Ardmore Studios

Ardmore Studios, located in Bray, County Wicklow, is the Republic of Ireland's only four wall studio.
Ardmore Studios opened in 1958 under the management of Emmet Dalton by then Minister for Industry and Commerce, Seán Lemass. Since then, the studio has evolved through many management changes, finally consolidating in the 1990s. It has been the base for many successful Irish and international productions, from "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" to "Fair City", "Braveheart", "My Left Foot" and "Veronica Guerin".
After the lapse of its initial business plan in the early 1970s, the studio became the government-backed National Film Studios of Ireland, under the management of Sheamus Smith. During Smith's tenure, notable movies based there included Michael Crichton's "The First Great Train Robbery", starring Sean Connery. When government funding was withdrawn in the early 1980s, a consortium led by Tara Productions (Ireland) Limited, among whose partners were producer Morgan O'Sullivan and writer Michael Feeney Callan, and MTM Hollywood acquired the studios in November 1986. O'Sullivan then spearheaded a campaign to attract major international films to Ireland – a strategy Dalton and his partner, the entrepreneur Louis Elliman, had pioneered in the 1950s – and succeeded in securing important co-production investment which revived the studios during the 1990s.
O'Sullivan's successor as managing director of the renamed Ardmore Studios was the accountant Kevin Moriarity. In 1990, the MTM shareholding was sold to Ardmore International Ltd., a company owned equally by Paul McGuinness and Ossie Kilkenny. Ardmore Studios had several successful years from 2006 to 2010 during the filming of "The Tudors" and "Camelot". However, from 2011 to 2013 the studios suffered losses and in 2013 Siún Ní Raghallaigh was appointed CEO. She implemented immediate cost cuts and restructured the company to enable it to compete more effectively with a lower cost base. The studios are now operating successfully. Since mid-2013 the studios have been operating at full capacity.
History.
Irish Film before Ardmore Studios.
Ambitious Irish-based filmmaking began when producer-director Sidney Olcott made his first visit to Ireland in 1910. Prior to this time most Irish filmmaking consisted of newsreels. Olcott's first movie based in Ireland was "The Lad from Old Ireland", produced by Kalem. His follow-up was "Rory O'More," based on the events of the Irish Rebellions of 1641 and 1798, which earned the disapproval of both the British Home Office and the Irish Catholic Church. Olcott continued Irish filmmaking, with most of his films shot in County Kerry, specifically in the towns of Beaufort, Dunloe and Killarney. To facilitate year-round filming, Olcott planned the building of a serviced studio based in Beaufort. The outbreak of World War I derailed this plan. Irish filmmaking continued, with native-born directors initiating their own work, but through the 1920s and 1930s and 1940s, no purpose-built studio facilitated year-round filmmaking in Ireland.
Early years of Ardmore Studios.
Finally, in the middle 1950s, a business consortium part-funded from the United States, started building a Hollywood-style studio south of Dublin city. Ardmore Studios first opened its doors in May 1958. Situated on a ten-acre site 12 miles south of Dublin, the studio offered the first opportunity for Irish filmmakers to shoot indoors all year round.
The first production to emerge from Ardmore Studios was an adaptation of Walter Macken's play, "Home Is the Hero", starring Macken and directed by Emmy Award-winning Fielder Cooke. Renowned British director George Pollock shot the next two productions at the studio, "Sally's Irish Rogue" and "The Big Birthday", both based on popular Abbey Theatre comedies.
In the late 1950s, managing director Emmet Dalton and entrepreneur Louis Elliman travelled to the US to promote the studios and to acquire foreign investment. The studios accordingly landed its first major foreign booking with 1959's "Shake Hands with the Devil", starring Oscar winner James Cagney and Dana Wynter. A year later progress was consolidated when Robert Mitchum appeared in Tay Garnett's "A Terrible Beauty". In 1961, Ardmore Studios hosted the controversial "The Mark", directed by Guy Green, which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and earned its star, Stuart Whitman, an Oscar nomination. Other films produced at this time include Don Chaffey's "The Webster Boys" and "Johnny Nobody" with Cyril Cusack. Hammer Films also utilised the studios as a base for their production, "The Viking Queen".
The National Film Studios of Ireland and MTM Ardmore Studios era.
In 1975 Sheamus Smith became managing director of the studios and film director John Boorman assumed the role of chairman. The studios were renovated and renamed as The National Film Studios of Ireland, and subsequently hosted several major movies including "The Purple Taxi", starring Fred Astaire and "The Great Train Robbery" starring Sean Connery.
In 1981, Boorman filmed his $11.5 million epic "Excalibur", where he cast a then-unknown Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne and Ciarán Hinds, at the studios and in the local hills of Wicklow. Also produced at this time was John Huston's "The Dead", based on the short story by James Joyce and starring Huston's daughter, Anjelica Huston.
The withdrawal of government funding effectively closed the studios in the early 1980s. For several years the lot fell into disrepair but the studio was reactivated by an initiative led by an Irish independent company, Tara Productions, in partnership with MTM Hollywood and the Irish National Enterprise Authority. Thereafter, the renamed MTM Ardmore Studios made its mark again on the global scene with the success of "My Left Foot", directed by Jim Sheridan, which earned Oscars for Daniel Day-Lewis for his portrayal of the cerebral palsy sufferer Christy Brown and for Brenda Fricker, for her portrayal of Brown's mother.
From 1989 until 1994, all interior shots of "Fair City" were filmed at Ardmore Studios. In 1994, production moved to studios at Montrose specifically adapted to cater for this flagship drama. All exterior shots were initially filmed at real houses in a real cul-de-sac in Barron Place, Drumcondra, and later in Booterstown. In 1991, a street set, known as 'The Lot', was built at Ardmore. In 1994, Ardmore Studios and the Wicklow countryside were transformed into the Scottish Highlands for Mel Gibson's Oscar-winning "Braveheart".
Ardmore Studios today.
Since 2006 Ardmore Studios has been home to three television series – The Tudors, filmed between 2006 and 2010 at a cost of over €90 million, "Camelot", filmed in 2010, starring Joseph Fiennes and Eva Green, and from 2014 "Penny Dreadful".
In 2008, Ardmore Studios celebrated its 50th anniversary.
In 2011, "Byzantium", directed by Neil Jordan, located at Ardmore.
In January 2017 the studios were used by RTE for Dancing with the Stars, Ireland's version of the popular British show Strictly Come Dancing. RTE had purchased the rights to make an Irish version of the popular dancing show, however it became obvious to RTE that the studios at their television centre in Donnybrook in Dublin would not be large enough for the scale of the show, and so Ardmore Studios was chosen.
In April 2018 Irish firm Olcott Entertainment Limited has officially announced the full acquisition of Ardmore, after purchasing the shares owned by Ardmore Studios Limited (68%) and Enterprise Ireland (32%).
Facilities based at Ardmore.
During its MTM incarnation in the 1980s, Ardmore extended its facilities and built new sound stages. Today it offers 5 stages, including a water tank facility. In the early 1980s a handful of service provider companies were located on the lot. Under O'Sullivan's management, the range of Ardmore-based service and facility companies increased to include other specialised related businesses. These include:
Companies located at Ardmore studios include:


S. M. Nayagam

Sundaram Mathura-Nayagam (24-09-1906 - 03-02-1972) was a pioneer of Sinhala cinema, producing the first ever Sinhala talkie, "Kadawunu Poronduwa".
Career.
Hailing from Madurai, South India, Nayagam was originally an industrialist, making soaps and perfumes at factories both in Madurai and Ceylon. With the flourishing of Indian cinema in the 1940s, he established his own cinema company, "Sri Murugan Navakala Limited", named after the Hindu deity Murugan. The company was based in Madurai, owning a studio ("Chitrakala Movietone") at Thiruparankundram.
Nayagam's first venture into film was the 1946 Tamil language film "Kumaraguru", directed by Bengali director Jothish Sinha. His second film, a patriotic film entitled "Thaai Nadu", was also in Tamil, being released on the day of India's independence.
"Kadawunu Poronduwa".
According to Nayagam, his Sinhala friends enjoyed Hindi and Tamil films but were disappointed that they did not have films in their own language. Nayagam was thus inspired to produce a film in the Sinhala language. After considering several storylines, he settled on a popular Sinhala stage play, going on to produce "Kadawunu Poronduwa". The film was shot at his own studio, with all technicians from India but the cast brought from the island country for this purpose. The film's debut in Ceylon was attended by the head of the ministerial cabinet, D. S. Senanayake; nevertheless, the film received mixed reactions in the country. While the average filmgoer was happy to watch a film that in their own language, critics said the film was "overtly “Indian” in content and form."


Ek Cup Chya

Ek Cup Chya () is a Marathi film based on the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The film was the second project of activist producer Yeshwant Oak. Previously he had collaborated with the same directors Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar to produce Devrai in 2004 (an equally acclaimed film to create awareness about schizophrenia).
Synopsis.
Kashinath Sawant is a bus conductor with the state transport corporation in Maharashtra. He lives in Kankavali in the coastal region (Konkan) of Maharashtra with his mother, his wife Rukmini and their two daughters: Vasanti who is a nurse and Vanadevi, a student. The couple also have two sons, college student Chandan and Abeer, who is in 10th grade preparing to take the state level secondary board exam.
The Sawant family receives a huge electricity of Bill of Rs.73,000, leaving them trapped and humiliated by the system. During Kashinath's visits to the electricity board he learns that he must pay a bribe to fix his problem. The film uses a cup of tea, normally a symbol of hospitality, as a metaphor for a bribe.
He is introduced to Dr. Durga Khanolkar, a social activist who is creating awareness about the RTI Act. With the help of the activist and his friend Sayyed, he files an RTI application. Initially he is ridiculed, but when he files an appeal with the Information Commissioner, things become a little more serious. An engineer from the electricity board asks his higher-ups to stop Kashinath from appearing at a hearing in Mumbai. After overcoming many hurdles, Kashinath is able to reach Mumbai, but is too late.
He loses all hope and returns to work, but to his astonishment electricity is restored to his home and Abheer secures second place in the state level examination, despite his studying by oil lamp.
Recognition.
The film started getting recognition after only a few screenings. Even the producer in an interview with Mumbai Mirror conceded that "Our experience of screening the film for the general public at a Pune theatre was quite disappointing.”
The film was screened or is expected to travel at


