Obituary

Forty-five-year-old British actress Natasha Richardson has passed away from a brain injury that she received in a skiing accident in Canada.

Richardson was born into one of the first families of British film. Her father was the late producer/director Tony Richardson and her mother actress Vanessa Redgrave and her grandparents the actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. She was also the sister of actress Joely Richardson and the niece of actress Lynn Redgrave and actor Corin Redgrave.

Amita Malik, India's most accomplished film critic, succumbed to leukemia at the age of 87 in a Delhi hospital on 22 February 2009. Like the lonely headmaster of the movie, "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" Mrs. Malik led a lonely but feisty life tilting her quixotic lance at the movie screen, the idiot box and the All India Radio.

Dadasaheb Phalke award winner and noted film-maker Tapan Sinha died at a hospital in Kolkata on Thursday after a prolonged illness.

Sinha, 84, was suffering from pneumonia and septicaemia, hospital sources said.

He is survived by a son. His actress-wife Arundhuti Devi died in 1990.

A film like Naya Daur had to be made by a visionary. Watching the film after all these years in its new avatar, one cannot help marvel at the courage and passion of the filmmaker.

It is said that writer Akhtar Mirza had approached all the top banners with his story but none was convinced, including the great Mehboob Khan. When he approached BR Films, Chopra agreed instantly much to the alarm of his colleagues. He had to encounter innumerable hurdles during the making, including a court case filed by Ataullah Khan, Madhubala's father. But Chopra remained undeterred.

One of the huge chapters in Tamil cinema ends with his demise. One of the most versatile directors of the age, Sridhar's films gave break to many a budding actor including the national-award winning Vikram. With the best musicals and performance-driven films of his age, Sridhar possessed an enviable cine-resume that not many directors can achieve today.

He had worked with almost all the leading actors of the industry including Shivaji Ganeshan, MG Ramachandran, Gemini Ganeshan, Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan. His film Vennira Adai was famous for its triple debut of successful comic artist Murthy

Ankur Agarwal remembers one of the the greatest actor of all time, Paul Newman, and rediscovers three of his numerous gems: Hud, Sweet Bird of Youth, and The Verdict.

Paul Newman! What an array of films and great performances, a canvas of life and America, a multitude of emotions, sweat and sultry sang-froid. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof where much is hushed below the domestic and censors’ carpet between him and Elizabeth Taylor; or one of his earliest films Somebody Up There Likes Me, where Newman proves so early his ability to wrench your guts; or another Tennessee Williams, Sweet Bird of Youth, where Newman plays the part of a man willing to sell himself but yet in love so brilliantly, and maybe defines Newman for the rest of his life; or Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain, when it makes me realize how much better Newman would have been in a North by Northwest; or The Verdict, the best performance ever by Newman in my opinion, where I can watch Newman’s every move, every motion again and again and again; and yet again, Absence of Malice, where love and war of ethics cross between Newman and another bright actor, Sally Field. It’s hard to imagine cinema without Paul Newman. Three of his lesser-known films follow.

Hud

The striking point of the film Hud is of course the sweeping cinematography and yet the static camera at times, forcing the viewer to be unwillingly pushed into the scene, into the setting, as if he is himself getting oppressed by the cruel wantonness of Newman, the heat, the sultry monotony of the ranch life, and the desires of letting oneself go into the manifold temptations once in a while. The solitary ranch life is dominating them all, is dominating the film, is dominating the viewer, and of course this is where the director had to succeed and has succeeded. A good film, but I don't think that most of the people will able to tolerate it , since the film is neither thrilling at any point nor has any sort of pace. Its a heavy-handed film, almost drooping shoulders on the viewer and asking him to take the burden along.

Sweet Bird of Youth

Better, much better than the written play itself, Newman starred in both the 1959 play which won 4 Tony awards and the 1962 film which won an Academy Award and was nominated for two others. Newman brings to fore the typical crisis in a man’s life, when he has to struggle for money and love both. A man whose current career is just being a beach boy! Extraordinary powerful performances by Ed Begley and Geraldine Page interweave with the beautiful, solitary romance of Newman and Shirley Knight, a romance which is like the most beautiful rose standing by a sea in a world where only dust-storms rise to greet its budding, and never let it unfold completely.

The Verdict

Nominated for five Academy Awards, this Sidney Lumet film is one of the most powerful performances you would see from an actor. For me, it comes right alongside Brando’s performance in A Streetcar Named Desire and O'Toole's in Lawrence of Arabia. The film deals with medical negligence and a lawyer’s ethics in brilliant fashion, building up the character of an alcoholic Newman in need of love and stability and yes, belief in himself, the character of a tired businessman-lawyer James Mason who knows every trick of the game except to fight against desperate truth, and the dependable lawyer who still has somehow remained a good man, Jack Warden. The few scenes between Newman and Charlotte Rampling are some of the best scenes ever in film history which can show how a woman’s love can make a man “man.”

Bergman was quintessentially a phenomenon by himself. His life, his actions remained unparalleled over the years. Though unbearable at times, the mastermind left a deep impact on human kind, thus, making it practically unimaginable to be ignored. No session of film studies, film criticism, can be completed until he is discussed again and again. Born in July 14th, 1918 to a priest, he started taking interest in theatre as a student of University of Stockholm. He wrote several screenplays including Frenzy for Director Sjoberg in 1944 followed by the "Devil's Prison" in 1949 ...

Tendulkar found solace, and even escape, in his works, as he writes, "There was no thought of tomorrow. Everyday began and ended with work." And he provided that solace to other creative souls around as writers, directors, playwrights, theatre directors... flocked to him and were born from the womb of his work and his honesty. Examples can be given of film directors like Shyam Benegal (Nishant, Manthan), Govind Nihalani (Aakrosh, Ardh Satya), Jabbar Patel (Saamna, Umbertha and Sinhasan), Amol Palekar (Akriet), Nachiket Patwardan, Satyadev Dubey and many more.

Tendulkar was such a man, who like the ideal teacher for Gandhi, did not just preach lessons, but became the lesson himself. And that is where the greatest contribution of his lay. In the deletion of hypocrisy in his life. In the striving for ‘˜satyagraha' - the steadfastness in truth, despite repeated failures. Purists may scoff at this comparison between Gandhian ideals and Ten, who was preoccupied with violence. But to me, there was no greater Gandhian than him, for he not only believed in truth, but lived by the truth, fought for truth and wrote the truth. And violence was the truth he discovered in the times and the society he lived in.

Renowned science fiction writer and co-author of Stanley Kubrick's 1968 Sci-fi masterpiece “2001: A Space Odyssey” Arthur C. Clarke died early Wednesday. He was 90.

According to an AP report he left written instructions that his funeral be completely secular.

"Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral," he wrote.

Arthur C. Clarke was the son of an English farming family, born in the seaside town of Minehead, Somerset, England on December 16, 1917. In 1998, his lifetime work was recognized by The Queen of England when he was honored