An American in Madras

[kalaa_pipaasi]

this documentary tells us the tale of Ellis R. Dungan, who came to india for making films.

Ellis came to india for the first time during the 1935's for 6 months initially to make a film. Tamilians did so well to receive him and he integrated himself with the locals so much that he ended up staying here for 15 years. During that phase he made films that looked more natural in acting and lighting. he aimed at getting rid off that 'drama' style which was deep rooted till then because most of the actors are from drama background. the drama guys in those days are typically known for shouting loud dialogues even when the other characters are very much near to them and showoff of the body language during their acting that very much looked artificial.

We all knew what a hit vinave barre pilla song from 'veera kankanam' is. but 'veera kankanam' is actually a remake of tamil movie 'manthiri kumari' written by Karunanidhi and directed by the legend Ellis R Dungan with MGR as hero. We can see a bit of it in iddaru(iruvar in tamil) another fascinating movie

Also we knew MS Subba lakshmi as a singer. But she also acted under Dungan in her early days as a heroine for his movies 'Sakuntalai', 'Meera' and 'Meerabhai'.she was a proper heroine material back then.

Kudos to Dungan for brining professionalism, naturality and certain level of intimacy in love scenes during those days. A pioneer.