Raadhika

Raadhikaa Sarathkumar is an Indian actress, entrepreneur and producer who works predominantly in the Tamil and Telugu cinema. She also starred in Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada during her career. She is the founder and CP of the Radaan Mediaworks India Limited and doing serials in most of the south Indian languages.
Personal life.
Raadhika is the daughter of the late Tamil actor and comedian, M. R. Radha and Geetha. Raadhika did her education in India, and the United Kingdom. She has a younger sister Nirosha, who is also an actress and two younger brothers Raju and Mohan. She has also have an older half-brother Radha Ravi.
Raadhika married actor Sarathkumar on 4 February 2001. They had been friends before their marriage and had been paired in two films: "Namma Annachi" (1994) and "Suryavamsam" (1997). The couple has a son named Rahul born in 2004.
Her daughter Rayane married Cricketer Abhimanyu Mithun in 2016. Raadhika became a grandmother in 2018 when Rayane gave birth to a son.
Career.
She made her cinematic debut in 1978 Tamil Movie "Kizhakke Pogum Rail". Then she started acting in many Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam films.
She has also produced a film titled "Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai" (1985), which won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director.
She was awarded Best Telugu Actress for "Nyayam Kavali" (1981), Best Tamil Actress for "Dharma Devathai" (1986), "Neethikku Thandanai" (1987) and "Keladi Kanmani" (1990).
After becoming successful in cinema, Raadhika wanted to do something different and decided to take on the small screen, a venture that everyone thought was a mistake she would regret. But determined to pursue something she believed in, namely producing her own TV software under the Radaan Mediaworks, she started the same in 1994. After some initial hiccups, the company re-emerged successfully as Radaan Mediaworks (I) Ltd in 1999, and by 2008, had an annual turnover exceeding.
She was a judge on Vijay TV's "Jodi Number One" Season 4.
She produced serials such as "Idi Katha Kadu" (Telugu), "Chitti", "Annamalai", "Selvi", "Arasi", "Chellamay", "Vani Rani", "Thamarai" and "Chithi - 2".
In September 2019, she was awarded as "Nadigavel Selvi" during audio launch of "Market Raja MBBS".
She has won 1 - National Film Awards (Producer) , 6 - Filmfare Awards Souths , 3 - Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, 1 - Cinema Express Awards and 1 - Nandi Awards.


Bent Familia

Bent Familia is a 1997 drama set in Tunisia about Amina (Leila Nassim) a married Muslim woman living in Tunis with her two daughters. Even though she is allowed certain freedoms as a Muslim woman this is curtailed when she meets her old friend from school called Aida acted by (Amel Hédhili).
A mother of two, Aida took a firm stand not to tolerate her husband's infidelities. She divorced and considers herself a liberated woman. Then there is their mutual friend Fatiha (Nadia Kaci), an intellectual who is adamant that she is going to leave Tunis and settle in the West. This strong triangle of friendship threatens Amina's husband, Majid (Raoul Ben Amor), another adulterer who tries to bring the might of the chauvinist side of Muslim society down on her. Directed by Nouri Bouzid, this well-shot film presents us with the very real problems of women in contemporary North Africa, but offers no easy solutions.


Santosham Best Actress Award

The Santosham Best Actress Award is given by the "Santosham Film" magazine as part of its annual Santosham Film Awards for Telugu films. The award was first given to Asin Thottumkal in 2003. Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won.


Raveena Tandon

Raveena Tandon (born 26 October 1974) is an Indian actress, model and producer. Daughter of director Ravi Tandon, she was born and raised in Mumbai. She started her career in modelling and later made her acting debut in the action film "Patthar Ke Phool", which won her the Filmfare Award for New Face of the Year.
In 1994, Tandon starred in five successful films including, the two the top-grossing films, the musical action dramas "Dilwale" and "Mohra". Her performance in the box office hit drama "Laadla" (1994), earned her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her other notable film of the year was the cult classic comedy "Andaz Apna Apna". These accomplishments established Tandon as a leading actress in Hindi cinema. During this period, Tandon got engaged to her frequent co-star Akshay Kumar and stopped signing films in advance before the impending wedding and in process rejected several big films and roles that went on to become popular. Her films released in this period were mostly the ones which were finished before her decision to quit acting, which includes the box-office successes "Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi" (1996), "Ziddi" (1997) and "Ghulam-E-Mustafa" (1997). The first two of these were among the highest-grossing Indian films of their respective years.
After her engagement was called off, Tandon made a comeback by starring in a series of successful films such as "Gharwali Baharwali" (1998), "Bade Miyan Chote Miyan" (1998), "Dulhe Raja" (1998) and "Anari No.1" (1999), and garnered praise for her performance in the crime drama "Shool" (1999). In the early 2000s, she took on serious dramatic roles and ventured into arthouse cinema with roles in the 2001 films "Daman" and "Aks", both of which garnered her widespread critical acclaim. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress for the former while the latter won her the Filmfare Special Performance Award. Further praise came for her leading roles in the political drama "Satta" (2003) and the Sahara One television series "Sahib Biwi Gulam" (2004).
After her marriage to the film distributor Anil Thadani, she took a break from films and some of her delayed films were released during this time. Tandon ventured into television as a talent judge on several reality dance shows and hosted her own talk shows "Isi Ka Naam Zindagi" (2012) and "Simply Baatien With Raveena" (2014). After several years of hiatus, she starred in a leading role in the thriller "Maatr". Tandon is also an environmentalist and has worked with PETA since 2002. Tandon has four children, two adopted and two with her husband
Early life and background.
Tandon was born in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) to Ravi Tandon and Veena Tandon. Tandon is a niece of character actor Mac Mohan and thus a cousin of Manjari Makijany, his daughter. She has a brother Rajiv Tandon, who was married to actress Rakhi Tandon. She is also a cousin of actress Kiran Rathod. She started her career as a model.
Acting career.
Debut and early success (1991–94).
Tandon debuted with the film "Patthar Ke Phool" (1991) which was a hit; she received the Filmfare Award for Lux New Face of the Year for her performance.
Her next films "Mohra" (1994), "Dilwale" (1994) and "Laadla" (1994) were box office hits while the third from these earned her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. "Mohra" and "Laadla" were the second and seventh-biggest hits of 1994, respectively. Her other releases of that year included the thriller "Imtihaan" and the cult comedy "Andaz Apna Apna".
Professional expansion (1995–99).
In 1995, she starred with Shah Rukh Khan for the first time in "Zamaana Deewana"; the film failed to do well.
Her career was back on track with hit films such as "Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi" (1996) and "Ziddi" (1997), both being big hits of their respective year.
She also received praise for her performance in Ghulam-E-Mustafa,another hit of the year 1997.
In 1998, Tandon had eight releases. Her last release of that year, "Bade Miyan Chote Miyan", co-starring Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda turned out to be the second biggest hit of the year. Tandon was offered the second lead in "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" which went on to be the biggest hit of 1998, but she turned it down. Her other releases of that year were "Gharwali Baharwali" which gained a below average status, "Vinashak", "Pardesi Babu" and "Aunty No. 1", all of which were unsuccessful.
In 1999, Tandon starred opposite Upendra in his self-titled Kannada psychological thriller film, "Upendra". She also received praise from critics for her performance in "Shool".
National Award and rise to prominence (2000–2006).
She worked in films such as "Shool" (1999), "Bulandi" (2000) and "Aks" (2001) won her huge acclaim. She won many awards as well as the Filmfare Special Performance Award for her performance in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's "Aks".
Her years in the industry paid off when she won the coveted National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in Kalpana Lajmi's "Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence" (2001), where she played a battered wife to an abusive husband. She surprised critics and audiences with her performance in the film and received much appreciation for her work. Critic Taran Adarsh said: "Raveena Tandon lends credibility to the role of a battered wife and walks away with the honours. The pathos she conveys through her expressions makes you realise that she's a performer of substance".
Since then, she has starred in a number of critically acclaimed films, such as "Satta" (2003) and "Dobara" (2004), but has not had much box office success. Her role as a middle-class woman thrust into the world of politics in the former was praised. Critic Taran Adarsh wrote: "Raveena Tandon delivers a bravura performance. The actress takes giant strides as a performer, giving the right touches to her character. Here's a performance that's bound to be noticed". Her role as a schizophrenic in "Dobara" was also praised with one critic saying: "Raveena is in sync with her character, playing her part with elaan". Her only release in 2006 was "Sandwich" which opened to poor reviews and reception.
Comeback (2014–present).
In 2014, she judged season 1 of "CEO's Got Talent" on CNBC TV18 with Mahesh Bhatt and Raj Nayak. In 2015, she made a comeback to Bollywood in longtime friend Anurag Kashayp's magnum opus "Bombay Velvet". Playing a sultry jazz singer, her brief performance was highly praised by critics. In 2017, she was seen in the thriller movie "Maatr" in which she plays a mother who seeks revenge for her daughter's rape. Her performance was lauded and she gained critical acclaim for her performance. Her next release of the year was Onir's "Shab", where she plays a socialite.
Off-screen work.
Tandon was chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India from 2003, but from 2004 the actress began to get complaints that she did not attend the organisation's meetings and that she was not involved with the activities set up by the society. In September 2005, Tandon resigned from her post citing personal reasons.
In November 2005, Tandon sued the websites, "Shaadi.com" and "Shaaditimes.com", claiming that they were using unauthorised images of her to promote the site. She also sued the owner of Satyanet Solutions, as they claimed that Tandon and her husband had met through the website.
In November 2002, Tandon sang to support "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals". She has posed in many advertisement campaigns joining the likes of John Abraham, Shilpa Shetty and Amisha Patel. On the issue of cows being slaughtered for their skin, she said "Their abuse at the hands of corrupt skin and meat traders must be stopped".
Personal life.
Tandon adopted two girls, Pooja and Chhaya, as a single mother in 1995 when they were 11 and 8-years-old, respectively.
She began dating film distributor Anil Thadani during the making of her film "Stumped" (2003). Their engagement was announced in November 2003 and she married Thadani on 22 February 2004, in Jag Mandir Palace in Udaipur, Rajasthan according to Punjabi traditions. In March 2005, Tandon gave birth to her daughter Rasha. In July 2008, she gave birth to her son Ranbirvardhan.


