Venkiteswaran Chittur Subramanian (born 23 May 1959) is an Indian film critic, professor, documentary filmmaker, writer and occasional subtitler from
Chalakudi
Chalakudy is a municipal town situated on the banks of Chalakudy River in Thrissur district of the Kerala state in India. It is the headquarters of Chalakudy taluk. It is the base camp for travellers to Athirappilly Falls and Vazhachal Falls. ...
, Kerala, India, who writes predominantly in English and Malayalam. He won the
National Film Award for Best Film Critic
The National Film Award for Best Film Critic is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards pre ...
in 2009.
Career
He is known for his insightful analysis of the social aspects of cinema and their artistic fulfilment. His writings and reviews on film and media, in English and Malayalam has been published in journals such as ''Deep Focus'', ''Film International'', ''Cinema in India'', ''Bhashaposhini'', ''Pachakuthira'', ''Indian Express'', ''The Hindu'', ''Mathrubhumi'' and ''Madhyamam''. His column "Rumblestrip"(1999–2008) in ''Indian Express'' talked about film and the media scene in Kerala.
He published a book on filmmaker K R Mohanan ''Samanthara Yathrakal – K R Mohanante Cinema'' and with Lalit Mohan Joshi edited a book on filmmaker
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Adoor Gopalakrishnan (born 3 July 1941) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film '' Swayamvaram'' (1972), Go ...
, ''A Door to Adoor''. Three books, containing Venkiteswaran's collection of articles that take a critical look at major trends and milestones in Malayalam cinema, were published by DC Books at the DC International Book Fair and Cultural Fest, 2011. The book ''Malayala Cinema Padanangal'' won a Special Jury Mention in the State film awards for the year 2011. He has interviewed film personalities including Adoor Gopalakrishnan,
T.V. Chandran,
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with un ...
and
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Franà ...
.
He is a documentary filmmaker and won the National Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film in 1995 along with M.R. Rajan for ''Pakarnattam – Ammannur, The Actor'', the lyrical cinematic documentation of the life of
Ammannur Madhava Chakyar
Ammannur Madhava Chakyar (13 May 1917 – 1 July 2008) was a master of Kutiyattam, the classical Sanskrit theatrical form indigenous to Kerala. He is best known for taking the performances from the temple sanctuaries where they were former ...
, the exponent of the ancient classical Sanskrit theatrical artform of ''
Koodiyattam
Koodiyattam ( ml, കൂടിയാടàµà´Ÿà´‚; IAST: kÅ«á¹iyÄá¹á¹aá¹; ) is a traditional performing art form in the state of Kerala, India. It is a combination of ancient Sanskrit theatre with elements of ''Koothu'', an ancient perfor ...
''. This film won the Kerala State Award for the Best Documentary category in the same year. His article "Tea-shops In Mayalam Cinema" was included in the revamped Kerala SCERT Class X English textbook in 2011.
He is the Artistic Director of the Signs film festival for short films and documentaries. He was a jury member for best writing on cinema at the 60th National Film Awards.
In July 2018, he resigned from the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy as a gesture of protest against the state government's decision to invite a superstar (Mohanlal) as the chief guest for the event as well as the anti-women stance taken up by the organisation Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), of which Mohanlal is the president.
Venkiteswaran is also an occasional subtitler. He began by subtitling for a
T.V. Chandran film in the late 1990s and done subtitles for around 150 films in the span of 20 years.
Awards
* 2011:
Kerala State Award – Special Jury Award for Best Book on Cinema – Malayala Cinema Padanangal.
* 2011: Kerala State Television Awards for Best Malayalam article on TV – Avatharippichu Nashtapeduthunna Varthakal in Mathrubhumi weekly.
* 2009:
Best Film Critic (Swarna Kamal)
* 2005:
Kerala State Film Award for Best Article on Cinema – "Mammootty enna Thaaram"(Malayalam)
* 2002: National Film Award – Special Jury Award / Special Mention for Film Criticism (English)
* 1995:
National Film Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film
The National Film Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several aw ...
(Rajat Kamal)- Pakarnnattam – Ammannur the actor, shared with M.R. Rajan
* 1995:
Kerala State Film Award for Best Documentary
The Kerala State Film Award
The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have be ...
– Pakarnnattam – Ammannur the actor, shared with M.R. Rajan
Bibliography
Translation
*'' Ten Sentences about the Cow'' - Poems by NG Unnikrishnan, Author Press, 2017
English:
*''A Door to Adoor'' (Edited by Lalit Mohan Joshi & C.S. Venkiteswaran), South Asian Cinema Foundation, London, 2006
Malayalam:
*''Udalinte Tharasancharangal'', DC Books, 2011
*''Malayala Cinema Padanangal'' , DC Books, 2011 (reviewed by B.R.P. Bhaskar)
*''Cinema Talkies'', DC Books, 2012
*''Raveendrante Thirakkathakal'', Mathrubhumi Books, 2013
*''Television Padanangal - Nammeyokkeyum Bandhicha Sadhanam'' - Mathrubhumi Books, 2014
*''Samanthara Yathrakal – K R Mohanante Cinema'' , Trichur International Film Festival
*''Malayaliyude Nava Madhyama Jeevitham'', DC Books, 2018
*Ini Velicham Mathram - Film and Vision of
Fernando Solanas
Fernando Ezequiel "Pino" Solanas (16 February 1936 – 6 November 2020) was an Argentine film director, screenwriter, and politician. His films include; '' La hora de los hornos (The Hour of the Furnaces)'' (1968), '' Tangos: el exilio de Gardel'' ...
, Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, 2019
*Prapancham Prathiphalikkunna Jalakanam, SPCS Books, 2022
*''Kaalathinte Irulbhoopadangal -
Bela Tarr
Bela may refer to:
Places Asia
*Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh, India
*Bela, a small village near Bhandara, Maharashtra, India
*Bela, another name for the biblical city Zoara
* Bela, Dang, in Nepal
* Bela, Janakpur, ...
’s cinematic journey, Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, 2022''
Filmography
*''Pakarnattam: Ammannur, The Actor'' – ''Duration – 75 mins, Year – 1995.'' — A Documentary on
Ammannur Madhava Chakyar
Ammannur Madhava Chakyar (13 May 1917 – 1 July 2008) was a master of Kutiyattam, the classical Sanskrit theatrical form indigenous to Kerala. He is best known for taking the performances from the temple sanctuaries where they were former ...
directed along with M.R.Rajan.
*''Matha to Ma'' – ''Duration – 70 mins, Year – 2002.'' — A Documentary on
Mandakini Narayanan
Mandakini Narayanan (died 16 December 2006), popularly known as Ma, was an Indian Naxalite leader in Kerala.
Life
Born in Gujarat, she married the late Naxal leader Kunnikkal Narayanan. She herself was one of the front-runners of the Naxalit ...
.
"Matha to Ma, the odyssey of a Naxalite"
/ref>
*''Mega Narratives are Fantastic'' – ''Duration – 40 mins, Year – 2010.''— A Documentary on Chintha Ravi
K. Ravindran (1945–2011), better known by his pen-name Chintha Ravi, was an Indian writer, journalist, film critic and film director.
Biography
Born in Kannadikkal in Kozhikode as the son of Kunnummal Krishnan and Lakshmi, Ravindran studied at ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Venkiteswaran
1959 births
Living people
Indian documentary filmmakers
Indian film critics
Kerala State Film Award winners
Malayalam-language writers
Film directors from Kerala
Scholars from Kerala
People from Chalakudy
20th-century Indian biographers
20th-century Indian male writers
Koodiyattam exponents
Best Critic National Film Award winners