The charisma continues
MALATHI RANGARAJAN
|
`Living Pictures,' a pictorial book on the film posters of our country, launched at the Indian High Commission in London in December last, has MGR and Jayalalithaa on the cover.
|
SURPRISE PACKAGE: Icons of the South.
"This is the first time that I have been approached for info on cinema posters," says filmographer `Film News' Anandan, flashing a gentle smile. David Blamey, an artist, and director, The Buryport Critical Forum, at the Royal College of Art, London, and Robert D' Souza, who teaches in the School of Media, Art & Design, at the University of Luton, had sought Anandan's help for the book `Living Pictures — Perspectives on the Film Poster in India,' published by Open Editions.
What strikes you most the moment you set eyes on a copy of `Living Pictures' is the cover — of M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa from the Tamil hit `Raman Thaediya Seethai.' From Dharmendra, Dev Anand and Amitabh Bachchan to Sunny Deol, Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt, the book contains posters of many Hindi actors. But adorning the cover are the icons of the South!
The choice is intriguing and so you catch up with David Blamey, one of the editors, via email. Blamey had gone to `Film News' Anandan for stills from MGR's movies because he was particularly interested in the actor-turned-politician's work. "There I recognised this particular picture as a potential cover image. It was colourful, nostalgic, romantic, escapist — all characteristics of South Indian popular cinema — and above all it wasn't Bollywood," clarifies Blamey.
Indian connection
Blamey is familiar with Indian cinema to a certain extent. "But it was when I got to spend some time with actor Saeed Jaffrey in Mumbai and suddenly parachuted into the heart of Bollywood that my curiosity about Indian cinema got ignited," he says and adds, "The English do not know that Indian cinema exists beyond Mumbai. It is a lazy and patronising generalisation that has to be redressed. So we travelled South to collect material on regional cinema."
Probably the fact that both MGR and Jayalalithaa began as actors and went on to become Chief Ministers of the State, made Blamey choose them for the cover. "No. Though there's a connection. Think of Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the U. S. Most politicians are actors these days. At least when they speak in front of the camera you assume that someone else has written the script," is Blamey's cryptic response.
THEIR CHOICE IS INTRIGUING: David Blamey (L) Robert D'Souza (R)
`Living Pictures' also has about 60 pages of written material (which includes rather tough essays by academics). Among them is a whole chapter devoted to MGR, entitled `Still One Man in a Thousand,' a take-off from the actor's super hit film, `Aayirathil Oruvan.' Honestly, an entire section on an actor like say the Big B is what you would expect.
"Surely we were in contact with Amitabh Bachchan. In the end, however, we were more excited by the idea of bringing in the relatively unknown MGR to a new audience in the U.K. rather than repeating what is already known about Bachchan. But Bachchan is adequately represented in the book ... his iconographic presence is matched only by MGR," Blamey contends.
Three years of hard work has gone into the making of `Living Pictures.' So never mind if some of the posters appear crude. Or if some of the old representations are dubbed versions of films that did not make for good cinema. Or if prominent faces like those of Rajinikanth, Kamal Hassan (in a vague film called `Pagadai Pannirendu') or Shah Rukh Khan and other present day heroes find very little coverage in this collection of film posters that includes the past 50 years of Indian cinema. What matters is that in a book on films of the entire country, two charismatic faces from South India occupy a pivotal position.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