This Is England

This Is England is a 2006 British drama film written and directed by Shane Meadows. The story centres on young skinheads in England in 1983. The film illustrates how their subculture, which has its roots in 1960s West Indies culture, especially ska, soul, and reggae music, became adopted by the far-right, especially white nationalists and white supremacists, which led to divisions within the skinhead scene. The film's title is a direct reference to a scene where the character Combo explains his nationalist views using the phrase "this is England" during his speech.
Plot.
In July 1983, Shaun is a troubled 12-year-old boy who lives with his widowed mother and is frequently antagonised in school and around town. On the last day of the school year, Shaun gets into a fight at school with a boy named Harvey after the latter makes an offensive joke about his father, who was killed in the Falklands War. On his way home, Shaun comes across a gang of young skinheads led by Woody, who feels sympathy for Shaun and invites him to join the group. He introduces Shaun to Milky, the only black skinhead of the gang; Pukey, Kes, and the overweight, dim-witted Gadget. Despite some initial hostilities between Shaun and Gadget, the gang accepts Shaun as a member. Shaun bonds closely with Woody, viewing him a big brother figure, and his girlfriend Lol, who takes a motherly role towards him. Shaun also develops a romantic relationship with Michelle, also known as Smell, an older girl who dresses in a new wave, new romantic style.
During a party one night, the group is ambushed by a bald, tattooed, moustachioed machete-wielding man, who is then attacked by Combo, a first-wave skinhead. With the attack revealed to be a prank, Woody announces that Combo had just finished a three-year prison sentence, and Combo introduces the man as his associate Banjo. Combo, a charismatic but unstable man with sociopathic tendencies, begins to express English nationalist and racist views, alienating Woody, Lol, Kes, and Milky. Later on, he attempts to enforce his leadership over the other skinheads. When Combo mentions the Falklands War as part of a speech, an upset Shaun reveals to the gang that his father died in that conflict, which Combo then uses to manipulate the boy into joining his side. Consequently, the gang splits, with young Shaun, the belligerent Pukey, and Gadget, who feels bullied by Woody for his weight, choosing Combo over Woody's apolitical gang.
Shaun finds a hero-figure in Combo, who in turn is impressed by, and identifies with, Shaun. Combo's group attend a National Front meeting. On the drive home Pukey expresses doubt over their racist and nationalistic politics. Combo furiously stops the car and yanks Pukey out, lightly assaulting him in ridicule in front of the others, abandoning him in isolated countryside by the roadside.
The gang deface walls, intimidate local children and spray racist slogans on Pakistani Mr Sandhu's shop walls, whilst Shaun, previously banned from the shop, launches a bigoted verbal assault on Sandhu with demands for drink and cigarettes. Combo viciously threatens Sandhu with a machete and the gang steal goods for a birthday party under Combo's instructions.
Combo becomes upset after Lol, Woody's girlfriend, rejects him when he admits that he has loved her since they had sex years before. To console himself, Combo buys cannabis from Milky, and invites him to a party. While intoxicated, Combo and Milky bond, but Combo becomes increasingly bitter and envious, all wrapped up in a racist viewpoint, when Milky shares details of his many relatives, comfortable family life and happy upbringing, everything that Combo lacked. Enraged, Combo enters a frenzied state and brutally beats Milky unconscious, while Banjo holds down Shaun, and Meggy watches on in horror. An angry Combo violently throws Shaun out of his flat after Shaun verbally defends Milky, then slams the door hard. When Banjo attempts to hit Milky as well, Combo violently beats him and evicts him and Meggy from the flat. Horrified at the realisation of what he has done, a remorseful Combo weeps over Milky. Shaun and Combo later take Milky to a nearby hospital.
The film cuts forward to Shaun, who is in his bedroom looking at a picture of his late father. He is contemplating the incident and brooding about what happened, with his mother Cynthia assuring him that Milky will be all right. Shaun is then shown walking near the beach and throwing his St George's Flag, a gift from Combo, into the sea.
Production.
Much of the film was shot in residential areas of Nottingham, including St Ann's, Lenton, and The Meadows, with one section featuring abandoned houses at RAF Newton, a former airbase close to Bingham, Nottinghamshire. The opening fight was filmed at Wilsthorpe Business and Enterprise College, a secondary school in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, close to the Nottinghamshre/Derbyshire boundary. Additional scenes such as 'the docks' were filmed in Turgoose's home town of Grimsby. Turgoose was 13 at the time of filming. He had never acted before, was banned from his school play for bad behaviour, and demanded £5 to turn up for the film's auditions. The film was dedicated to Turgoose's mother, Sharon, who died of cancer on 29 December 2005; while she never saw the film, she saw a short preview. The cast attended her funeral.
Setting.
The film is set in an unidentified town in the Midlands. Although much of the film was shot on location in Nottingham, a number of scenes portray the town's docks, which precludes this inland city being the setting for the action. Similarly, the dialects of the main characters are drawn from a wide geographical area.
Reception.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 93 reviews, with an average rating of 7.70/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A moving coming-of-age tale that captures the despair among England's working-class youth in the 1980s". Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 based on 23 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". This made it the tenth best reviewed film of the year.
The film appeared on several US critics' top ten lists of 2007; it was third on the list by "Newsweek"'s David Ansen, seventh on the list by "The Oregonian"'s Marc Mohan, and ninth on the list by "Los Angeles Times" Kevin Crust.
In Britain, director Gillies Mackinnon rated the film the best of the year and David M. Thompson, critic and film-maker, rated it third. The film was ranked fourteenth in "The Guardian"s list of 2007's Best Films and fifteenth in "Empire's" Movies of the Year.
Accolades.
The film won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the 2007 British Academy Film Awards.
It also won the Best Film category at the 2006 British Independent Film Awards, Turgoose winning the Most Promising Newcomer award.
TV miniseries.
In 2010, a spin-off series set three years after the film, "This Is England '86", was shown on Channel 4. A sequel to the series set two and a half years later, "This Is England '88", was broadcast in December 2011. A third installment, "This Is England '90", was shown in September 2015.


George C. Williams (cinematographer)

George C. Williams is an Indian cinematographer, who works in the Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam film industry.
Career.
As a youngster, George C. Williams revealed he had a passion for keeping track of lighting, camera angles and framing in Tamil films, often observing the work of P. C. Sreeram, Santhosh Sivan and Jeeva during his school days. He subsequently pursued a degree in Visual Communication from Madras Christian College, learning more about the art of cinematography. In college, he got to know Atlee Kumar, whom he then worked with in his films Raja Rani and Theri. George gained entry into films through a family friend, the choreographer Kalyan, who introduced him to cinematographer Nirav Shah to join as an assistant. He subsequently first helped out as a second unit cameraman in "Billa" (2007) and then in "Sarvam" (2009). He subsequently also worked with Arjun Jena for the Telugu film "Ala Modalaindi" (2011), revealing his early stint helped him get used to the technology involved. Another early assignment he was given, was the video of "Nenjodu Cherthu" from the music album Yuvvh (2012), directed by Alphonse Putharen and his work in the project won him rave reviews from the Malayali audience. He was subsequently signed by AR Murugadoss to be the main cinematographer for his production, Atlee's "Raja Rani" (2013) and then "Kaththi" (2014). The success of both films, catapulted George into among the leading cinematographers in Tamil films. He subsequently signed projects in Malayalam and Telugu cinema.


Anil Eswar

Anil Vadakkekkara, popularly known as Anil Eswar, is an Indian cinematographer working in Malayalam and Telugu film industries. He started his career in cinematography with Dolls, a 2013-film directed by Shalil Kallur, and a year later, worked with T. A. Razzaq, the award-winning screenwriter, for his directorial debut, Moonam Naal Njyayarazhcha, which was released in 2016. In between, he worked as the cinematographer for the movie, "Saigal Padukayanu", directed by Sibi Malayail. Kattumakkan of Shalil Kallur with Mukesh in the lead and Pathemari of Salim Ahamed, a Mammootty-starrer, were two other films he worked in 2016, as an associate of Madhu Ambat in the latter. He also did a Telugu movie, "Gulf", directed by Sunil Kumar Reddy, in 2016. The latest of his films is Poottu, a movie shot in the United Arab Emirates and directed by Rajeevnath.
Anil Eswar was born in the south Indian state of Kerala and resides in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.


Udhayanidhi Stalin

Udhayanidhi Stalin (born 27 November 1977) is an Indian film actor, producer, and politician who prominently works in Tamil film industry. He is member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituency. He entered the film industry as a film producer and distributor with his production studio, Red Giant Movies, and made films including "Kuruvi" (2008), "Aadhavan" (2009) and "Manmadan Ambu" (2010). He subsequently made his debut as an actor through the romantic comedy, "Oru Kal Oru Kannadi" (2012) and has since continued producing and starring in his own films.
Early life and family.
Udhayanidhi Stalin is the son of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. K. Stalin and the grandson of former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi. He attended Don Bosco school and his got a BSc degree in Visual Communications from Loyola College in Chennai. Several of his relatives have been actively involved in politics and Tamil cinema since the 1950s. His cousins Arulnithi and Dayanidhi Azhagiri are an actor and producer, respectively.
Film career.
Stalin's first film as a producer with Red Giant Movies was "Kuruvi" (2008), starring Vijay and Trisha. He also produced two films directed by K. S. Ravikumar, "Aadhavan" (2009) and "Manmadan Ambu" (2010). He produced AR Murugadoss's science fiction film "7aum Arivu" (2011), while also working as a distributor, achieving success through his four 2010 releases: Gautham Menon's "Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa", A. L. Vijay's "Madrasapattinam", M. Rajesh's "Boss Engira Bhaskaran" and Prabhu Solomon's "Mynaa".
In 2012, he debuted as a lead actor in M. Rajesh's romantic comedy "Oru Kal Oru Kannadi" (2012), co-starring with Hansika Motwani and Santhanam. Stalin received positive reviews for his performance of an unemployed youth. Behindwoods.com noted: "Udhay's portrayal of Saravanan is neat and enjoyable. He scored well in his debut supported Santhanam well in the film", while Sify.com added: "Udhay's debut is promising and hats off to him to underplay his role". Stalin won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut for his performance. The success of "Oru Kal Oru Kannadi" prompted Stalin to continue acting and he appeared in "Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal" (2014) and "Nanbenda" (2015), both films featuring him opposite Nayanthara. He worked on "Gethu" (2016), with Amy Jackson and then performed in the courtroom drama "Manithan" (2016), with Hansika Motwani, a remake of the Hindi film "Jolly LLB".
In 2017, he has worked in the comedy entertainer "Saravanan Irukka Bayamaen" from director Ezhil, followed by "Podhuvaga Emmanasu Thangam" and action thriller, "Ippadai Vellum". Stalin has delivered a decent performance with his share of subtleness. The next project was the drama "Nimir" (2018), a remake of Malayalam film "Maheshinte Prathikaaram" directed by Priyadarshan then following the romantic drama, "Kanne Kalaimaane".
In 2020, he appeared in Mysskin's "Psycho" who a dive into the psyche of a serial killer.
Political Career.
He was elected as an Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), representing Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni, after the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election.
Personal life.
He is married to Kiruthiga in 2002 and the couple have a son and a daughter. Currently, Kiruthiga heads the lifestyle magazine "Inbox 1305". She also directed the film "Vanakkam Chennai" (2013) for Red Giant Movies and "Kaali" (2018).
Politics.
Udhayanidhi Stalin contested and won in the Chepauk - Thiruvallikeni Assembly Constituency in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Election.


Shyam K. Naidu

Shyam. K. Naidu (born: Kamireddy Shyam Naidu) is an Indian cinematographer known for his work in Tollywood. He is known for his works in films such as "Pokiri", which was screened at the 2006 IIFA film festival in Bangkok.


