New directors with new touch capture the scene

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Kerala films: New Directions

Amid many crises in the Malayalam film industry, there are silver clouds on the “silver” screen. An energetic batch of new generation directors is busy giving Malayalam cinema a new direction. In 2010, more than 40 per cent of the films (37 out of 89) were directed by fresh, young directors, and the trend continues in 2011 also.

Vysakh, Thomson, Mamas, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Martin Prakkatt and Mohan Raghavan are some of the names to reckon with. “They try to break the ‘over-used’ pattern of the Malayalam films. They are tech savvy, have a grasp over world cinema and their approach is modern. This reflects in the content of their films,” says Rafeeq Ahamed, state award winner film lyricist and poet.

In both the commercial and the parallel cinema realms, the new entrants have embossed their mark. Mega stars like Mammootty, Mohanlal and super star Dileep are willing to work with them. The Mammotty starrer Pokkiriraja, directed by Vysakh, became a super hit in 2010. The blockbusters such as Karyasthan, Malarvadi Arts Club, Pappy Appachaa, and Best Actor were also the ventures of the new entrants. It will not be wrong to say that Dileep, after a series of flops, succeeded in re-capturing his status and market value through the films of new directors Thomson (Karyasthan) and Mamas (Pappy Appachaa).

The new directors made a drastic change in theme and the structure of the films. The old concepts of family stories gave way to new generation relationships and alienation of the city life. Chithrasoothram, the experimental film that was invited to many international film festivals, was directed by Vipin Vijay, a new face in the industry.

But the new entrants face some challenges also. It’s not easy for them to get screens since the cinema hall owners want to play safe most of the times and would go for only the so-called ‘hit makers’. “Most of the newcomers find it difficult to survive. Some commercially successful thrillers which are praised for novelty are just weak imitations of some well-known foreign movies,” says young director Varghese Antony.

Nevertheless, the commercial success of their films has convinced the theatre owners and they are now ready to accommodate their films too. The advent of multiplexes has also helped.

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An attempt at restoring the lost biodiversity of Delhi

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New Delhi ecology: Restoring lost glory

If you are interested in seeing how the Yamuna banks were like a few hundred years ago or what species of birds were found in Delhi, just visit Yamuna Biodiversity Park (YBP) at Wazirabad in Delhi.

Many varieties of plants that have already become extinct from Delhi can be seen here. One such examples is Asthma Bel plant that is no longer found in the city. However, one can see it at the park. There are many varieties of plants which are found at 8000 ft, but have been brought to YBP. The seven-year-old biodiversity park now harbours a wide range of ecosystems of river basin which support more than 1200 plant species. These include finest wetlands besides a unique butterfly conservatory, a conservatory of fruit yielding plants, grasslands, tropical moist and dry deciduous forest communities, Acacia woodlands and a herbal garden.

Birds that have either become extinct from Delhi or are rare, such as Red Crested Pochard or ‘Lalsar’, can also be seen at the park. Faiyaz Khudsar, wildlife biologist and scientist-in-charge of Yamuna Biodiversity Park shares with TSI, “Coming of Lalsar at the park is not a common event. This bird indicates how effective and functional the ecosystem of the wetland is. It shows that the energy flow in the wetland is proper. This is very important for scientists like us. At present there are more than 3000 migratory birds at the park.”

The creation of wetlands serves three important purposes. Firstly, it adds to the diversity of habitats. Secondly, it performs the much-needed ecological functions of water purification, groundwater recharge, and storage of rainwater. And thirdly, it provides the soil for raising the ground level to avoid flooding in the post-monsoon period so that the development of terrestrial ecosystems and plant communities can go ahead unhindered.

Creating the park, however, has not been an easy task. The salt content in the soil was very high and it was a daunting task for the scientists to recreate the proper ecosystem of the wetland. Biologists used more than 160 varieties of grass to convert it into functional ecosystem. “When we got these 157 acres of land we understood that our task was not going to be easy,” says Khudsar.

In the second phase of the project 300 acres more land would be developed. After that it will be habitat of Sarus Crane and Pelicans. At present only one-third of the park is open for the visitors. Such kind of parks is very important from the point of view of urban biodiversity.

Long ago, the Yamuna riverbed was full of biodiversity. It ranged from the foothills of Shivalik mountain to Aravalli hills in the north. However, the biodiversity was lost due to rapid urbanisation. But a little of it has been recreated in the YBP.

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RGV’s ‘zero-budget’ film plan does not impress many

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Andhra pradesh entertainment: Much ado about nothing

Ram Gopal Varma aka RGV had been a trend setter in Tollywood with his debut film “Siva” (1989). He called the shots in the Telugu film industry— called Tollywood — before he moved to Mumbai. Some film critics had called his advent a renaissance in Tollywood which is considered to be the second biggest industry after Bollywood with annual investment of Rs. 400 crores.

Recently, Ram Gopal Varma’s announcement of making a “zero-budget” film created a little flutter among the movie buffs. “When low budget or zero budget films are referred to, Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy flashes in the mind. I thought Ram Gopal Varma is also venturing to produce a life-snap to comply with his artistic urge,” well-known film critic S.V. Challa told The Sunday Indian.

Notwithstanding the fact that of late Ram Gopal Varma has succeeded in only churning out mediocre films with little substance which have utterly failed to impress even the average movie-goers let alone the critics, Challa feels that RGV is indeed a master filmmaker and that if he pursues serious cinema, it would be an intellectual treat and visual feast to the Telugu audience.

But contrary to the expectations, Varma announced the name of his zero-budget film to be “Dhongala Mutha” (A gang of thieves). According to him, it is another (read run-of-the-mill) “highly entertaining” action thriller and it should be completed in just five days.

However, not many people are impressed with Varma’s announcement and perceive it as just RGV’s marketing trick. “RGV is making much ado about nothing and it is his another trick to create sensation. When big stars like Ravi Teja, Chaarme, Laxmi Manchu, Brahmanandam are the main cast, how can it be termed a zero-budget film?” wondered an office-bearer of the Indian Documentary Producers Association, on condition of anonymity, while talking to TSI.

Though he has weak linkage with Telugu land, noted film maker Shyam Benegal produced ‘Amaravathi Kathalu,’ famous short-stories in Telugu literature. “But how can one expect similar kind of literary depiction from mediocre and semi-literate RGV, who, for sure, has not even heard of literary giants including Gurazada Apparao, Gudipati Venkata Chalam, Viswanatha Satyanarayana,” he added.

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