Remembering B Kannan Sir, Cinematographer

Humble, kind and a sweet human being.  

Lenses were his friends, no spectacles/glasses were needed for his spectacular eyes. His eyesight was impeccable. 

He will be remembered forever for - 

- His significant contribution to Tamil films especially along with Director Bharathiraja. The beauty of South Indian villages were lively and full of nature in his cinematography. 

- His down to earth personality, simplicity and straight-forwardness. 

- Unconditional caring for students. We, BOFTA students, were truly fortunate to have him with us. He used to sit with all of us, watch his films, and share his humongous working experience. This is a treasure for all of us. We also watched iconic films such as Lawrence of Arabia with Kannan Sir.

- Child at heart - He was full of exuberance and confidence. So easily he used to mingle with us, share a joke and make us all smile. His unique and captivating laughter will be dearly missed.

It's hard to interpret and digest his absence. Yes, absence and not death. Because he is so alive fresh and energetic in our memories. I shall keep it this way, I hope all will too.

Thank you B Kannan Sir for a wonderful time at BOFTA.

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Photography - MM Prabhu

Note - B Kannan was one of the sons of Director Bhimsingh

Sherlock Holmes!

***Note - This blog post aims to inspire readers to explore the true pleasure of reading Sherlock Holmes.

After Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Rober Downey Jr, Benedict Cumberbatch portrayal of Holmes, it's difficult to get the audience back to the habit of reading. Worth trying! Happy Reading SH.

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"Elementary, my dear Watson!"

Over a period of four decades, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle enthralled the readers with legendary stories of Sherlock Holmes solving crimes along with his dear friend Dr John Watson. The last work was published in 1927. Still it continues to entertain equally on print, Kindle; and on small & big screens.

All adventures took place with the main characters being headquartered at 221b, Baker Street. Remember, the landlady Mrs Hudson. 

Conan Doyle was taught by a surgeon Dr Joseph Bell. Sherlock Holmes' deductive reasoning was inspired by this surgeon. Once the author wrote to this surgeon - "It is most certainly to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes". 

A Study in a Scarlet was written when the author was 26. It was the first of 60 adventures, where Sherlock Holmes first made his great appearance. 

Edgar Allen Poe's words - "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." As a tribute to Edgar these wordings appeared exactly word-to-word in Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four featuring Sherlock Holmes. This shows how much the author admired Edgar Allen Poe.

Conan Doyle received €800 per story of Sherlock Holmes featuring in The Strand Magazine. Hope this information was interesting, thanks to an article published in Readers Digest, November 2001.

Now, I would like to share few of the illustrations from the book which I read since my childhood days. 

The following snaps has the titles of four SH novels with the name of the illustrators. The wonderful and meticulous artists who brought Sherlock Holmes into life in millions and billions of readers mind across the globe. Thanks to them and their great illustrations.

Sources:

1. Sherlock Holmes

The Complete Illustrated Novels

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

First Publication - 1987, Chancellor Press, 59, Grosvenor Street,L London W 1

2. Readers Digest, November 2001

English Non-Detailed Illustrations

During my school days, I opted Special English as my second language. I did'nt know at that time the fruits I was about to reap by that action. It kicked opened the doors to a world of English novels, stories, poems.

Charles Dickens' The Great Expectations, Conon Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travel, Mark Twain's The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone are few of the abridged novels which thrilled and excited me. 

Later on I went on to read the entire short story collections and novels of Conon Doyle. The pleasure of reading is still alive and wish it prospers :)

Below are few of the illustrations from the text books of my school days.

The Great Expectations

The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes. 

Gulliver's Travel

The News Letter (..which fetched my first Job)

Beacon - The Light! It was an inhouse journal in my B-School, Dhruva College of Management (DCM), Hyderabad. 

Me, my fellowmates (Ratnakar, Rajesh and team) and my classmates Frontiers brought out Beacon each month successfully during our course and when the time came for us to handover the inhouse journal to our juniors Mavens, there was an event conducted to celebrate Beacon's anniversary. Thanks to Mavens!

During this event, I was called onto the dias to give a note of thanks along with my friends. The event was honoured by the Cheif Guest - Arun Sinha, Chief Officer on Duty, National Council of Rural Institutes (NCRI).

After the event, I was asked to meet Arun Sinha Sir. This connect landed me my first job in NCRI. Thanks to Arun Sinha and the Director Dr. S.V. Prabhath. Both mentored me a lot which I considered to be a great privilege. 

My first assignment was to design a new layout for the existing news letter - Ailaan. From designing, getting approvals, collating articles from esteemed personalities, proof reading, working along with a freelance writer Mithu Chinoy, and printing the final copies was a great learning experience. This assignment gave me my first job offer on April 21, 2008, which I happily accepted.

Thats how the below Ailaan news letter (April 2008 Volume -I, Issue IV) fetched my first job. 

Also see below one more edition for your reference.

Also have attached the first blue print of the Beacon The Light inhouse journal, Dhruva College of Management (DCM), Hyderabad.

The Photographs (grew on me in time)

Our library shelves had a series of books on photographers titled "The Great Photographers" and very frequently I used to browse them.

Ernst Haas, Thomas Hopker, Donald McCullin, Arnold Newman, and Peter Turner are few of the photographers whose photographs grew on me in time. 

Thanks to the publisher Collins who have brought out very good books on the above mentioned meticulous photographers and their works.

I would like to present the Photographers and one of their respective Photography below for your viewing pleasure. 

Ernst Haas

Thomas Hopker

Donald McCullin

Arnold Newman

Peter Turner

Source: Collins, The Great Photographers