Elizabeth Ekadashi

Elizabeth Ekadashi is a 2014 Marathi movie directed by Paresh Mokashi. and written by Madhugandha Kulkarni. The movie, which tells the tale of a child and his set of friends living in Pandharpur, has been selected as the opening film of the Indian Panorama section at the International Film Festival of India, 2014. The film had national release on 14 November 2014.
Plot.
Dnyanesh and Mukta are siblings who with their mother and grandmother live in the pilgrim town of Pandharpur, Maharashtra. The title's eponymous 'Elizabeth' is a bicycle that is gifted to the talented Dnyanesh by his father after whose death Dnyanesh takes to supporting his mother. Dnyanesh asks his mother that can he set up a shop to overcome their financial needs but his mother urges him to concentrate on studies rather than business. The family lives in straitened financial conditions and on the eve of Ashadhi, financial necessity forces Dnyanesh's mother to sell Elizabeth to a pawn-shark. Dnyanesh and his group of friends must now find a way to recover Elizabeth which forms the rest of the movie.
Music.
One song in the film- "Dagad Dagad" was composed by the legendary music Director Anand Modak & was sung by Sharayu Date.
Release.
Released on Children's day, 2014, Elizabeth Ekadashi was well received by the audience across Maharashtra. The film did a business of ₹ 2.56 crores in just three days.


V. Azhagappan

Vendhampatti Azhagappan is an Indian film director and screenwriter who has worked on Tamil films. He rose to fame after making the romantic drama film "Aagaya Thamaraigal" (1985) featuring Suresh and Revathi and has continued to make films in a similar genre.
Career.
During his career Azhagappan regularly collaborated with actor Ramarajan, as well as Suresh. His final release, "Poomaname Vaa" (1999) was produced under the banner of Nalini Cine Arts by Ramarajan's wife Nalini Ramarajan. During production, the film was labelled as the actor's 40th film and 11th film as a director, but V. Azhagappan was later given the post. The initial cast included other actors such as Chandrasekhar, Manorama and Santhana Bharathi, who eventually did not feature.


Aarya Ambekar

Aarya Ambekar (born 16 June 1994) is a Marathi playback singer and actor from Nagpur, Maharashtra. She participated and reached the finals of the first season of "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Marathi L'il Champs" aired on Zee Marathi channel between July 2008 and February 2009. Aarya has made her acting debut in January 2017 through the film Ti Saddhya Kay Karte.
Background.
Aarya was born in Nagpur to Sameer Ambekar, a doctor and Shruti Ambekar, a vocalist. Aarya's grandmother, a classical vocalist, recognised the talent in Aarya when Aarya was two years old. Aarya started her formal musical training at the age of five and half years from her Guru and mother, Shruti Ambekar. At the age of six, whilst in first standard, Aarya appeared her first examination in Music.
Career.
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Marathi L'il Champs.
In 2008, Aarya was auditioned for the "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Marathi L'il Champs", a competitive music reality show organised by the Zee Marathi television channel. She was one of final 50 who were selected from amongst several thousand children aged between 8 and 14 across Maharashtra. She made her way to the top 10 finalists and then to the Final 5 Mega-Finalists.
Aarya was popularly referred to as the "Pretty Young Girl", during the show.
Aarya sang a wide variety of songs in the competition. She created the record of receiving full marks from the judges many times. Aarya created an unbeatable record when she got " वरचा नी "(equivalent to 200%), for her beautifully sung "Paan Khae Saiyyan Hamaro", which remains unbroken in all the nine Schedules of "SA RE GA MA PA" and even after two schedules of "SA RE GA MA PA" for professional singers. Singer Hariharan was the celebrity judge for that episode.
Aarya was also awarded performer of the week in numerous episodes by eminent singing personalities like Mahalaxmi Iyer, Shreya Ghoshal, Hariharan etc. Aarya sings a wide variety of songs ranging from pure classical songs, Natyageet, Bhavgeet, Bhaktigeet to Marathi Chitrapat Sangeet, Hindi songs, folk songs, Lavanis as well.
She sang "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo" to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the 2008 Mumbai attacks on 26 November 2008. She also performed the same song at Shivaji Park, Dadar in a program organised by Mumbai Police to pay tribute to the martyrs who laid down their lives fighting the terrorists in that attack. The song was originally sung by Lata Mangeshkar after the 1962 India-China War.
During the course of the program, Aarya was also awarded the Manik Varma Scholarship. She is the youngest singer to win the scholarship.
Public Appearances.
A few events where Aarya has performed –
Personal life.
Aarya is a daughter of Samir Ambekar and Shruti Deshpande Ambekar.


Black Movie Awards


Balasubramaniem

K.T. Balasubramaniem (born 18 August 1966) is an Indian cinematographer. Under the tutelage of P.C. Sreeram for nearly 5 years, he worked in award-winning films such as "Thevar Magan", "Thiruda Thiruda" and "Kuruthipunal".
Early life and education.
Balasubramaniem was born in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, where he did his early schooling. He later moved to Thirupattur, where he completed his schooling and went to APSA college, Trippattur. He is married to television newsreader E. Mala. He has two sons Kavin and Karun.
Career.
His debut film was "Iraniyan", a historical film set in the Pre-Independence era. Later, he worked in director Bala's film "Pithamagan" and "180".
Balasubramaniem started his career by assisting noted cinematographer P.C. Sreeram for nearly 5 years, in award-winning films like "Thevar Magan" (1992), "Thiruda Thiruda" (1993) and "Kuruthipunal" (1995).


Adiyum Andamum

Adiyum Andamum (English: Beginning and the ending) is a psychological thriller film written and directed by Television actor Kaushik making his directorial debut. The film stars Kolangal fame Ajay in the lead role. The film co-stars Mitali agarwal, Kavita Srinivasan, Ramanathan, Siddarth, Venkat and Yuvan Swang. Produced by RSR SCREENZ and N.K. Kraft pvt ltd the film’s cinematography is by DS. Vaasan, Music by L.V. Ganesan, Art direction by A. Amaran, Sound effects by D. Narayanan and editing by M. Ramesh Bharathi. This film is loosely based on "Shutter Island" by Martin Scorsese.
Plot.
The protagonist of this story is Karan a psychiatrist. Orphaned at a very young age he was brought up by his maternal uncle. Though not very rich Karan’s uncle ensured that Karan got the best of education and became a doctor. Karan for his part turns out to become a psychiatrist. Karan is a psychiatrist with a difference. He believes in the human touch. As circumstances take him on a professional trip to a reputed medical institute where he takes charge as lecturer cum psychiatrist. The minute he lands in Ooty he is at ease and enjoys every moment at his new destination. As he settles in the new place he feels at home and ease.
Soon he gets used to a new routine in his life but just as he thinks that life can't be more perfect he starts experiencing certain disturbances. He starts seeing things in his room which defy the human mind. At first he doesn’t take it seriously but soon they intensify in their hostility with each new day. Soon the disturbances are more terrifying than he can imagine.
Doctor Anbarasu is the founder cum dean cum MD of the institute. Soft-spoken but a man who will get what he wants. In him Karan sees a father figure in the beginning which slowly changes with each growing day. As he sees a new side to this person Karan is made to wonder about the true character of the dean.
Shalini is a reporter who hosts a reality show in a reputed channel. She arrives at the institute to do a cover story. The first encounter between Karan and Shalini promotes a kind of respect for Karan in Shalini. This respect slowly blossoms into something else. As their paths meet regularly, Karan feels he can confide in Shalini about his disturbances and his sudden trepidation about the dean. Curiosity kindles the reporter in Shalini and she along with Karan embarks on an investigative journey to find out what really is going on in the institute. The going is tough as there are man made hindrances in their path. At one point it is clear to them that no one is telling the truth and everyone is hiding the truth.
Soon both Karan and Shalini feel that they are being followed and that at any point of time something disastrous is going to happen. As time runs out for Shalini to leave the place they have that much less time to find out the truth about the place and the true face of Dr Anbarasu. As they stumble upon the truth it is a shocker. Sometimes what you see need not be the reality at all.


Meena (actress)

