Often I wonder whether it’s real or fictional. Is what is shown on the silver screen really Chennai?

Let me get to the point in a roundabout fashion. Nayagan, starring Kamal Hassan and directed by Mani Ratnam (as if you don’t know), may have been the first (or one of the first, argument anyone?) mafia film in Tamil, but it really wasn’t the trendsetter.
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During the Third Chennai Photowalk, we came across the residence where MGR lived with his mother and brother during his early days when he was a small time actor.

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This is about the launch of the book, The Nine Emotions of Indian Cinema Hoardings. It’s about the dying art of cinema billboard painting and the artists’ struggle to keep themselves afloat. These mammoth, hand-painted advertisements have all but disappeared from our streets as cheap, digital vinyl printouts take over. The book combines the wonder of cinema with the politics of seeing and analyses their uneasy relationship with commerce.
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The movie ‘A Might Heart‘, which is based on the book of the same name by Marianne Pearl, the wife of Daniel Pearl, the American journalist killed in Karachi, was screened at the Film Chamber Theatre, Gemini Circle on Friday evening.
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U.S. Consulate General, Chennai, in association with Madras Film Society and Indo-Cine Appreciation Foundation present “A MIGHTY HEART”

Feature film (2007/Color/108 mins)
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Irfan Khan, Archie Panjabi, Will Patton
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X sells DVDs, most of them rare and classical films, to his regular customers. He doesn’t have a shop anywhere in Chennai. He operates mostly by word of mouth. His customers are assured of two things: The DVDs that X sells are of a certain quality both in their content – films and documentaries – and the quality of the DVD itself. This means that not only do you get good films to watch simply by approaching X, but you are also assured that the DVDs play smoothly.
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I have been thinking for a long time whether to invest my money on CAS – Conditional access system or DTH Direct to Home television . Been missing some nice cartoon channels for my son.

Very recently I had been to my native place (Thrissur, Kerala) and checked out the number of channels in the Television. Whooping 100 and odd channels, Including the pay channels at a price of about 150 INR (Indian National Rupee) per month. Where as we pay 100 INR with limited channels and excluding the PAY channels. (some channels purposefully blocked due to competition, some times)
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Tic Tac is on Third Cross Road, Raja Annamalai Puram. I think it’s one of the biggest DVD/VCD rentals in the city. For those with the odd LP players, it also stocks those big laser disks. The Hollywood movies section is the biggest and includes movies dating back to the 1940s. Romantic comedies, thrillers, cartoons, the collection includes films of many genres. For example, the entire Bond collection is available on DVD.
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A film festival is being held for a cause in the city. Films of Desire: Sexuality and the Cinematic Imagination focuses on Southeast Asian Cinema and will feature screenings of features, short films, documentaries, and experimental films that engage with ideas of sexuality in South and Southeast Asia. It is the travelling off-shoot of a larger event held in Neemrana, near Delhi, in March 2007.

The films will be shown at the LV Prasad Film and TV Academy, 28, Arunachalam Road, Saligramam between 6 pm and 9 pm on October 5 and 6.
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The people organising i put this out a couple of days ago. Here it is as put out by them.

The curtains came down for “i,” the first annual indie film festival and unconference organised by the Indian Independent Filmmakers Foundation and Sathyam Cinemas with Bharatbala’s Hari Om on Friday morning.

“Independent filmmakers shouldn’t try to release their films like mainstream films because they need time,” Bharatbala told a full house during a panel discussion following the film. “Why can’t we just release it in one city at a time when we don’t have the marketing budgets,” he asked.

Hari Om has been to 46 film festivals and won seven audience awards since it was produced in 2004. The film is expected to hit the halls later this year.
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