Madabhushi Rangadorai (born 8 November 1937), better known by his

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Randor Guy, is an Indian lawyer, columnist and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and

legal historian Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has Sociocultural evolution, evolved and why it has changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilisations and operates in the wider context of social history. C ...

associated with the English language newspaper ''

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 ...

''. He is also the official editor of the weekly column "Blast from the Past" that appears in ''The Hindu''.

Early life

Randor Guy's original name was Rangadorai, but his pen name later became official. He graduated in

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

and B. L. from

Madras University The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...

and commenced his career as a lawyer. Fernandez, p 164 After practising as a lawyer for a short time, he quit his job and joined a firm called Paterson and Co. where he worked for five years. In 1976, he resigned to devote all his time to writing.

Work as a film historian

Guy has been writing books on history and films since 1967. He became popular when his article on

Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s ...

was purchased by the

United States Information Agency The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bill C ...

for use as a reference work. As of 2008, he remains the only non-American whose work has been acquired as reference material by the

Government of the United States of America The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

. Guy is a regular columnist for such newspapers as the ''Mylapore Times'', ''

'' and ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

''. He also writes for the film magazine, ''

Screen Screen or Screens may refer to: Arts * Screen printing (also called ''silkscreening''), a method of printing * Big screen, a nickname associated with the motion picture industry * Split screen (filmmaking), a film composition paradigm in which mul ...

''. He writes on a variety of topics though he is mainly popular as a film historian and critic.

Films

Guy has written the screenplays for a few short documentaries and feature films. He has also produced a few advertisement films. In 1999, he scripted a 100-minute feature film in English titled '' Tales of The Kama Sutra: The Perfumed Garden'' for a Hollywood film company, directed by

Jag Mundhra Jagmohan "Jag" Mundhra (29 October 1948 – 4 September 2011) was an Indian director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his early career as an American exploitation film writer-director. Family and early life Mundhra was born at Nagp ...

. It was subsequently dubbed into

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

as ''Brahmachari''. He later worked with the film's cinematographer,

Ashok Kumar Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He ...

, on his trilingual production, ''

Kaama ''Kaama'' () is a 1999 Indian drama film co-written and directed by Ashok Kumar. Simultaneously made in three languages, the film stars newcomers Vishal, Sunila and Urvashi, while Deepti Bhatnagar, Asha Mehra and Alphonsa make guest appearances ...

'' (1999). He has written a

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

film called ''Paradise Peak'' based on a best-selling crime novel written by him. His recent works include ''Kamasutra Nights: Maya'' starring actress

Namitha Namitha Vankawala is an Indian actress, model and politician who predominantly works in Tamil and Telugu cinema along with a few films in Kannada and Malayalam. She serves as a state executive member of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil N ...

. ''Maya'' is Namitha's first film in English.

Awards and felicitations

On 12 November 2007, during a function commemorating the fifth anniversary of ''Samudra'', a magazine dedicated to art and culture, Guy was awarded the Gnana Samudra award in recognition of his contributions to the arts.

Books

* (Fiction) * * (Fiction – Telugu) * (Fiction – Telugu) * (True Crime-Tamil) * * (Film History – Govt. of Tamil Nadu) * * (Fiction) *Chitale (Biography) *(

Novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

of a Hollywood film shot in India)

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guy, Randor 20th-century births Living people Indian film critics Year of birth uncertain 20th-century pseudonymous writers Writers from Chennai University of Madras alumni Legal historians Indian film historians The Hindu Group Indian male screenwriters Indian columnists