Meena is an Indian actress who predominantly works in the South Indian film industry. Meena debuted as a child artist in the Tamil film "Nenjangal" in 1982 and has later appeared in films produced by various regional industries. Meena has been a superstar for over two decades by pairing up with many big stars In South India.
She has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and several Hindi films. She is among the few actresses who have been successful in all the South Indian languages. She was one of the leading actresses of Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu cinema in the 90s. She has established herself as a great performer through the decades in the South Indian film industry. In addition to acting, Meena is also a playback singer, TV judge and occasional dubbing artist. She has won two Filmfare Awards South, four Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, two Nandi Award for Best Actress, and five Cinema Express Awards. In 1998 the government of Tamil Nadu honoured her with the Kalaimamani award for her acting talent.
Personal life.
Meena was born and brought up in Chennai. Her father Durairaj is Tamil and her mother Rajamallika is Malayali from Chirakkal Palace-Kannur district Kerala. She was enrolled in Vidyodaya schools in Chennai. Because of her busy acting schedule, she had to discontinue schooling in the 8th standard, later taking up private coaching and completing the 10th standard in Vidyodaya schools in Chennai. Meena is a trained Bharathanatyam dancer and speaks six languages: Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi.
Meena married Vidyasagar, a Bangalore-based software engineer, on 12 July 2009 at Arya Vysya Samaj Kalyana Mandapam. The couple later visited Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, Andhra Pradesh. The couple came back to Chennai to hold a reception at Mayor Ramanathan Chettiar Hall, in which all leading southern Indian actors participated. The couple has a daughter, "Nainika Vidyasagar (born 1 January 2011), who made her acting debut at the age of 5 in "Theri" (2016) alongside actor Vijay.
Career.
Child artist.
Meena started her career in 1982 as a child artist in the film "Nenjangal", featuring Sivaji Ganesan in the lead role after Ganesan saw her at a birthday party. Meena was still very young at that time. Her mother Rajamallika brought her to A.M. Ratnam's office for an offer. Even though she looked chubby, they felt she fitted the bill. She has acted in several films along with Dr. Sivaji Ganesan and Rajinikanth as a child artist. Meena acted in Kollywood by appearing as a child artiste alongside Rajinikanth in the movie "Anbulla Rajinikanth", in which she acted as a terminally ill child who warms up to
Rajinikanth —that became a major pointer in her career growth. After the success of that movie, she became a child artist in South Indian movies. She says of Ganesan that "I feel extremely proud to have been discovered by the legend". She appeared in over 45 films as a child.
Lead female roles.
Meena has been one of the top star pairing up with every big star down South . She made her debut in Telugu beside Akkineni Nageswara Rao in "Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu", where Meena played his granddaughter Seeta. The film was showcased among the Indian panorama section, at the 1991 International Film Festival of India. The film was made under the banner VMC Productions. She won Nandi Award for Best Actress from the Government of Andhra Pradesh for "Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu".
While she made her debut as a leading lady in Tamil film "Oru Pudhiya Kadhai" and played heroine roles in more than three dozen films, and also starred in Malayalam and Kannada films, her first role in Malayalam that gained attention was in "Sandhwanam" directed by Sibi Malayil in 1991. She played Suresh Gopi's daughter in the film. Its success made her famous, which led to roles with senior Malayalam heroes. Meena has expressed a wish to do more films in Malayalam. She says of her transition from being a child star to being a heroine that "Memories as a child are fabulous and I still cherish them. And it is still more special as that phase is over. Now, I am enjoying my stint as a heroine." She made her Bollywood debut opposite Chunky Pandey in the comedy film "Parda Hai Parda" (1992).
She has played the role of the leading heroines in Telugu and Tamil films since the early 1990s, often playing characters with unidimensional personality with no negativity or gray shades. She has generally avoided glamorous roles though she has acted in a few like "Maaman Magal" in Tamil opposite Sathyaraj and She was part of Successful movies Like Putnanja, Swathi Mutthu in Kannada.She has worked with Ravichandran, Vishuvardhan in Kannada Cinema. In the Kannada remake of "Autograph" as My Autograph, were directed, produced and enacted by Sudeep. In this film, Meena starred Sneha's role of Divya.
Meena has the unique distinction of starring opposite legendary actors of different generations across various languages. She has acted with Rajinikanth, Dr. Kamal Haasan, Dr. Mohanlal, Dr. Mammootty, Chiranjeevi, Dr. Vishnuvardhan, Krishna, Balakrishna, Ravichandran and other stars like Vijayakanth, Akkineni Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Vijay, Ajith Kumar, Sathyaraj, Prabhu Deva, Sarathkumar, K. Bhagyaraj, Jayaram, Suresh Gopi, Prashanth, Harish Kumar, Kichcha Sudeep, Raviteja. She had hits with the films "Nattamai" film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. The film was successful and completed a 175-day run at the box office (1994). She just grabs the continuous offer and the opportunity to act in films like "Avvai Shanmughi" (1996) with Kamal Haasan, "Porkkaalam with Murali" (1997), "Bharathi Kannamma" (1997) with Parthiban and so on. Telugu audience remembers her for a variety of roles that called for mature acting that seemed tailor-made for her. The peppy girl who wins over her unrelenting grandfather with her endearing ways in "Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu", the protected sister in "Chanti" the innocent housewife in "Sundarakanda", the renowned poet and devotee ‘Tarigonda Vengamamba’ are but just few of the many characters she played with relative ease and subtle charm. The combo of Victory Venkatesh and Meena is said to be one of the most successful combinations in Tollywood. They have 5 Blockbuster hits to their credit. Another excellent performance in the movie Rhythm (2000). This movie makes the most impact on multiple viewings. Meena was an exceptionally brilliant performance in each scene. Strangely enough, she looks the best in this movie in terms of makeup and this movie had her in her best performance to date. While she picked up Best Actress at the Cinema Express Awards.
Meena has acted both as a child and as an adult opposite Rajinikanth. Her first hit with Rajinikanth was "Yejaman", where she plays the role of Vaitheeswari, a simple village girl. She always played the quiet, serious woman. In one Interview Meena said that Rajinikanth was shocked to see her fan following in Telugu after the release of her film Chanti. When Meena and Rajinikanth were shooting for Yejaman in Andhra, she was surrounded by a huge number of fans- mostly female- which shocked Rajnikanth. In one interview in 1992 Rajinikanth himself said that Meena is a superstar in Telugu In her follow-up movie with Rajini, Veera, Meena again dazzled. Romantic-comedy film. Rajinikanth, Meena and Roja (actress) in the lead role. This film was controversial for its climax but went on to become one of the highest-grossing films in 1994. But the film that brought her true recognition and fame was "Muthu", one of Rajini's biggest hits. The movie was successful across Japan. Ranganayaki as the talkative, cheeky street theatre actress won the hearts of the audience. The film was directed by K. S. Ravikumar and produced by K. Balachander, and became the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese, as Mutu: Odoru Maharaja.[47] [48] The film grossed a record $1.6 million in Japan in 1998 and was responsible for creating a large Japanese fan-base for Rajinikanth and Meena. Following the release of "Muthu" in Japan and its commercial success, Meena's popularity rose in Japan.
Meena agreed to appear in as herself in the K. S. Ravi – directed film Shahjahan starring Vijay (actor). She has acted with almost all leading actors in South India. A role in "Kadha Parayumbol" and in its Tamil and Telugu remakes, "Kuselan" and "Kathanayakudu" respectively, were well received by audiences. Meena has expressed regret about "Kuselan", after her part was overshadowed.
Meena has said that her favorite roles were in "Bharathi Kannamma" and "Shock" in Tamil, "Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu" in Telugu, "Sandhwanam" in Malayalam and "Swathi Muthu" in Kannada, "though every film of mine is close to my heart." Meena became heroine in 1990 and even 2020, she has the highest-grossing movies as lead heroine in Malayalam, and making her most promising heroine after 30 years also.. No other heroine has that credit in the history of Indian cinema.
Recent roles.
Meena's releases in 2009 were "Mariyadhai" with Vijayakanth, directed by Vikraman, who earlier directed hits like "Poove Unakkaga" (1996) and "Vanathai Pola" (2000). and with Sreenivasan. She played in Telugu as Saint Vengamamba in "Tarigonda Vengamamba", directed by Uday Bhaskar.
In 2011, she played the role of Narain's sister in the film "Thambikottai", in which Poonam Bajwa is the pair for Narain. Other actors in this movie include Prabhu and Santhanam. Her role in this movie was very good and well accepted.
After marriage, she paired with Ramesh Aravind in the film "Hendtheera Darbar", which was a remake of Varavu Ettana Selavu Pathana that starred Nassar, Radhika, Goundamani, Senthil, Vadivelu and Kovai Sarala.
In 2012, Udaya Bhaskar made a film titled "Sri Vasavi Vaibhavam" with Meena playing the Goddess' role in the film which also stars Suhasini, Priyahassan, Suman, Saikiran, Kannada Sridhar, Raghunatha Reddy, and others. Meena plays the lead role in this Telugu devotional film. This marks her re-entry to films after a long period. After being a mother, we will get to see the sizzling Meena in this one. There are many graphic-significant episodes. The film has music by Arjun Sharma. Cinematography is by Raman Ji. Directed by Uday Baskar. The film is said to be released around mid-August.
Meena, all-time favorite actress of actor Vijay, was rumored to have been roped into a movie name "Sattam oru iruttarai", which was a remake of the movie under the same name by his father and director, S. A. Chandrasekhar. The movie is said to be produced by actor's Vijay new launched production house, Ghilli Productions. But since Meena refused the offer, Reema Sen was finalized to play the role of a Police Officer in this film and the sister to the hero.
The actress was approached by a Mollywood director to play Lal's wife with a woman-centric film with several actresses, including Rima Kallingal. "It had an interesting subject, but I wanted something more for my character. There were a lot of women in the film and everybody's got a story. I was more interested in a story focussing on a single woman character and that's why I haven't signed up for the movie," she says. Meena who had taken a temporary break from acting will be facing the arc lights once again.
It seems she has agreed to star in an ad film, and she is currently shooting near Kovalam with Prakash Raj. The commercial is being directed by producer Siva. Meanwhile, Meena is currently in a Telugu film, Sri Vasavi Vaibhavam. She had played a cameo in J.K. Bharavi's Jagadguru Adi Shankara-devotional film lastly and did justice to her roles.
After a brief hiatus, Meena returned to Malayalam cinema and will be seen playing the role of wife to Mohanlal in Drishyam (2013). Directed by Jeethu Joseph, she will be portraying the role of a mother of two daughters, of which the elder is pursuing her plus two. The actress will also be seen in Pramod Payyanur's much-awaited movie, Balyakalasakhi alongside Mammootty. The actress confirmed that she would be playing Drishyam's remake in Telugu with Venkatesh. Meena will playing a leading role in Allari Naresh's upcoming movie Mama Manchu Alludu Kanchu.
Other work.
Music composing.
Meena has been a playback singer for some albums with actor Manoj. She sang a song for the Tamil film "Kadhal Sadugudu". Meena has composed music and sung and recorded two pop albums, 16 Vayathinile, and Kadhalism, which she began recording in 2001 with actor Vikram. Meena has been a playback singer in the music of D. Imman in the movie sena and the song is "indru intha kalayil en nenjil echo aachu", a super hit song.
Dubbing.
Meena dubbed for Cheran's movie "Pokkisham". Meena has rendered voice for Padmapriya Janakiraman.


List of Marathi films

This is the list of films produced in the Marathi language in India. The Marathi film industry is the oldest of all Indian film industries.
Raja Harishchandra, the first silent film of India was directed by Dadasaheb Phalke with the help of all Marathi-crew.
Ayodhyecha Raja was the first talkie Marathi film that released in 1932.


