Posts Categorized: Sri Kantha

MGR Remembered – Part 48

100 Movies and Beyond by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 16, 2018 Part 47 Khushwant Singh’s portrayal of MGR Khushwant Singh (1915-2014), the doyen among the Indian journalists of his generation, contributed a feature on the status of Indian movies, to the New York Times, in 1976. For this feature, he had interviewed a few prominent… Read more »

From Sachi’s Files – Chapter 6

A 20 year Old Letter to Dayan Jayatilleka by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 14, 2018 Front Note As of now, I have published five chapters in this series. Chapter 1 (posted May 17, 2015): https://sangam.org/sachis-files-chapter-1/ Chapter 2 (posted July 18, 2015): https://sangam.org/sachis-files-chapter-2/ Chapter 3 (posted Aug 21, 2015): https://sangam.org/sachis-files-chapter-3/ Chapter 4 (posted Oct. 16, 2015):… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 47

Comparison of Chaplin and MGR by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 9, 2018 Part 46 Front Note In the previous Part 46 covering the two MGR Pictures movies, ‘Nadodi Mannan’ (1958) and ‘Adimai Penn’ (1969), I had presented the emblem of MGR Pictures for the two movies. In the color emblem shown for ‘Adimai Penn’, there… Read more »

Onomastics of Tamil Personal Names – Part 3

by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 25, 2018 Part 1 Introduction More than 18 months had passed, since I contributed Part 2 of this series. In it, I presented the Eelam Tamil names of the renowned intelligentsia of the 19th century, as culled from Sanmugam Arumugam’s ‘Dictionary of Biography of the Ceylon Tamils (1997). In this part 3,… Read more »

Peer Review on Two Recently Published Papers about the LTTE

by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 18, 2018 Note: Whole of last month, I was busy with my move from Gifu City to Tokyo. Uprooting myself and my library collections, from a place where I had lived for nearly 19 years, was a heavy burden to this bibliophile. I had to voluntarily dispose of almost half… Read more »

King Poet’ Kannadasan at 91

Random Thoughts, Part 4 by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 18, 2018 One of my favorite books in my Kannadasan collection is, ‘Santhithaen Cinthithaen’ – translated as ‘[I] Met and [I] Thought’. It was a collection of thumb nail sketches Kannadasan wrote to the Kumudam weekly magazine in 1979 and 1980. Only 55 individuals were featured… Read more »

Amirthalingam, MGR and RAW Revisited

by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 31, 2018 Since 2001, I had covered Appapillai Amirthalingam’s life and politics in this website under various themes. Here is a select list of five items which have not been covered by other chroniclers of Eelam. Most importantly, details presented in these five items will hardly appear the Wikipedia version… Read more »

Karunanidhi’s Politics from Cartoons – Part 2

by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 13, 2018 Part 1 I provide seven additional cartoons from Thinamani daily’s cartoonist Mathi (b. 1968), compiled in his 2010 book. These cartoons cover M. Karunanidhi’s political deeds from 1998 to 2009. In 1998 (at the age of 74), he was out of power. In 2009 (at the age of… Read more »

Karunanidhi’s Politics from Cartoons – Part 1

by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 9, 2018 The expected death of Muthuvel Karunanidhi (1924-2018), at the age of 94, saddened me. Make no doubt about this. I have been a strong critic of Karunanidhi’s politics, since 1972, when he expelled MGR from the DMK party. Nevertheless, I have always appreciated his contributions to Tamil literary… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 46

Nadodi Mannan and Adimai Penn by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 6, 2018 Part 45 In his cinematic career, MGR produced three movies, namely Nadodi Mannan (1958; Vagabond King), Adimai Penn (1969; The Slave Woman) and Ulagam Sutrum Vaaliban (1973; Globe-trotting Youngster). The first two movies were released while he was a ranking member of the… Read more »

‘King Poet’ Kannadasan at 91

Random Thoughts, Part 3 by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 28, 2018 Part 2 Recently, I provided the English translation of poet Kannadasan’s powerful 48 line verse on sympathizing with Eelam Tamils during the 1958 anti-Tamil riots. [http://sangam.org/60-anniversary-1958-anti-tamil-riots-part-3/] Kannadasan’s cousin, and assistant cum biographer Rama Kannappan described what many may be unaware of, that, as a… Read more »

60 Anniversary of May 1958 Anti-Tamil Riots – Part 3

by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 8, 2018 Part 2 While Sinhalese polemicists like Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka and H.L.D. Mahindapala as well their Indian counterparts Dr. Subramanian Swamy and Narasimhan Ram pollute the Sri Lankan political literature by blaming Prabhakaran and LTTE as the descendants of the Aryan Nazis, Saumiyamoorthy Thondaman Sr. (with his stature as… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 45

2nd International Tamil Conference in Madras, Jan. 1968 by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 20, 2018 Part 44 My Correspondence with an Indian Plagiarist I ended the previous chapter that I had sent a mail to the blogger Rama Chandran about his plagiarism, on May 8, 2018. As of that time, I had not heard from… Read more »

60th Anniversary of May 1958 Anti-Tamil Riots – Part 2

by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 25, 2018 Part 1 Tarzie Vittachi Version Suppose Tarzie Vittachi’s ‘Emergency ‘58’ book on the anti-Tamil riots in Ceylon has to be written as a play or opera, this will be my listing of the credits: Chief Protagonists: Sinhalese hoodlums (Goondas aka Veerayas) Victims: Tamil civilians Supporting Cast: Maithripala Senanayake… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 44

Father’s Lineage and Work in Ceylon by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 11, 2018 I wish to express my thanks for the correction note that I received from fellow MGR biographer and friend Mr. R. Kannan, related to previous Part 43 item on M. Karunanidhi’s alleged role in expelling prominent rankers from the DMK party. Kannan… Read more »

60th Anniversary of May 1958 Anti-Tamil Riots – Part 1

by Sachi Sri Kantha, April 20, 2018 In 1958, I was a five year old, living in Mullaitivu town with my parents and younger sister Kanchana. Then, I was in my first grade. That my father was affiliated to the Base Hospital, Mullaitivu, in the government clerical service explains the situation why I was there…. Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 43

Karunanidhi’s Script by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 29, 2018 Part 42 Movie Focus on Attention to the Handicapped  Movies per se, when they originated silently, were primarily 100% visual treats. Nevertheless, when silent movies morphed into ‘Talkies’ with the incorporation of the sound element (with dialogues and songs), it became apparent that even visually-handicapped could… Read more »

King Elala (Elara) – Dutugemunu Conflict

A Review of Recent Thinking by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 3, 2018 In my previous commentary on King Elala, I had provided the thoughts of few 19th and 20th century chroniclers of Ceylon. Here I continue to review the recent thinking of Sri Lanka’s five contemporary historians (two Tamils and three Sinhalese, one among them… Read more »

Ancient Tamil King Elala (aka Elara)

by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 14, 2018 Objective The impetus for this commentary was provided by a ‘Note’ in a 2003 paper written by Buddhist monk Mahinda Deegalle, on violence and Theravada Buddhism. The ‘Note’ appended to this paper was, “When I delivered an early version of this paper at the St. Petersburg consultation, Wesley… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 42

Importance of Voice and Inspiration of Raja Sandow by Sachi Sri Kantha, Feb. 4, 2018 Part 41 Importance of Voice Nearby, I provide a question and answer item that appeared in the Thuglak weekly (around 1980 I guess, when MGR was Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister), edited by drama-movie actor and humorist Cho Ramaswamy (1934-2016). For… Read more »