Posts Categorized: Sri Kantha

70th Anniversary Remembrance by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 16, 2022   Introduction The iconic Tamil movie ‘Parasakthi’, based on a stage play by Pavalar M.S. Balasundaram, and scripted by Muthuvel Karunanidhi (1924-2018), then a 28 year old DMK party activist, opened in Tamil Nadu cinema theaters as a Deepavali release on October 17, 1952. In… Read more »

‘Navarathinam’ Movie and March 1977 General Election by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 3, 2022 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s observations, on Part 67, received on July 16th , was as follows: “Thank you for part 67 – focusing on MGR’s belief. MGR was a believer but did not exhibit it until his second term when… Read more »

From the Pages of Tribune (Colombo), etc. by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 26, 2022 Front Note Queen Elizabeth (1926-2022) died on September 8, at the age of 96. She had visited Ceylon (later to be renamed Sri Lanka) from April 10-21, 1954 and in 1981. I may note here that the only memory of the… Read more »

aka Sachi Sri Kantha September 20, 2022 Front Note Prof. Michael Roberts (b. 1938), a Sri Lankan historian cum anthropologist with some name recognition, currently residing in Australia, and is a contributor to the scholarship on V. Prabhakaran, LTTE and Tamil militant movement in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, he has chosen to specialize in negative portrayal… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 6, 2022 One of the chief arrows aimed at Prabhakaran and LTTE by his adversaries (especially by Tamil collaborators of the Sinhalese ruling hierarchy like Lakshman Kadirgamar and the self-serving pretentious clique who tagged themselves as the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) – Jaffna, led by Rajan Hoole) in… Read more »

Gotabhabya Rajapaksa by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 16, 2022 On April 19, 1951, Gen Douglas MacArthur announced to Americans ‘Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.’ But for a phony Sinhalese soldier, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, this was NOT true at all. Gota ran for his life, fearing death, not once – but twice, from the… Read more »

Espousing and Exhibiting Religiosity by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 9, 2022 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s comments, on Part 66, received on May 16th , was as follows: “Again a very interesting take on MGR’s autobiography meticulously listing those whom he had called friends and those he addressed as siblings and the few adversaries he… Read more »

– Hanged 60 years ago by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 9, 2022 On July 4, 1962, Talduwa Somarama Thero was hanged at the Welikade prison, Colombo. His crime: He was framed as the sole assassin of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, the then Prime Minister of Ceylon, on September 25, 1959. This tragic shooting event happened at the… Read more »

Of 1987 by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 29, 2022 This is a sequel to my previously posted item of March 11, 2022, ‘On Rajiv Gandhi’s pretense for Eelam Cause: ‘Operation Flower Garland’ of 1987. I provide a 1987 anthology below, consisting of editorials that appeared in the New York Times (June 7, 1987) and the… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 12, 2022 The dictionary definition for sycophant is revealing, “n. servile flatterer, toady, parasitic person. From French sycophante or from Latin > Greek sukophantes informer.” [The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 7th ed., 1983, pp. 1081-1082] Now that the stars and fortunes of the Rajapaksas have… Read more »

Recognized Friends and Adversaries by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 9, 2022 Part 65 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s comments, on Part 65, received on April 1st, expanded a little on the conflict that Communists (CPI) had with DMK, in early 1970s. For the uninitiated, Karunanidhi is referred by his honorary sobriquet among DMK sympathizers: ‘Kalaignar’… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, April 20, 2022 Well, well – you may call this commentary as schadenfreude. Rajapaksa rascals had it reaching their home territory – pummeled from left to right, head to heels and face to derriere for their family plundering in politics, since 2005. For those who have missed, I collect some excerpts… Read more »

Ascendancy in Tamil Nadu Politics by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 30, 2022 Part 64 MGR biographer R. Kannan’s comments, on Part 64, received on Feb.20th was as follows: “Part-64 which I found most informative, tying together the various strands of that period of the cinematic and the political in MGR’s career. Marudhakasi’s memoirs are skillfully employed… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 25, 2022 Table – Select List of Eelam Tamil Biographies in English Having been an honorary columnist to the Sangam site for over the past 20 years, in frequently I do receive fan mail (mostly by email, but rarely by postal mail). Most are appreciative, but a few are pungent… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 11, 2022  35 years will pass on June 4, 1987, when the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi executed his machismo pretense for the Eelam Cause by providing relief air-drop to Jaffna Tamils, who were suffering from the Sinhalese military onslaught. At that time, every Sinhalese politician, pundit, and journalist… Read more »

Completing Four Decades as a Movie Star by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 1, 2022 To the previous part 63, friend R. Kannan’s comments received on December 24th was as follows: “A very comprehensive account pulling together the various strands neatly. I haven’t seen Dungan’s interview and have also yet to lay my hands on his memoirs. Kudos…. Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 23, 2022 Among Eelam Tamils, a few Tamil women academics such as Dr. Rajani Thiranagama (1954-1989) and Radhika Coomaraswamy (b. 1953) wrote anti-LTTE tracts, for their personal glory as beacons of human rights. But, Professor Margaret Trawick (1948-2022), though not being born as a Tamil, contributed her energy as an… Read more »