B. R. Vijayalakshmi

B. R. Vijayalakshmi is an Indian cinematographer.
She is the daughter of veteran legendary film director and producer B.R.Panthulu (Pranav Padmanabhan), who has made epic Tamil films like Hero Shivaji ganeshan's :Veerapandiya kattaboman, KARNAN, Kapal otiya tamizhan, etc. Hero M.G.R's (ex CM of Tamil Nadu) all time super hit "Aayirathil oruvan" and many. He was also the person who introduced Miss. J.Jaya lalitha (ex CM of Tamil Nadu) into films with his Kannada movie "chinnadha bombe" (1964). B.R.Panthulu also immediately booked J.Jayalaitha alongside M.G.R into his next Tamil film "Aayirathil oruvan". During the shoot of which director sreedhar saw her and cast her in his next film venniladai, but since venniladai was a small film and Aayirathil oruvan was a much bigger. Aayirathil oruvan released a little later to venniladai in the same year 1965, making everyone think venniladai is Jayalaitha's Tamil debut.
B.R.Vijayalakhmi was a late child to director Panthulu and hence he died while she was still in college. Out of immense love and admiration that she had developed towards cinema from her fero figure and father Mr. Panthulu, she decided to devote herself into cinema by tripping behind the camera.
She started her career as an assistant to cinematographer Ashok Kumar and made her feature film debut in 1985 through the Tamil film "Chinna Veedu". Known for being Asia's first woman cinematographer, Vijayalakshmi has worked in 22 feature films. In addition to her film career, she has also worked on many Television series
Like the famous
"MY DEAR BOODHAM(my dear devil)" (a 2000s -children Tamil TV show telecasted in SUN TV),
"Velan" (2002)- [a super dooper hit Tamil devotion[non-mythological] serial on god Murga],
A weekend special TV serial Raja Rajeswari (2005) - [Divotional - Fiction drama]
She is the first to have brought computer graphics mixed TV shows in Tamil language. She has also done other south Indian soap operas like Athipookkal (2007)
Valli (2012-2019),
Pillai Nila, etc. through their banner Saregama India Ltd.
Today Saregama is also into the manufacturing and sales of nostalgic-radio like looking MP3 players called caravona. Caravona is extremely popular today and is mainly/widely seen among all the rich old timers, who love to spend their solitude tickling the memories with songs and feel of their time.
Personal:
She is a very best friend of actress/film maker Suhasini. Suhasini being close childhood friend of B.R.Vijayalakhmi and Manirathnam being a close teenage friend of B.R.Ravi {B.R. Vijaya Lakshmi's brother} is seen as the reason for Suhasini-Manirthnam'S romantic marriage. Vijay Lakshmi's brother B.R.Ravi is a IIT graduate. He dropped himself into cinema after the demise of his father B.R.Panthulu. Manirathnam has himself stated in his book "Conversations with Manirathnam" that he discovered his passion to cinema only when he made routine chit chat's and film making debates with his friend B.R.Ravi during their early 20s. According to a speech from suhasini, Manirathnam is acclaimed to have assisted only one movie in his lifetime, which is a B.R.Ravi's Directorial.
Biography.
Vijayalakshmi was born to B. R. Panthulu, a director and producer in South Indian films. Her brother B.R. Ravishankar is a film-maker in Kannada cinema. She worked as an interior designer before entering into films. Vijayalakshmi was interested in pursuing a cinematography course in a film school, but was persuaded by cinematographer Ashok Kumar who took her as a camera assistant citing that practical experience would give more exposure to her. She joined Ashok Kumar in the 1980 Tamil film "Nenjathai Killathe" and continued to work under him for nearly 30 films over a period of three years. During this time she did "Clash work" for films such as "Kai Kodukkum Kai" (1984) and "Pillai Nila" (1985).
Vijayalakshmi got her break as an independent cinematographer through K. Bhagyaraj's "Chinna Veedu" in 1985. The film made her Asia's first woman cinematographer. Between 1985 and 1995, she worked in about 22 films including "Aruvadai Naal" (1986), "Sirai Paravai" (1987) and "Iniya Uravu Poothathu" (1987) for directors like C. V. Sridhar and G. M. Kumar. She also wrote the script for Sangeeth Sivan's Malayalam film "Daddy" (1992). In 1995, she made her directorial debut through "Paattu Padava" for which she also wrote the script and handled the cinematography. The film was screened at the International Film Festival of India in 1996 and it was well known for the songs tuned by Ilaiyaraaja.
Vijayalakshmi is married to Sunil Kumar, a sound recordist and has a son with him. Post marriage she left films and entered television. "Vasantham Colony" her first attempt at TV was a children's serial. "Maya Machindra" (Vijay TV) and "Velan" (Sun TV) are among the other prominent television series that she has worked in. While directing "Velan", she was appointed as the creative head of Saregama, an Indian music company. In September 2005, she became the business head of the TV Software Division of the company.


Venky Kudumula

Venky Kudumula is an Indian film director who works in Telugu-language films. He has directed two films: "Chalo" (2018) and "Bheeshma" (2020).
Career.
While studying agriculture and business management at Acharya NG Ranga University, Kudumula forayed into films. He began working as an assistant director to Teja for "Neeku Naku Dash Dash" (2012) and as a writer for "Thoofan" (2013). Kudumula went on to work as assistant director for "Jadoogadu" (2015) and "A Aa" (2016).
He made his film debut with "Chalo" (2018). The film starred Naga Shaurya, whom he worked for in "Jadoogadu", and Rashmika Mandanna. The film is set in a village on the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and Tamil actors Mime Gopi and Rajendran were signed to play pivotal roles. In a review of the film by "The Times of India" the reviewer stated that " Despite the story of "Chalo" being somewhat a cliché, director Venky somehow cleverly manages to turn the tropes into a fun and interesting ride". In a review of the film by "The Hindu", the reviewer, Srivatsan Nadadhur, wrote that "the director Venky Kudumula throws new light on a bunch of stereotypes and age-old rivalry associated with a Romeo-Juliet tale".
Kudumula's next film as a director was "Bheeshma" starring Nithiin and Rashmika Mandanna. The film marked his second collaboration with Mandanna after "Chalo". "Bheeshma", similar to "Chalo", received positive reviews upon release. In a review of the film by "The Hindu", Sangeetha Devi Dundoo, the reviewer, stated that "Venky Kudumula ties up the different threads to the story well". In a review of the film by "The Times of India", the reviewer wrote that "What's ... amazing is how Venky ties up all the threads by the end".


Carnaval fi Dachra

Carnaval fi Dachra () is a 1994 Algerian comedy film directed by Mohamed Oukassi.
Makhlouf Bombardier, unusual, decides to be elected mayor of a dechra (village). So he surrounds himself with trusted partners to organize a great campaign for his election. Bombardier became the mayor of the village and is organizing an international film festival to compete at the Carthage festival. In his action, he is pursued by the Court of Auditors for embezzlement. So, his ultimate goal is to become the president.


Jayakrishna

Jayakrishna was an Indian film producer known for his works in Telugu cinema and few Tamil films. He produced films such as Mana Voori Pandavulu 1978, which won the Filmfare Award for Best Film - Telugu for that year. His other hits include, Manthri Gari Viyyankudu 1983, Vivaha Bhojanambu, Muddula Manavaralu, Seetaramulu, Raagaleela, Neeku Naaku Pellanta, Krishnarjunulu, 420 etc. He produced the Tamil film Aalavandhan.
Career.
He started his career as a makeup man in the film industry. He was a personal makeup man for Telugu actors Krishnam Raju and Vijayashanti. The noted film producer A.M. Rathnam was his student who later on became a makeup man and then a producer. He is the first producer to pay a remuneration to Chiranjeevi (Rs. 1116/-). His production banners include Muddu Art Movies, Jayakrishna Movies.
Awards.
1978 - Filmfare Award for Best Film – Telugu - "Mana Voori Pandavulu"


Devulapalli Krishnasastri

Devulapalli Venkata Krishnasastri (1 November 1897 – 24 February 1980) was a Telugu poet, playwright and translator. He is known as "Andhra Shelley". In 1976, Krishnasastri was honoured with Padma Bhushan, third highest civillian award in India. In 1978, he received Sahitya Akademi Award for his literary works.
Early life.
Krishnasastri was born on 1 November 1897 in Ramachandrapalem of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, India. He was brought up in Pitapuram in a family of court-poets.
He grew interest in English literature while he was in his high school.
Career.
Krishnasastri started writing poetry from a very young age. Krishnasastri's works changed significantly after he met Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at Santiniketan in 1929.
Krishnasastri joined All India Radio in 1945 and wrote a number of plays for it.
He also translated Sri Goda Devi's Tamil Tiruppavai into Telugu Keertanaas. Other translations of Tiruppavai are available - but they are all word for word. His translation is unique because he had taken the central idea of each Pasuram, made it into pallavi and wove around it the rest of the paasuram into anupallavi and charanam(s). They were set to pure carnatic music, even as they were composed, by Amruthavalli Sundaram. The publication with notation, is Orient Longman.
He died on 24 February 1980.
Literary works.
Some of Krishnasastri's famous works include :
Films.
Krishnasastri entered the film industry by scripting the 1951 Telugu film "Malliswari". He gave lyrics to about 160 songs in over 70 films during the 1950s to 1970s. They include "Malleswari", "Naa Illu", "En Veedu", "Bangaru Papa", "Ekaveera", "Bhagya Rekha" (1957), "Rakta Kanneeru", "Bhakta Tukaram", "Karthika Deepam", "Gorintaku", "Megha Sandesam", "Sri Rama Pattabhishekam".


List of highest-grossing Telugu films

Telugu cinema, populary known as Tollywood, consisting primarily of films in the Telugu language. It is the second largest film production center in India. In 1977, the film "Adavi Ramudu" starring N.T. Ramarao become the first film to collect one crore. The 1992 film Gharana Mogudu, directed by K. Raghavendra Rao, is the first Telugu film to gross over 10 crore at the box office.
The following is a list of the highest-grossing Telugu films (including dubbed and simultaneously filmed versions) based on Gross.
NOTE: Since Telugu film collection figures have no certain sources, figures are provided on the basis of many sources. Though figures contradict with some reliable sources in some cases, figures which are cited in most sources are only described
USA collections.
The USA gross figures of Top-20 tollywood movies are given here.


List of Yemeni submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

Yemen submitted a film for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for the first time in 2016. The award is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. It was not created until the 1956 Academy Awards, in which a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was created for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since.
Submissions.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1956. The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via secret ballot to determine the five nominees for the award. Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by Yemen for review by the Academy for the award by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony.


Vakkantham Vamsi

Vakkantham Vamsi is an Indian film Actor, dialogue writer, screenwriter, and director in Telugu cinema. He wrote scripts for popular star heroes of Telugu cinema such as Mahesh Babu, Allu Arjun, Ravi Teja , N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan.
Early life and career.
He was born in Arikela village near Punganur in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh and graduated from Sri Venkateswara University. He continued his father's Vakkantham Suryanarayana Rao legacy in writings. He gained recognition for his language diction and acting skills during his schooling.
Vamsi started his career as a News presenter, television anchor and starred as Suka Muni in Bapu – Ramana's tele serial "Bhagavatham" telecast on ETV Network. He made his Telugu film debut with Kalyana Prapthirasthu opposite Suma as Heroine, directed by Dasari Narayana Rao. After the release of his film Kick he became one of the star writers of Telugu Cinema.


Bhamidipati Radhakrishna

Bhamidipati Radhakrishna (14 November 1929 – 4 September 2007) was an Indian playwright and script writer in Telugu cinema. He is the son of "Hasya Brahma" Bhamidipati Kameswara Rao.
He has written some plays and playlets. His play "Taram - Antaram" was staged at World Telugu Conference, Bangalore.
He has written stories for over 150 Telugu films including "Brahmachari", "Kathanayakudu", "Vichitra Kutumbam", "Palleturi Bava", "Govula Gopanna", "Nari Nari Naduma Murari", "College Bullodu".
He died at the age of 79 years in Rajahmundry. He is survived by wife, five sons and a daughter.


