Baradwaj Rangan Explained

Baradwaj Rangan
Alma Mater:BITS Pilani
Occupation:Film critic, writer
Years Active:2003–present
Awards:National Film Award for Best Film Critic
Website:Official website

Baradwaj Rangan is an Indian film critic and writer. A chemical engineering graduate with no formal training in filmmaking or cinema writing, he has had a diverse career in advertising, IT consulting, and cinema writing. He has authored two books on Indian cinema, written for The New Indian Express, The Hindu, and Tehelka, and has also been a screenwriter.

As a film critic, Rangan won the Best Film Critic category at the 53rd National Film Awards in 2006. He was the editor of Film Companion South until 2022 and is a member of the Film Critics Circle of India. Rangan currently works as a critic and chief editor for Galatta Plus and runs a Spotify podcast Cinema With Baradwaj Rangan.

Career

Baradwaj Rangan had no formal training in filmmaking or cinema writing. He is a chemical engineering graduate from BITS Pilani (1988–1992).[1] According to him, it was a time when "parents considered only medicine or engineering" to be "serious professions", that he did not have interest but continued with it anyway. He notes that he was fascinated with writing and liked reading critical analyses on world cinema, especially those by American critics.Rangan was selected for a workshop by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), Mumbai which led to him having a stint as a copywriter with J. Walter Thompson in Chennai. After that, Rangan received a full scholarship from the Marquette University, Milwaukee for a Master's degree in Advertising and Public relations, focusing on Internet advertising. Later, Rangan worked as an IT consultant in the United States for about five years.

Film critic

Rangan still had the urge to write and started reviewing films for the website sitagita.com. That was when he was noticed by Sushila Ravindranath, then the editor of The New Sunday Express, the Sunday edition of The New Indian Express. Rangan worked there for two years, before shifting to The Hindu, which he became the deputy editor of.[2] Rangan also wrote for the magazine Tehelka, while still working at The New Indian Express.[3] His first review was of the Hindi film Dum, published on 30 January 2003 in the Madras Plus supplement of The Economic Times.[4] Rangan has authored two books: Conversations with Mani Ratnam (2012), wherein he interviews film director Mani Ratnam on the perspectives of his films,[5] and Dispatches From The Wall Corner: A Journey through Indian Cinema (2014),[6] which he describes as a "panoramic view of Indian cinema".[7] He also wrote an essay in Subramaniyapuram: The Tamil Film in English Translation (2014).[8]

Rangan made his debut as a dialogue writer with Kadhal 2 Kalyanam,[9] which never saw a theatrical release.[10] He later wrote the screenplay for Kalki, a 2017 release.[11] He also teaches a course on cinema at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai.[12] Rangan wrote the English narrative for the 2014 play Meghadootam: The Cloud Messenger.[13] A short story written by him, The Call, was published in The Indian Quarterly magazine.[14]

As of 2017, Rangan was the editor of Film Companion South,[15] and left in 2022.[16] He is also a member of the Film Critics Circle of India.[17] In October 2018, Rangan was a guest speaker at India Film Project where he discussed about a critic's job and the role of criticism in the 'Insta Generation' along with critics Rajeev Masand and Vikramaditya Motwane.[18] [19] He currently works as a critic and chief editor for Galatta Plus.[20] He also runs a Spotify podcast Cinema With Baradwaj Rangan.[21] He played a cameo as himself in the 2018 film Seethakaathi and the 2023 video anthology series Modern Love Chennai and played a baddie in the 2024 film Weapon.[22] [23] [24]

Awards

At the 53rd National Film Awards which took place in 2006, Rangan won in the Best Film Critic category. The citation given to him by the jury of the 53rd National Film Awards reads, "The Award is presented for intelligent and reader-friendly reviews of popular cinema with a depth of understanding of the form, a discernible passion for the medium bulwarked consistently by a knowledge of the trends and touchstones of global cinema." In 2013, Arul Mani of Tehelka described Rangan as "far and away the most intelligent writer we have in India when it comes to cinema".

