Southern Glory reviews all these thirty-four films with an in-depth analysis of me brilliance with which they made their mark, me place and environment of me subject chosen for the film, me genre and technique of the director and me film style mat appealed or me viewers of me time.
The book brings out me nuances of me art forms that gradually translated into me motion picture version just as filmmaking began to take roots in the pre-independence era of India, a nation which has a rich and variegated canvas of music and dance, literature, poetry. theatre and several folk arts mat greatly inspired filmmaking.
The book seeks to connect me common reader to me cultural milieu. which threw up a given subject and the comparative film studies in me similar dimes of treatment with an effort to allow appreciation of me subject.
He is also a scriptwriter whose plays in Telugu and Hindi have earned him several awards. His celebrated Hindi play Ek Din Bazaar Mein won the best play award at the zonal level competitions held by South Central Railway. His Telugu comedy play Satyamapriyam won the best writer and best production award at the competitions held by Andhra Lalirha Kala Samadhi.
His short stories in Telugu were published in magazines like Navya, Andhra Prabha, Swaati and Andhrabhoomi. His novels were published in Andhra Bhoomi monthly magazine and Andhra Prabha and Chitrao He has acted in a Telugu television serial.
He authored Aarogya Bhaagya Chakram on Medical Astrology d has a satirical work Sreeraayam to his credit in Telugu. His other work is Indian Heritage Quiz.
He is a regular film reviewer at the International Children's Film Fes6'val held in Hyderabad. He is also known for his discourses on spiritual and scriptural matters and is a regular trainer in Emotional Intelligence. Communication Skills and allied subjects. He is a regular professional delegate at the International Film Festival of India. Goa.
I can guess that the task of evaluating a vast number of films made in different languages to short list just 100 from them would. have been a mammoth task to say the least. Having said this, taking up the task of evaluating the 34 films from this list which belonged to the South Indian languages is in itself an idea which, to my knowledge might not have occurred to many a film critic.
This is the first compliment I wish to make on this book. The flair for different genres of cinema and the continuous pursuit of improvising and comprehending the film technique apart from absorbing the styles in comparing and contrasting is at the root of such an idea.
I The writer am known to me as a different kind of film analyst with a hawk eye for detail and verve for variety and structure. His brief write ups on these films from Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages speak about his penetration into the subject, the style and the narratives.
As it is, the films are no ordinary films. Their very selection into the list has qualified them for the credit. It does appear after reading about them though quite a few are films which I had seen over and over again, that some elements, when reminded by the writer are worth going back and watching again for the sheer idea brought out and also for the simple pleasure which one derives.
Being conversant in several languages and having travelled widely across the country, Sripati gets into the mould of the region which produced a film and presents his ideas accordingly. A writer himself who penned several short stories and novels besides expounding several authentic ancient texts related to the visual arts and literature, when he focuses on a point, one has to revisit and examine the whole idea afresh. I also felt that where he has chosen to be brief, it is because he felt that that was the best way to appreciate the subject chosen by the director.
A film has a story and of course a narrative. But what places these write-ups in a different layer is that they sound like short films themselves.
They seem to be transporting us into those times. (I don' say this because I am now making several short films these days).
Having written and enacted several plays and films and acted in over 500 films, I can vouch for the fact that there is always another more picturesque and unseen story behind every narrative which often corresponds to the filmic text and the context of the. contemporary times.
The writer could be seen as suddenly opening a window into such a world but deliberately closing the window immediately and launching in to the technicalities. I did enquire about this from him and he laughed away.
All he said was that he was not eager to lecture on any film, nor was he interested to dissect the film structure. He seemed to be interested more in saluting all those who stood testimony to this achievement of being party to a selection of films which marks the glory of South Indian Films.
I found the language quite lucid but perhaps some of the filmic terms used might have deserved some explanation as a note in the end. This might help the ordinary reader to understand the technicalities.
Book's Contents and Sample Pages
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