Srikanth Deva

Srikanth Deva is a music director of Tamil films. He made his debut as music director in the Tamil movie "Doubles" in 2000. He is the son of noted Tamil music director Deva, nephew of the famous music director duo Sabesh-Murali & the cousin of Tamil film actor Jai.
Personal life.
Srikanth married Febi Mani on 21 February 2005 at Chennai. Their first daughter Varanya, was born in 2007.
References.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1921858


A. Govindamoorthy

A. Govindamoorthy is an Indian film director who has worked on Tamil films. After making his debut with "Karuppusamy Kuththagaithaarar" (2007), he has gone on to make "Vedigundu Murugesan" (2009) and "Pappali" (2014).
Career.
Govindamoorthy dropped out of engineering college after being unable to finance his studies during his third semester and then began reading Vairamuthu's "Sirpi, Unnai Sethukugiraen", which inspired him to become a film maker. After assisting Ezhil and Chimbu Deven, Govindamoorthy then began his film career by directing "Karuppusamy Kuththagaithaarar" (2007) starring Karan and Meenakshi, and then went on to make "Vedigundu Murugesan" (2009) with Pasupathy.
In 2013, Govindamurthy approached producer Ambeth Kumar with a script of "Pappali" (2014), who readily agreed to produce the venture after listening to his narration. He revealed that the team signed on Senthil Kumar and Ishara Nair to work on the film, as the team could not afford bigger stars and could not afford to wait for their dates. The film was released on 2014 went unnoticed and received poor reviews with a critic from Sify.com noting that the film "is a crude and crass comedy laced with sentiments", adding the "film lacks technical finesse and is difficult to sit through".


Mon pote le gitan

Mon pote le gitan (French: "My buddy the Gypsy"), is a French comedy film from 1959, directed by François Gir, written by Alain Blancel, starring Louis de Funès. In Italy the film is known under the title: "Il dottor zivago". the scenario was written on the basis of "Les Pittuiti's" of Michel Duran.


Deool Band

Deool Band (IAST:Dē'ūḷa Banda) is a 2015 Drama, Thriller Marathi language film that was directed by Pravin Tarde & Pranit Kulkarni. The film was released on 31 July 2015. This movie is directorial debut of Pravin Vitthal Tarde & Pranit Kulkarni. It stars Gashmeer Mahajani and Girija Joshi in lead and Mohan Joshi in the role of Swami Samarth considered to be an incarnation of Lord Dattatreya worldwide. It is a story of a scientist who does not believe in god.
Synopsis.
Dr. Raghav Shastri, Indian by origin, is NASA's youngest scientist. He returns to his motherland, only to find out that his country is full of God worshippers. However, Raghav is not one of them. He challenges the existence of God and orders the locality to shut the temple within the premises. But in a twist of fate, God himself descends and questions the atheist. In the end, after a dramatic sequence of events, Raghav finally starts believing in God.
Release.
The movie was released in Maharashtra on 31 July 2015 in just 110 screens.
Box office.
Deool Band topped the box office in Maharashtra and grossed around in the first four days from its release. It collected around in lifetime.


Allari Premikudu

Allari Premikudu () is a 1994 Telugu-language musical romance film produced by Suresh and Satyanand under the Sri Satya Durga Arts banner and directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. It stars Jagapati Babu, Soundarya, Rambha, Kanchan in lead roles, while Ramya Krishna appears in a cameo appearance. Srihari, Rami Reddy, Brahmanandam, and Sudhakar play supporting roles The music is composed by M. M. Keeravani.This movie is,loosely inspired from 1989 Hollywood movie 'worth winning'. The film was dubbed into Tamil as "Pokkiri Kaadhalan".
Plot.
Krishna Murthy alias Kittu (Jagapati Babu) always bets for money with Chandram alias Pandem Chandra Rao (Sudhakar). Once, there is a bet that Kittu makes Bhavani (Rambha), Jhansi (Soundarya), and Jogeswari Devi (Kanchan) fall for him, and he agrees to that. Kittu is a musician in a hotel.
Bhavani is a college student who fights for women. Knowing this, Kittu pretends to be a man who respects women. His friend Ahobilam (Brahmanandam) pretends as a rowdy named Khan Dada, and they play a drama in front of Bhavani that Kittu beat Khan Dada's henchman who harassed a girl. As a result, Bhavani falls for Kittu.
Jhansi is a police inspector. Kittu hires a goon (Narsing Yadav) to kidnap her younger brother and pretends to save him. The boy sees Kittu giving money to the goon. Jhansi thanks him and invites him to lunch. The boy tells Jhansi that Kittu gave money to the goon, and Jhansi understands that the kidnapping is Kittu's drama. She arrests Kittu and asks why he played the drama, and he tells her that he loves her. Jhansi also falls for Kittu.
Jogeswari Devi is a sannyasi. Kittu and Ahobilam go for her, and Kittu sexually arouses her with whore dialogues. Devi too falls for Kittu. Bhairavaiah (Rami Reddy) kidnapped Devi in her childhood and made her a sannyasi to earn money.
In happiness, Kittu and Ahobilam drink alcohol beverages and talk about how they cheated the three women. Bhavani listens to them when they talk about how they cheated her. In anger, she hires a goon named Malli to fight Kittu and lets him come to the spot. Ahobilam sees Bhavani and cautions Kittu. Malli tries to molest Bhavani. Kittu comes in time and confronts Malli. Bhavani apologizes to Kittu and proposes to him.
Kittu tells Chandram that all the three women have fallen for him and asks for the money. Chandram asks him to prove it, and he informs the women to come to Golconda at different times. Bhavani and Jhansi go there and write their names with his name in the love symbol on the walls of the tombs and tell him that they love him and they go their homes. Devi writes her name with Kittu's name in the love symbol. While Kittu is returning after skating around the tombs, Devi is shot by Hari (Srihari) as told by Bhairavaiah and tells Kittu that she loves him before dying. Bhairavaiah calls the police to get Kittu arrested. Chandram misunderstands the situation and thinks that Kittu killed Devi. Chandram and his assistant (AVS) escape from the place. Ahobilam takes Kittu away.
Bhairavaiah shows Jhansi the names of Bhavani, Devi, and Jhansi with Kittu's name and tells her that Kittu is a womanizer. Jhansi believes his words and searches for Kittu. Kittu goes to Chandram's house to prove his innocence. There, Chandram's elder brother Hari and Bhairavaiah talk to each other. Chandram and Kittu come to know who the murderer is. Kittu confronts Hari. Bhairavaiah calls the police. Jhansi comes there, and Kittu escapes to Bhavani's home. Jhansi chases Kittu and asks Bhavani about him. She lies that he did not come there. Bhavani believes that he did not murder Devi. Kittu escapes from there to the government hospital. Jhansi understands that Kittu came there and escaped. She threatens Ahobilam to tell about Kittu. He tells her that Kittu often goes to the government hospital. She goes there. Knowing this, Bhavani also goes there to save him, but Jhansi catches Kittu and asks why he murdered Devi and why he played the love dramas with many women.
Then, Kittu reveals his past. He and Swapna (Ramya Krishna) loved each other, but her grandfather Gajapati (Kaikala Satyanarayana) rejected him. Swapna left her family and married Kittu. She later got pregnant. Hari wants his paternal uncle Gajapati's property and plans to kill Swapna. He sent a goon and beat Swapna on the road. She gave birth to a mentally unstable baby girl because of the assault by the goon and had unfortunately died because of pregnancy complications.
Kittu earns money on bets for his daughter's operation. Actually, it is Hari who tells Chandram to bet with Kittu and make him love the women. Gajapati sticks for Swapna and writes the property in her name. Hari's plan is to get Kittu arrested and take the property. Hari and Bhairavaiah kidnap the girl from the hospital. Kittu confronts them, and later, Hari and Bhairavaiah die by running vehicles. The operation on the baby is successful, and Kittu marries Bhavani.
Soundtrack.
The music was composed by M. M. Keeravani. The music was released on Akash Audio Company.
Production.
First, only three heroines were included in the story, but later the role of Swapna was included. Divya Bharti & Meena were selected for two female roles respectively. But Bharti's death and Meena's unavailability led to the casting of Soundarya and Rambha. K. Raghavendra Rao wanted to cast Kamal Haasan for the lead role, but as it has multi heroines, Raghavendra Rao convinced himself that Jagapati Babu was suitable for the role. It was a big budget film of that time.


Deva (composer)

Devanesan Chokkalingam, popularly known as Deva, is an Indian film composer and singer who predominantly works in Tamil Cinema. He has composed songs and provided background music for Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films in a career spanning about 20 years. Many know his gaana songs, written mostly using Madras Tamil, though he has gained notoriety for plagiarising others' songs. He has composed music for more than 400 films.
Personal life.
Deva was born to M. C. Chokkalingam and M. C. Krishnaveni. Even in his childhood, Deva was attracted to the world of music. Teaming up with Chandra Bose, he staged many musical programmes. He started learning classical music under Dhanraj and has completed a course in Western music at Trinity College of Music in London. His son Srikanth Deva is also a music director, as are his brothers, who have formed the duo Sabesh-Murali. His nephew Jai is an actor.
Career.
Before coming to cinema, Deva worked for some time in the television field. In those days, Deva's brothers were working in the musical troupes of Illayaraja and other music directors as instrumentalists. His first film, "Manasukketha Maharasa", was released in 1989. He was then called to work on the movie "Vaigasi Poranthachu". After the release of "Vaikaasi Poranthaachu", his name became known throughout the Tamil community.
The great music composer M. S. Viswanathan called him “thenisai thendral”, or the breeze of sweet music. So far, he has composed music for more than 400 films, which include Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. He is also famous for his compositions for religious films. He was widely acclaimed for his scores for the Rajinikanth starrer "Annamalai" (1992) and "Baashha" (1995).
The 1990s belonged as much to Deva as it did to A. R. Rahman. In 1996, Deva composed tunes for 36 movies. His scores played a big role in the emergence of actors Ajith and Vijay, with hits such as "Aasai" (1995), "Kadhal Kottai" (1996), "Nerrukku Ner" (1997), "Ninaithen Vandhai" (1998), "Priyamudan" (1998), "Vaalee" (1999), "Kushi" (2000) helping them establish themselves as the next-generation superstars.
In 2014, Anirudh Ravichander chose Deva to sing a gaana song in his album "Maan Karate".
Awards.
In 1990, he received his first Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director. He received the Tamil Nadu Government's Kalaimamani Award in the year 1992. In 1995, the film "Aasai" brought him another state film award. For "Baashha", he got the Tamil Nadu Arts and Cultural Academy Award. He received an award by Guinness world records for "Sivappu Mazhai" as the world fastest movie from script to screening. He has also been honoured by awards from popular journals like " Dinakaran", "Cinema Express" and "Screen". He won the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director - Kannada film "Amrutha Varshini".


