People in India and Canada can die for films, says cinematographer Tom Cowan

Agencies
February 27, 2018

Bengaluru, Feb 27: Eminent Australian cinematographer Tom Cowan says India and Canada are some of the countries where watching films is not a mere pastime, but it is a passion.

The 75-year-old filmmaker recalled the time when he had come to India to shoot for 1970 Kannada film, "Samskara".

He said he was thrilled to see people waiting eagerly to watch the next movie, especially because film industry was largely non-existent in his home country.

"India was a much more developed industry when it comes to films in that time. Such intensive production. It was interesting for me to be in a country where people were dying to see the next film. That wasnt the case with Australia. We werent making anything.

"I was enthralled with Canada, where people were just waiting for another film. They might have made good films at the time. They were pretty terrible but they were entertaining the people," Cowan said at a Q&A session today at the ongoing Bengaluru International Film Festival.

Cowan was here to deliver Dadasaheb Phalke Award Winner - V K Murthy Memorial Lecture.

This year marks the 50th year of the making of "Samskara", directed by Pattabhirama Reddy on which Cowan worked as the principal cinematographer.

The film was based on UA Ananthamurthys novel of the same name. "Samskara" was a path-breaking movie, which is said to have kick-started the parallel cinema movement in Kannada film industry.

The movie, which won the National Film Award for best feature film in 1970, was initially banned by the Madras Censor Board as its strong anti-caste undertones were feared to spark tensions among the masses.

Cowan said one needs to tell a story that comes from the heart and not worry about the genre.

"We never get tired of a good story," he added.

The DOP said his expertise in the craft was an added advantage for him when he went back home to work in Australian cinema.

"I have been very lucky. Whatever money I had earned back home, it was due to the work I had done overseas. And when the industry started in Australia, I had an advantage of having worked in films in England, India, America, Canada, etc. I was in demand. I got a lot of work," he said.

Cowan said the best method to avoid ego on the sets of a film is to first control ones own.

He said it is important for the DOP to be calm as he/she is the "leader of the technical crew"

"Cinematographers should not forget that they are employed to serve the interests of the director, not their own," Cowan said.

"Best way to control the egos on the sets of a film is to try and control your own. Because if you get upset and start arguing, it shows inexperience and lack of confidence. You are, to some extent, a leader... A leader of the technical crew. So you have to show by example," he added

Cowan has also worked as a director on seven films. His 1972 film "The Office Picnic" was screened at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.

Borrowing from his experience as a director, he added, "Communication is only other thing that you can do. A lot of the ego (hassles) are also because people are worried about their next job.”

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Agencies
June 14,2020

Chennai, Jun 14: Tamil Nadu Police has recovered about 100 bottles of liquor from the car of actor Ramya Krishnan, who had starred in movies like Bahubali, Padaiappa and others.

According to the police, the actor was traveling in the car at the time on the East Coast Road (ECR) where they were carrying out vehicle checks on Thursday.

The police found about 100 liquor bottles in the car boot and when queried Ramya Krishnan said she was unaware of the bottles.

Later the police confiscated the bottles and arrested the driver Selvakumar who said the liquor was bought at the Tamil Nadu government-run liquor shop.

The government has not allowed the opening of the Tasmac shops in Chennai.

Another driver came and drove the actor back to Chennai.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Los Angeles, May 2: Pop diva Madonna has revealed that she has tested positive for the COVID-19 anitbodies.

The singer shared the news in the 14th edition of her “Quarantine Diary” on Instagram TV.

“Took a test the other day and I found out that I have the antibodies. So tomorrow I’m just going to go for a long drive in the car, and I’m gonna roll down the window and I’m gonna breathe in the COVID-19 air. Yup. I hope the sun is shining,” Madonna said.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), US, antibody tests are used to determine whether or not a person has been exposed to COVID-19 by finding proteins the body produces to fight the virus.

However, the CDC has yet to confirm if the possession of antibodies is equal to immunity.

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News Network
January 24,2020

Paris, Jan 24: Rahul Mishra and Imane Ayissi made history on Thursday by becoming the first Indian and black African designers to show their clothes on the elite Paris haute couture catwalk.

Only a little more than a dozen of the world's most prestigious luxury labels -- including Dior, Chanel and Givenchy -- have a right to call their clothes haute couture.

All the clothes must be handmade -- and go on to sell for tens of thousands of euros (dollars) to some of the richest and most famous women in the world.

Mishra, an advocate of ethical "slow fashion" who blames mechanisation for much of the world's ills, said "it felt amazing and very surreal to be the first Indian to be chosen." "They see a great future for us -- which will make us push ourselves even harder," the 40-year-old told AFP after his debut show was cheered by fashionistas.

Both Mishra and Cameroon-born Ayissi, 51, are champions of traditional fabrics and techniques from their homelands and are famous for their classy lines.

Ayissi said his selection was "immense" both for Africa and himself.

"I am so proud that I can show my work and showcase real African fabrics and African heritage," he told AFP backstage as celebrities, including the chic head of Unesco, Audrey Azoulay, congratulated him.

Mishra broke through on the Paris ready-to-wear scene after winning the International Woolmark Prize in 2014, the top award that also launched the careers of such greats as Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent.

The purity of his often white creations with their detailed but understated embroidery has won him many fans, including Vogue's legendary critic Suzy Menkes.

The doyenne of fashion's front row called him an Indian "national treasure".

But this time, Mishra turned up the colour palette somewhat with dresses that subtly evoked the jungle paradises and pristine underwater world off the Maldives he worries that one day we might lose.

Appalled by the smoke and pollution that meant he had to keep his four-year-old daughter indoors in Delhi for nearly 20 days in November, Mishra said he imagined a "pure virginal and untamed planet... with ecosystems crafted out of embroidered flora and fauna".

"I am very emotional about it. Sometimes it makes me cry. All our children should be growing up in a better world," he added.

"When I take Aarna (his daughter) to the foothills of the Himalayas and the sky turns blue, she is so happy.

"Once, when she saw the River Ganges, she said: 'Can you please clean it for us so can go for a swim?'"

Mishra said he was reducing the quantity of clothes he was producing while at the same time increasing their quality, with humming birds, koalas and other animals hidden in the hundreds of hand worked embroidered leaves and flowers of his "jungle dresses".

The designer has won ethical and sustainability awards for his work supporting local crafts people in rural India.

"My objective is to create jobs which help people in their own villages," Mishra said.

"If villages are stronger, you will have a stronger country, a stronger nation, and a stronger world," he added.

Ayissi takes a similar stand, refusing to use wax prints popular in West Africa which he dismisses as "colonial".

Dutch mills flooded Africa with cotton printed with colourful patterns borrowed from Indonesian batik in the 19th century, and still dominate the market.

"When we talk about African fashion, it's always wax, which is a real pity," he told AFP, "because it's killing our own African heritage."

Ayissi, a former dancer who worked with singers such as Sting and Seal, told AFP he wanted to open up "a new path for Africa" and find an "alternative way of doing luxury fashion".

He has gone back to using prestigious local materials, like the strip fabric kente woven by the Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast, which was originally worn only by nobles.

The son of an undefeated African boxing champ and a former Miss Cameroon, he also uses appliqued techniques from Benin and Ghana.

Haute couture shows only take place in Paris and the criteria to enter and remain in fashion's elite club are strictly enforced by French law.

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