THE LOUNGE | STORYBOARD After a rather lackluster phase that lasted nearly a decade from the late 90s, Malayalam cinema is now back with a bang, signaling the arrival of new generation cinema. Many interesting themes have been explored and urban Kerala is now a prominent feature in these movies. Annie Philip analyses interesting trends in Malayalam cinema and describes what it has to showcase today.
THE LOUNGE | THE INNER JOURNEY Over the last few months, Viswanathan Subramanian has been exploring various questions with respect to the theme, ‘Ego’, based on Ramana Maharishi’s “Ulladhu Narpadhu” or Forty Verses on Reality. In this piece, he summarises the discussion.
THE LOUNGE | STORYBOARD | FILM FREAK The sequels of Die Hard, Rocky, Rambo, and other American movies work but ours don’t, opines Yayaati Joshi in his monthly column on movies, Film Freak.
THE LOUNGE | TURN OF THE PAGE The Siege of Warwan, written by war veteran, G.D. Bakshi, is a work that combines war action in Kashmir, a social message and a gentle love story, says Vinita Agrawal. Here’s a book review.
Click here to buy a print copy of the January 2013 issue of Spark themed ‘3rd Anniversary Potpourri Issue’.
Click here to buy a print copy of the December 2012 issue of Spark themed ‘Footprints’.
Click here to buy a print copy of the November 2012 issue of Spark themed ‘Life Online’.
Dear Reader,
Happy New Year and we hope you’ve started 2013 on a great note! We at the Spark team are absolutely delighted to bring to you our third anniversary issue – my, my, we can’t believe it’s been three years! It’s been a splendid journey so far and we want to thank you for being with us every step of the way with your readership, contributions, comments and of course, for passing the word around about us! So on this joyous occasion, we wanted to celebrate the very thing about Spark that we feel makes us special – our variety! In this Potpourri issue, you will find art, fiction, poetry, non-fiction and photography that celebrate this variety – together we feel it’s the perfect way for us to kick-start another year of creativity. Click here to access the January 2013 issue on the ereader, ISSUU.
One of Spark’s core defining factors has been the columns and interviews we have published in all our issues over the last three years. This exercise has been an immensely rewarding and a spectacular learning experience for us in many ways, including but definitely not limited to gaining a deeper understanding of how people approach their areas of expertise, realising that it is their passion, intelligence, persistence and a certain humility that has taken them to where they are today, and of course, receiving our biggest reward—that of Wisdom – that’s something we have received in copious amounts during our interactions. We felt nothing would be a more befitting tribute to all the wonderful people who agreed to share their thoughts with us than bringing out a compilation of the best of our conversations. Not to mention, a small gift to all our dear readers who have read and supported us through the last three years. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting joyfully —the best of what they said.