Maithili Rao is an Indian freelance film critic, writer, journalist and former English lecturer based in Mumbai. She has worked for several publications, including ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'', '' Frontline'', '' Film Comment'', the '' Sunday Observer'', ''

Gentleman A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

'', '' The Independent'', and '' Screen''.

Career

Rao worked as a journalist for ''

'', '' Frontline'', '' Film Comment'', ''

'', '' Man's World'', ''Cinema in India'', and ''South Asian Cinema''; the latter two were published by the National Film Development Corporation of India and South Asian Cinema Foundation, which was based in London. She wrote the column "Image of Women" in the newspaper ''Eye's Weekly'' for ten years. She is also a film critic for the '' Sunday Observer'', '' The Independent'', '' Screen'', '' The Free Press Journal'', ''Bombay'', and ''Zee Premiere''. In 2003, she contributed to the ''Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema'', an encyclopaedia book about

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

that was published by Popular Prakashan. Rao served as a jury at The Golden Elephant (also known as International Children's Film Festival India) and the Mumbai International Film Festival. She has authored one books, titled ''Smita Patil: A Brief Incandescence'', a biographical book on the Indian actress

Smita Patil Smita Patil (17 October 1955 – 13 December 1986) was an Indian actress who worked in films, television series and theatres. She appeared in over 80 Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Kannada films in a career that spanned just o ...

published by HarperCollins. According to the

Indo-Asian News Service Indo-Asian News Service or IANS is a private Indian news agency. It was founded in 1986 by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju as the "India Abroad News Service" and later renamed. Their main offices are located in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The se ...

, "The book is not only a long-pending due to this accomplished but instinctive actress but also an invaluable distillation of some of the best of Indian cinema, which could easily rise above mindless escapism to sensitively portray society and its inequities and injustices—especially towards women, whose plight Smita can so touchingly render." '' The Times of India'' listed it amongst the "top 25 good reads" of 2015.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Maithili Indian biographers Indian women journalists Living people Indian women columnists The Hindu journalists Year of birth missing (living people)