Works

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2004 . BITS Pilani Batch of 1988 ClassNotes . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240501160617/https://sandpaper.bitsaa.org/archives/links/SandpaperSpring2004/classnotes/1988.html . 1 May 2024 . 2024-05-01 . Sandpaper.
  2. Baradwaj Rangan . https://web.archive.org/web/20150929094411/http://www.caravanmagazine.in/profile/187 . 29 September 2015 . 30 November 2015 . Caravan.
  3. Rangan . Baradwaj . 11 September 2010 . What Bollywood can learn from Rajini . https://web.archive.org/web/20151207060643/http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main46.asp?filename=hub110910Whatbollywood.asp . 7 December 2015 . 7 December 2015 . . 7 . 36.
  4. Web site: Rangan . Baradwaj . 1 February 2018 . Southern Lights: Fifteen years, and Counting... . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230201055724/https://www.filmcompanion.in/features/indepth-stories/bollywood/southern-lights-baradwaj-rangan-on-fifteen-years-as-critic . 1 February 2023 . 11 April 2019 . Film Companion.
  5. News: Guha . Aniruddha . 9 December 2012 . 30 years, 22 films, 1 book: 'Conversations With Mani Ratnam' . https://web.archive.org/web/20140826114311/http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-30-years-22-films-1-book-conversations-with-mani-ratnam-1775183 . 26 August 2014 . 30 November 2015 . Daily News and Analysis.
  6. News: Bhatia . Sidharth . 7 December 2014 . Book review: Dispatches from the Wall Corner — A book for movie lovers . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150425111005/http://www.deccanchronicle.com/141207/lifestyle-booksart/article/book-review-dispatches-wall-corner-book-movie-lovers . 25 April 2015 . 1 December 2015 . Deccan Chronicle.
  7. News: Trilok . Krishna . 24 October 2014 . South's Most Wanted . https://web.archive.org/web/20141217213836/http://indulge.newindianexpress.com/souths-most-wanted/chennai/19681 . 17 December 2014 . 30 November 2015 . Indulge Express.
  8. News: Kamath . Sudhish . Sudhish Kamath . 20 January 2014 . Subramaniapuram in English . https://web.archive.org/web/20140124233303/http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/subramaniapuram-in-english/article5597346.ece . 24 January 2014 . 19 December 2015 . The Hindu.
  9. News: 29 March 2013 . 'Kadhal 2 Kalyanam' to release finally . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151017155133/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/tamil/movies/news/Kadhal-2-Kalyanam-to-release-finally/articleshow/20328670.cms . 17 October 2015 . 30 November 2015 . The Times of India.
  10. News: Kamath . Sudhish . 19 April 2014 . No country for new films . https://web.archive.org/web/20140426090820/http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/no-country-for-new-films/article5928808.ece . 26 April 2014 . 30 November 2015 . The Hindu.
  11. News: Srivatsan . 17 May 2017 . Kalki movie review: A low-key yet intriguing story about love and time . live . https://archive.today/20170724115004/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/kalki-movie-review-kishore-kumar-yasmin-ponnappa-dhilip/1/955923.html . 24 July 2017 . 24 July 2017 . India Today.
  12. Ford-Powell . Ken . 2 January 2013 . Conversations with Mani Ratnam by Baradwaj Rangan . https://web.archive.org/web/20150530063748/http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2013/01/conversations-with-mani-ratnam-by-baradwaj-rangan.html . 30 May 2015 . 30 November 2015 . Paste.
  13. News: Saranyan . Vidya . 31 July 2014 . This love missive was magical . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210309103304/https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/review-of-operatic-dance-ballet-meghadootam-the-cloud-messenger/article6267749.ece . 9 March 2021 . 28 April 2020 . The Hindu.
  14. Rangan . Baradwaj . April–June 2016 . The Call . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20190411112448/http://indianquarterly.com/the-call/ . 11 April 2019 . 11 April 2019 . The Indian Quarterly.
  15. News: Rangan . Baradwaj . 7 April 2017 . The Mani Ratnam formula: 'Be entertaining, but remain honest to your original thought' . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170713080031/http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/the-mani-ratnam-formula-be-entertaining-but-remain-honest-to-your-original-thought/article17867080.ece . 13 July 2017 . 10 May 2017 . The Hindu.
  16. 1503700552848347143 . fcompanionsouth . “Iron Man exits the frame” - Thank you @baradwajrangan for everything you did to build Film Companion South. There's no one like you! . Film Companion South . Film Companion South . 15 March 2022 . 18 March 2022.
  17. Web site: Members . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170324080037/http://filmcriticscircle.com/members/ . 24 March 2017 . 24 March 2017 . Film Critics Circle of India.
  18. News: 1 October 2018 . Ali Fazal, Mallika Dua to attend India Film Project . live . https://archive.today/20190409090106/https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/ali-fazal-mallika-dua-to-attend-india-film-project/1394297 . 9 April 2019 . 9 April 2019 . . IANS.
  19. Web site: Rangan . Baradwaj . Masand . Rajeev . Rajeev Masand . Motwane . Vikramaditya . Vikramaditya Motwane . 13 October 2018 . The Critic's job: Role of criticism in the Insta generation . 9 April 2019 . India Film Project.
  20. Web site: Baradwaj Rangan . live . https://archive.today/20230530074950/https://muckrack.com/baradwaj-rangan . 30 May 2023 . 30 May 2023 . Muck Rack.
  21. 1611222259624185856 . baradwajrangan . My new Spotify show premiered today. It’s a weekly podcast. Here’s the first episode. . Baradwaj Rangan . 6 January 2023 . 30 May 2023.
  22. BrlAErklviO . baradwajrangan . A few months ago, director Balaji Tharaneetharan directed a scene with director Ram, writer Bava Chelladurai and me for Seethakathi. I wasn't sure it would make it to the final cut, but apparently it has. This is a picture from the newsroom set.#workHigh #nonActor #criticLife #Seethakathi . Baradwaj . Rangan . 19 December 2018 . 29 June 2024 . https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/instagram/baradwajrangan/1937955536315545742 . 29 June 2024 . live.
  23. News: Ramnath . Nandini . 18 May 2023 . G ‘Modern Love Chennai’ review: The sweet, sticky feel of nostalgia . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230628054109/https://scroll.in/reel/1049309/modern-love-chennai-review-the-sweet-sticky-feel-of-nostalgia . 28 June 2023 . 28 June 2023 . Scroll.in.
  24. baradwajrangan . 1798309772518924645 .
    1. Weapon, this Friday. Starring #Sathyaraj, #vasanthravi and #rajivmenon. I have a small role as a... baddie
    .

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