Eeshwar Nivas

Eeshwar Nivas is an Indian film director, known for his works predominantly in Bollywood and Tollywood. In 1999, he won the National Film Award for directing "Shool".
Early life and career.
He was born in Hyderabad. He ventured into Telugu film industry as an assistant director under the mentorship of Ram Gopal Varma. He subsequently entered Hindi cinema.


Lalbijo

Lalbijo is an Indian film director, writer, and commercial ad maker. He made his directional debut with the Malayalam - Tamil-Hindi multlingual suspense-thriller "The Big Bang" (2019).
References.


Sivaram Mony

Sivaram Mony, credited as Sivaram, Mony, and Smony, is an Indian feature film director and editor who works in Malayalam and Tamil cinema. He was identified by G.Suresh Kumar & Menaka who are prominent Malayalam producers who produces film under the banner of Revathy Kalamandhir. He made his directorial debut in Matchbox produced by Revathy Kalamandir. He is currently working as a director, editor and a writer in the film Thi.Mi.Ram. Started off as a short film maker in 2006 he has done several short films and bagged several awards in short film industry to his honor.
Personal life.
Sivaram was born on 1989 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala to Retired Sub inspector R S Mony and Social worker Radhamma. He did his schooling in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Trivandrum. He acquired his bachelor's degree in Visual communication with gold medal from Dr G R Damodaran College of Science, Coimbatore. On 11 September 2017, Sivaram married his college love Vanathi Kathir in Namakkal. The couple have a son Rishan born on 11 June 2018.
Career.
2006–2011.
Sivaram started off as a short film maker in 2006. Since then he went on to make several short films which won awards in International and National film festivals. In 2008, he moved to Coimbatore and was based there until 2011. During that time, he completed his under graduation.
2011–2016.
Sivaram worked based out of Chennai during this time period and was known among his counterparts as an editor and director. He also worked in several media related agencies as creative director and editor. He made his entry into mainstream cinema as location editor and worked for several Tamil films. In 2016, he shifted his base back to his hometown Trivandrum to work in Malayalam industry.
2017–present.
Sivaram debuted as feature film director with "Matchbox", which was released in 72 theatres across Kerala. The film rights were purchased by Asianet. Currently he is working on his next feature film, "Thi.Mi.Ram", in Malayalam and also a web series titled "Gol Gappe" in Hindi.


Shanta Hublikar

Shanta Hublikar (14 April 1914 - 17 July 1992), was an actress and singer from early years of Indian cinema. Shanta worked in Marathi, Hindi and Kannada films from 1934 to 1963. Her songs "Ab kis liye kalki baat" from Aadmi and its Marathi version "Kashala udyachi baat" from Manoos became immensely popular and established her as a star actress of her time.
Personal life.
Born as Rajamma in Adargunchi, a village in Hubballi in Karnataka, Shanta came to Kolhapur to work in films when she was 18.
Shanta married to Bapusahep Gite, a business man from Poona (now Pune) in 1939. She was fluent in Kannada, Marathi and Hindi.
Career.
In 1934, she first did a minor role in the film "Bhedi Rajkumar/Thaksen Rajputra". Her first major role was in "Kanhopatra" (1937). Soon she was hired by "Prabhat Film Company" and cast her in Marthi-Hindi bilingual "Majha Mulga/Mera Ladka" in 1938
Shanta impressed V. Shantaram by her singing and acting which led to cast her in his path-breaking movie Aadmi/Manoos in Hindi and Marathi respectively. Shanta played the role of a prostitute which was a bold step in those days. Shanta became popular as a singer too.
After Aadmi's success, Shanta went on to appear in many movies including her only Kannada film Jeevana Nataka in 1942.
Autobiography.
Shanta has written an autobiography in Marathi, "Kashala Udyachi Baat" published by Srividya Publications.
Book in Kannada.
Noted writer A.N.Prahlada Rao, has written a book 'Shanata Hublikar' in Kannada, published by Rashtrottahana Parishat.
Death.
After husband's death in 1977, Shanta became alone, spent her last days in an old age home in Pune and died on 17 July 1992.
Filmography.
Films of Shanta Hublikar.


Joseph Thaliath Jr.

Joseph Thaliath Jr. was an Indian film director and producer.
Early life.
Hailing from a Christian family, he was the son of a High Court Judge in Thiruvananthapuram when it was known as Trivandrum in the Princely State of Travancore before independence. After completing his degree, he developed a flair for cinema and, much against his father's wishes, went to Madras (now Chennai) and worked as an assistant to a multi lingual film director called S. Soundararajan (S. Soundararaja Aiyengar, owner of the Tamil Nadu Talkies Laboratory.).
Career.
F. Nagoor was an art director, film producer and a partner of Newtone studios in Chennai. Joseph Thaliath Jr. joined him as a partner. With the help of F. Nagoor, he launched a new film company named Citadel Film Corporation. He wrote a story based on a Christian folklore and together with F. Nagoor, produced and directed the film "Gnana Soundari". The film was released in 1948 and was a great success.
Following the success of "Gnana Soundari", he established his own studio and named it as "Citadel Studios", inspired by the A. J. Cronin novel "The Citadel". It was built on a spacious plot in Kilpauk, Chennai with two entrances. One entrance faced Poonamallee High Road and the other, Landon's Road.
In 1950, he wrote, produced and directed "Ithaya Geetham", all on his own. The film was shot mostly in his Citadel Studios. He later dubbed the film into Hindi with the title "Jeeva Taara".
Film stars C. L. Anandan of Vijayapuri Veeran fame and Jaishankar were introduced to the screen by Joseph Thaliath Jr.


Christopher Ashley

Christopher Ashley (born July 6, 1964) is an American stage director. Since 2007, he has been the artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse.
Career.
Ashley graduated from Yale University in 1984, where he studied Math and English. In 1997, he completed The Drama League program for directors. He was appointed artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse, California, in 2007.
Ashley directed the musical "Memphis", which opened on Broadway in October 2009, receiving the Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Directorand Tony Award nomination, Best Direction of a Musical. He previously directed the musical "Xanadu" (2007) on Broadway, receiving a Drama Desk Award nomination, for direction, as well as several other plays and musicals.
He has directed many stage works Off-Broadway, including at the Manhattan Theatre Club. He directed "Jeffrey" by Paul Rudnick Off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in 1993, for which he received the Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Director. He also directed the film version, which was released in 1995.
He directed the Sondheim Kennedy Center Celebration productions of "" and "Merrily We Roll Along" in 2002.
He directed the new musical "Come from Away", which premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in June 2015, and opened on Broadway in February 2017 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, receiving a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. He was originally set to direct a film adaptation of the musical, which was then cancelled on February 2, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, he will direct a live stage film recording of the show that will be released in September 2021, on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
He directed the new musical stage version of "Freaky Friday", which premiered at the Signature Theatre, Arlington, Virginia in October 2016.
Personal life.
Ashley is openly gay.


Films about race

A great number of movies have been made about race relations, or with a strong racial theme over the last century, from D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) to Marvel Studios' "Black Panther" (2018).
Early years (1915-1960).
D. W. Griffith's 1915 film The Birth of a Nation set the precedent of heavily racialized stereotypes of African Americans (many played by white actors in blackface) as clowns or predators, and cast the Ku Klux Klan as the saviours of white America. Later films like Dark Command (1940), Song of the South and Gone With the Wind (1939) repeated some of those stereotypes.
Other films, like the Marx Brothers' A Day at the Races and Hellzapoppin' showcased early black performers like Whitey's Lindy Hoppers and Slim and Slam. With Carmen Jones (1954) and Porgy and Bess (1959) Hollywood put George Gershwin's and Oscar Hammerstein II's Broadway shows - that reworked Jazz performances for white audiences - on screen with stars Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge.
Race films were marketed to black audiences, like Hi-De-Ho featuring Jazz performer Cab Calloway.
The quintessential American film, the western was often about implicitly about race, since it described the westward journey of colonists into the lands of Native Americans.
Civil Rights Era.
With the growth of the Civil Rights Movement Hollywood was on the whole on the liberal side, with films like To Kill a Mockingbird, West Side Story, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night looking at race prejudice critically.
Blaxploitation and Gangsta films.
With the rise of the Black Panther Party Hollywood tried to stay relevant with Black Power-themed films like Shaft, Superfly and Foxy Brown, which became known as Blaxploitation films. Still, the new genre was an opportunity for director Melvin van Peebles and actors including Richard Rountree, Pam Grier and also for musician Curtis Mayfield whose sound track accompanied the hit Superfly.
Though Blaxploitation genre is in the past, filmmakers have excited black and white audiences with stories of gangs and crime that tread a fine line between glorifying and vilifying gangsters, such as New Jack City, South Central and Juice. Rap music, too, has given a new dimension to black gang films, with All Eyez on Me about the life and death of Tupac Shakur and Notorious about the killing of Notorious B.I.G..
Race revenge fantasies.
In the 1970s and 1980s a backlash against Civil Rights was met by more films about black criminality threatening white communities. In Sudden Impact Clint Eastwood's character Harry Callahan goads a black rapist holding a woman hostage, 'go ahead, make my day' - meaning, 'shoot her, so I can shoot you.' The Dirty Harry series of films, like the Death Wish one appealed to a reaction against Civil Rights with fantasy violence against black and other criminals.
Another way that films titillated white audiences was with fantasies of black people rising up against white society. The British film Zulu showed a small platoon of Redcoats fighting against thousands of Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift at the end of the nineteenth century. Later John Carpenter achieved a similar effect surrounding a police station with a coalescence of Puerto Rican gangs in Assault on Precinct 13.
Historical Civil Rights, Jim Crow era, Civil War and Slavery films.
By the 1990s American attitudes on race were becoming more liberal and a new wave of films looked back at the Civil Rights Movement as history, beginning with Alan Parker's "Mississippi Burning" of 1989 right through to "Ghosts of Mississippi" in 1996 More recently Ava DuVernay's film "Selma" has shown there is much more in the civil rights era.
The Civil War also got a different historical treatment in the film "Glory" about black Union troops. Civil War dramas like "Lincoln" (2012) and "Free State of Jones".
Historical dramas proved a rich seam for Hollywood which went on to deal with slavery in Steven Spielberg's "Amistad" and Steven McQueen's "12 Years a Slave".
More radical black leaders, like Malcolm X and the Black Panthers had their story told in films by Spike Lee and Mario Van Peebles in 1992 and 1995.
Social comment films since 1990.
As well as a great rise in the number of historical dramas around slavery, civil rights and historical racism, more social comment films about race relations have been made since the 1990s. Spike Lee's breakout movie "Do the Right Thing" (1989) opened up the field for a lot more searching examination of race in present day. Films like such as Justin Simien's 2014 comedy "Dear White People", the Academy award-winning "Moonlight" and Jordan Peele's 2017 horror film "Get Out" show that film audiences continue to be gripped by racial conflict.