Cinemath Thadam means contextually Pace Setting in Cinema in Tamil
This is a book in Tamil by a seasoned journalist and deeply sensitive film critic of Virakesari fame. He is now retired and lives in Jaffna. His numerous articles on foreign and Indian films are collected and published by his friends of a news tabloid Nihari (now defunct).
The authenticity of Ketharanathan’s stature as a discerning and perceptive critic is given in estimation by none other than Prasanna Vithanage.
I give below excerpts from one of the international famed Lankan cinema directors.
“During my days of roaming in the nation’s capital in the early 80s, in search of experience in cinema, I accidentally met two interesting gentlemen at the Soviet Cultural Centre, a place I used to frequent. They were A Yesurasa and G.T. Ketharanathan.
Both of them influenced me to experience South Indian Cinema. Ironically, three decades later, South India has become my second home. The lifelong friendship I created with them, has enabled me to collaborate with some of their industry’s leading artistes on my movies.
Insightful critic
G.T. Ketharanathan, or GTK as we fondly called him, was a Jaffna native and had been working as a journalist for the Virakesari newspaper at the time. Hardly any film escaped his critical eye, due to his nature of being a zealous, but insightful film critic. I found him to be equally interested in Sinhala language cinema, especially the ones made by Dr. Lester James Peiris, Dharmasena Pathiraja, and Wasantha Obeysekera.
“Despite all the despair that surrounded him for so long, that would have crushed a human spirit, it has not been able to make him lose his passion for cinema. This compilation of his works on art, is a living testimony to the survival of that passion. I would like to believe, publishing it to reach an audience, makes all of it, worthwhile.”
All the other articles by famous people are in Tamil. Some of the contributors are: Sari Nihar / /Nihari editor Sivakumar, Dr. C R Constantine, G T. Ketharanathan, and former editorial member of Sari Nihar S.K. Wigneswaran. Cover design is by the brother of the author, G. Kailasanathan, a reputed artist.
Photos and stills of films
The author has dedicated his 212-page book to the late A.J. Canagaratna, who edited a volume on the late Regi Siriwardene. The book is full of photos and stills of films described in the collection.
In the two parts book, the first is on 14 films the writer had analysed, and in the second, the translations into Tamil of interviews of celebrities in the film world.
GK’s choice has been mostly political-oriented. To explain to the reader in Tamil, he takes more space to narrate the storyline, but did not forget to spotlight the nuances and turning points in the movement of scenes and actions. The films featured in the book had been written in 2007.
What I liked most was his critical views of Sri Lankan films made in the Sinhala language. At the same time, he covers, first, the names of such films and artistes: Sangaraa, Ammavarunae, Milla Aoya, Prasanna Vithanage, Sunila Abeysekera, and Dharmasena Pathiraja.