‘Aren’t our slum people the best in the world?’
Tunku Varadarajan in The Times, London: “Maybe it’s a result of 200 years of colonialism, but Indians are world champions at caring—really caring!—about what foreigners (more accurately, Westerners) think or …
Yes, it’s true, Isai Puyal is the Mozart of Madras
A consistent criticism A.R. Rahman has had to face, including from fans and friends who mean well, is that he is more of a sound engineer than a music composer. …
Golden Globe before the Golden Statuette?
For 25 years, India has thirsted for an Academy Award™ also known as the Oscar™. Some really dumb movies (Shankar‘s Jeans, for one; Paheli for another) have been sent out …
churumuri 