It was an occasion that marked the launch of a biography of an outstanding actor in Tamil cinema. The book, one of the series of books, 'Legends of Indian Cinema', released at Sathyam Cinemas on August 11.
The function, jointly sponsored by Yuhi Sethu's Movie Farm and Sathyam Cinemas,was attended by the presence of renowned cinema writer and researcher Aruna Vasudev, and Shobit Arya, from Wisdom Tree. All the six books were launched in the presence of AVM Saravanan, Ramkumar Ganesan, Balu Mahendra and K Bhagyaraj.
"We felt a need to reintroduce the legends of Indian cinema to the people. So we brought out these books," said Aruna Vasudev, who is the editor of the series. "We will continue this series as there are so many great figures in our past who we should celebrate and commemorate," she added.
The series features books on Sohrab Modi, Shammi Kapoor, P.C. Barua, Mehboob Khan and Guru Dutt, and Sivaji Ganesan. Each book is priced at Rs. 195.
Theodore Baskaran's book on the life of Sivaji Ganesan, part of the ongoing series, chronicles the life of Sivaji Ganesan right from his childhood and the early days in the drama company, his foray into mainstream cinema and rise to stardom to his entry into politics and brush with his rival MGR.
The book also gives the detailed account of Sivaji's domination of the Tamil screen and the culmination of his film career with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award. While the book keenly looks into Sivaji's early association with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, it also tells about his distancing himself from the movement and his disastrous forays into politics.
S. Theodore Baskaran, well known film historian, won the Swarna Kamal award in 1997 for his book The Eye of the Serpent: An Introduction to Tamil Cinema. Baskaran writes on cinema and environmental issues both in English and Tamil.