Internet is different from print media

Say writers on cinema autham and MK Raghavendra

Writers Gautham Chintamani and MK Raghavendra were in conversation with Uma Magal on the concluding day of HLF 2015. The session discussed Gautham’s debut novel ‘Dark Star: The Loneliness of Being Rajesh Khanna’ which focuses on the actor beyond his public persona and hits. According to Gautham, Rajesh Khanna had set many a trend, but before he could change the game Amitabh Bachchan came in to make the most of trend.

“Interestingly Rajesh Khanna acted in the film ‘Karm’ that promoted live-in relationships and was probably the first one to have spoken on the subject and not ‘Shakti’. And, despite his stature as a superstar, he chose to take up the role of a psychopath in the Tamil remake ‘Red Rose’.

My book explores how the superstar was made and how Rajesh Khanna destroyed himself,” shared Gautham. MK Raghavendra is known for his books ‘Director’s Cut’ and ‘The Politics of Hindi Cinema in the New Millennium: Bollywood and the Anglophone Indian Nation’.

The session also touched upon the quality of book reviews and how the new age reviews are not very content driven despite the increase in the number of avenues that have opened for film writing, thanks to internet. Even the media houses do not understand that internet is a different world and cannot be gauged with the same yardstick as used for print media. That definitely translates to a limited space for cinema writing, both agree.