Lectures
Nagesh Kukunoor:
A Chemical engineer from the U.S. of A, Nagesh Kukunoor has redefined Indian cinema by making a successful film like “Hyderabad Blues”' on a shoestring budget. His amateurish attempt in filmmaking has triggered hosts of other filmmakers to attempt making films of that genre. After popular and offbeat films like “Hyderabad Blues” and “Rockford”, Nagesh's “Bollywood Calling” was very well received all over India. His movie “Teen Deewarein” won him the 2003 Filmfare Award for the best story. “Iqbal”, his most recent movie, received widespread acclaim and has added a completely different dimension to popular cinema.
He did his masters at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, and then worked as an environmental consultant in the U.S. Giving up a lucrative career, Nagesh managed to pursue his true dream of making a movie. After completing a series of workshops in film and television, in addition to studying acting as well as directing actors at the Warehouse Actor's Theatre in Atlanta, Nagesh co-produced and directed a short film, "One culture at a time", in 1995.
Returning to India with just his savings and loans, Nagesh produced, wrote, acted and directed the immensely successful “Hyderabd Blues”. And the rest as they say was his(s)tory.
Gurcharan Das:
Gurcharan Das is the author of the best selling book, India Unbound (Knopf), which has also been filmed by the BBC.
Mr Das graduated from Harvard University in philosophy and politics. He was CEO of Procter & Gamble India before he took early retirement to become a full time writer.
He writes a regular Sunday column for the Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar, and occasional articles for the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Time magazine. He also wrote the novel, A Fine Family (Penguin), which is being adapted for television by renowned film-maker Shyam Benegal.
His plays have been performed in many cities in India, as well as Off-Broadway in New York and at the Edinburgh Festival, and recently published by Oxford University Press. More recently he has published a collection of essays called The Elephant Paradigm (Penguin).
Photo Lecture by D Krishnan
Many of us wouldn't know of the city of Chennai without the chaotic traffic, tones of high rises and without millions of hoardings popping all over the place. Mr. D Krishnan, the photo editor for The Hindu, time travels back several decades to bring you pictures from old madras when there were no spencers or multiplexes. Bringing out the differences between the good old days and the days today, this lecture will take you places where you haven't been before.
The official photographical documentation of the city was done between 1880 and 1920. No other exhaustive official documentation is known. Mr. D Krishnan, photo editor, The Hindu, has been working on the documentation of the city of Chennai for several years now. Know the famous building well, how they stood and how they stand now. With both vintage and recent photographs, an appealing lecture is in store for all of you this Saarang.