EM THAMIZHAR SEITHA PADAM: S. Theodore Bhaskaran; Uyirmmai Pathippagam, 11/29, Subramaniam Street, Abhiramapuram, Chennai-600018. Rs. 100.
THIS BOOK is another welcome one on Tamil cinema history by the noted film critic, scholar and historian, S. Theodore Bhaskaran, who has to his credit an impressive body of work of writing on Tamil cinema.
This collection contains several interesting articles. The long article on the "Silent cinema" period in Madras Presidency throws new light on it.
There are interesting articles and interviews with some of the great veterans like Sarvotham Badami (the oldest living filmmaker in India), and the cult figure lyricist before Kannadasan came on the scene, Udumalai Narayana Kavi about whom not much is known to the current generation.
Marconi was a cinematographer and was associated with the sadly forgotten pioneer of South Indian Cinema, R. Padmanabhan. He also directed some movies. Bhaskaran has mistaken Marconi for William Moylan who was associated with the American Tamil filmmaker, Ellis R. Dungan.
He worked for Gemini Studios as general manager before taking off to Bombay.
While rightly lamenting about the neglect of the work of the forgotten Indian film pioneer Raja Sandow, the author mentions that there is no work of this great filmmaker existing today.
His hit film, a M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar-starrer "Thiruneelakantar" (1939) directed by Raja Sandow, is available for screening and was shown in Chennai sometime ago.
Written in a literary style, the book makes extremely interesting reading and is a necessary read for students, teachers and even scholars of Tamil cinema history.
