RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Elvis Presley was not born rich; he came from a poor Mississippi family. Yet, he enriched music, like no other singer — before, or after him, primarily because he showed a rare gift for music, at an early age. In the process, he absorbed all the styles related to a host of genres, […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Claudio Monteverdi was one of music’s greatest composers. He was his own symphony, and magnum opus. A martinet classicist, Monteverdi, quite simply, never ever compromised on what he thought was exact — be it a note, or a theme. He is fondly remembered, today, as the primal composer of L’Orfeo, albeit his most famous […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR He’s a British sporting hero upholding impeccable standards, an archetypal athlete, strong in both will and mind. Self-effacing, suave, and gracious, he also — in the truly Churchillian sense — espoused the famed bulldog tenacity, a never-say-die attitude that’s remarkably inconsistent, if not wanting, with modern British athletes. Adaptable, creative, practical, he was […]
VENKATESH GOVINDARAJAN Music heals just as cricket unites. While the latter teaches brotherhood and bonhomie, the former enables one to befriend oneself, by bridging the invisible but yawning gap between heart and mind, on the one hand, the soul on the other. As I write this piece, a soulful voice from the late 1990s is […]
RYAN HARRISON Have you ever been touched, challenged, or inspired by a movie? Have you left a movie theatre with the reawakened familiar feeling that the human heart is capable of — amazing and deeply spiritual things? Or, have you pondered over a film’s message, confronted with ideas that call you to stretch your understanding […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Sidney Lumet’s statistical roll-call in Hollywood was not only remarkable, but legendary too. His films received more than 50 Academy Award nominations; besides, he was nominated for Best Director seven times no less. He was also the focal point of several retrospectives, awards, and honours. This meditation is a review accolade for and […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR We live in an era of paradoxes — of sometimes pleasing, usually passable, and most often ear-splitting music, aside from the typecast ‘stamp,’ or raucous remix[ed] digressions, thanks to hi-tech glitz. This isn’t all. There seems to be a growing penchant for Punjabi-accentuated Bollywood songs in Hindi films today — rather than perceptible […]
ELLIS CASHMORE Fate can be economical: it picks its victims, not in an arbitrary or random manner, but in a ruthlessly efficient, emotion-saving way. No sooner have we started to rhapsodize over the legacy left by visionary film director Nicolas Roeg than we are assaulted by the departures of two more colossal artists who left us with […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR When ‘His Airness,’ Michael ‘Magic’ Jordan, or just MJ, the King Arthur of Basketball, made his final bow from the game, exactly 15 years ago, his legion of fans were happy, elated, and, maybe, sad. Happy, because Jordan had given them a million moments to showcase memories of his true greatness; elated, because […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR There just can’t be a better example of globalised fascination than cartoon strips. You know them all — the great, all-time favourites. However, none comes close to as great, or colossal, a following as the evergreen and much-loved, Asterix. It is a delight that’s going as strong as ever even after Rene Goscinny […]