C. S. Venkiteswaran

Who is C. S. Venkiteswaran?

Venkiteswaran Chittur Subramanian is an Indian film critic, documentary film maker and writer from Chalakudi, Kerala, India who writes predominantly in English and Malayalam. He won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2009. He is known for his insightful analysis of the social aspects of cinema and their artistic fulfillment, conveyed in his lucid style, In the last two decades, his writings and reviews on film and media, in English and Malayalam has been published in journals like Deep Focus, Film International, Cinema in India, Bhashaposhini, Pachakuthira, Indian Express, The Hindu, Mathrubhumi and Madhyamam. His column "Rumblestrip" in Indian Express talked about the films and media scene in Kerala. He has published a book on the filmmaker K R Mohanan "Samanthara Yathrakal - K R Mohanante Cinema" and edited a book along with Lalit Mohan Joshi on the filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, "A Door to Adoor". Three books, containing Venkiteswaran's collection of articles that take a critical look at major trends and milestones in Malayalam cinema, were published by DC Books at the DC International Book Fair and Cultural Fest, 2011. The book 'Malayalacinema Padanangal" won a Special Jury Mention in the State film awards for the year 2011. He is also a regular blogger and blogs on his site 'rumblestrip'. He has interviewed many eminent film personalities like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, T.V. Chandran, Werner Herzog etc. He is also a documentary filmmaker and has won the National Award for Best Arts/Cultural Film in 1995 along with M.R. Rajan for "Pakarnattam - Ammannur, The Actor, the lyrical cinematic documentation of the life of Ammannur Madhava Chakyar, the exponent of the ancient classical Sanskrit theatrical artform of 'Koodiyattam'. This film also won the Kerala State Award for the Best Documentary category in the same year. His article on the 'TEA-SHOPS IN MALAYALAM CINEMA' was included in the revamped Kerala SCERT Class X English text book in 2011. Adoor Gopalakrishnan praised Venkiteswaran for his ‘wholly positive and humble’ approach to film criticism, unlike some film critics who according to him practice 'execution' of the films. He was the Artistic Director of the Signs 2012 film festival for short films and documentaries. In the same year he was a jury member for best writing on cinema at the National Film Awards.