Sancharam- A backpackers journal

Sancharam is the travel experiences of a lone back packer, Santhosh George Kulangara, who traverses around the globe. He has been making solo journeys from country to country for the last 15 years  , is the first telecast of a visual travelogue in Malayalam language television. It is being aired at prime time 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. (IST) on every Sunday in Asianet news television channel and re-telecasted three times in a week by Asianet’s main and subsidiary channels. The program has completed over 550 episodes and has been shot in more than 75 countries during the last 15 years.
The following are the countries Santhosh George Kulangara has visited. Nepal, Maldives, Thailand, Singapore, Qatar, Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Vatican, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, 
Sri Lanka, Austria, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Bhutan, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, U.A.E, Spain, Portugal, Monaco, Indonesia, Kenya, South Africa, Cambodia, Vietnam, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Ethiopia, Uganda, Syria, Bahrain, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Honduras, Belize, Mexico, Oman, Seychelles, Mauritius, Myanmar, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Cyprus, Laos and Antarctica.

An internet edition of Sancharam is also available free of cost. In the website, viewers may choose the countries they wish to watch by using drop-down list with audio by commentator currently available in Malayalam. It claimed to be the first Internet television in Kerala.

Sancharam is about to be shot in space by Santhosh George Kulangara who has been selected for the Virgin Galactic’s next space tourism programme, SpaceShipTwo. With this space journey, he is slated to be India's first space tourist.

Vanaprastham - a soulful masterpiece

Vanaprastham, the pilgrimage , a master piece like no other. Visoned with mastery, etched with perfection, this is not a movie but an experience like no other.

The plot essentially focuses on Kunhikuttan (Mohanlal), a Kathakali artist who becomes the object of desire and seeming delusion of Subhadra (Suhasini), the Maharaja’s niece.  Subhadra is a playwright who earnestly wishes to write a play portaying Arjuna’s ardour in the mythological story of the kidnapping of Subhadra, one of her favorite pieces.  When she sees Kunhikuttan portay Arjuna during a Kathakali performance for the King, she is mesmerized.  As the story goes on, we see that she is clearly confusing Kunhikuttan playing Arjuna with the real Arjuna.  A romantic liason between the two produces a child that Subhadra withholds from Kunhikuttan, cruely adding insult to injury of a man who was denied legitimate recognition by his landlord father and now is being denied access to his only son.  
It is these practical aspects that Vanaprastham touched on which beckoned me to remove my rose-colored glasses.  In the film, the group of Kathakali artists live in such poverty that the tearing of a Chenda (traditional drum) is a catastrophic event.  They receive a pittance in compensation for their immense efforts at performing the art form.  Despite being the only ones carrying forth an ancient traditional dance form that could easily be lost to history and is considered a source of pride to its people, the artists are not provided the support they need.  When Kunhikuttan and the group give a performance for the Maharaja in his estate, the Maharaja remarks jubilantly that the performance has "elevated his mind and made him content."  When Kunhikuttan honestly reveals that the group lives in dire poverty, all the king can do is look down and say... "what a pity."  Pity, indeed.

The form also serves as an outlet for its performers to express those emotions and feelings they keep hidden by channeling them through the characters they enact.  Kunhikuttan tries to drink away his relationship and personal problems through alcohol, and the only time he seems to be able to express his emotions publicly is during his Kathakali performances.  This is most brilliantly and stunningly demonstrated when we see the crash and burn of his relationship with Subhadra cause him to decide to play  negative roles on the stage.  In the very next shot, the camera focuses on a close-up of his meticulously-madeup face as he screams in anger.  Anger of the mythological character he is representing but most important, his own seething, unreleting anger. This scene in the film completely took my breath away.

Vanaprastham - a soulful masterpiece

Vanaprastham, the pilgrimage , a master piece like no other. Visoned with mastery, etched with perfection, this is not a movie but an experience like no other.

The plot essentially focuses on Kunhikuttan (Mohanlal), a Kathakali artist who becomes the object of desire and seeming delusion of Subhadra (Suhasini), the Maharaja’s niece.  Subhadra is a playwright who earnestly wishes to write a play portaying Arjuna’s ardour in the mythological story of the kidnapping of Subhadra, one of her favorite pieces.  When she sees Kunhikuttan portay Arjuna during a Kathakali performance for the King, she is mesmerized.  As the story goes on, we see that she is clearly confusing Kunhikuttan playing Arjuna with the real Arjuna.  A romantic liason between the two produces a child that Subhadra withholds from Kunhikuttan, cruely adding insult to injury of a man who was denied legitimate recognition by his landlord father and now is being denied access to his only son.  
It is these practical aspects that Vanaprastham touched on which beckoned me to remove my rose-colored glasses.  In the film, the group of Kathakali artists live in such poverty that the tearing of a Chenda (traditional drum) is a catastrophic event.  They receive a pittance in compensation for their immense efforts at performing the art form.  Despite being the only ones carrying forth an ancient traditional dance form that could easily be lost to history and is considered a source of pride to its people, the artists are not provided the support they need.  When Kunhikuttan and the group give a performance for the Maharaja in his estate, the Maharaja remarks jubilantly that the performance has "elevated his mind and made him content."  When Kunhikuttan honestly reveals that the group lives in dire poverty, all the king can do is look down and say... "what a pity."  Pity, indeed.

The form also serves as an outlet for its performers to express those emotions and feelings they keep hidden by channeling them through the characters they enact.  Kunhikuttan tries to drink away his relationship and personal problems through alcohol, and the only time he seems to be able to express his emotions publicly is during his Kathakali performances.  This is most brilliantly and stunningly demonstrated when we see the crash and burn of his relationship with Subhadra cause him to decide to play  negative roles on the stage.  In the very next shot, the camera focuses on a close-up of his meticulously-madeup face as he screams in anger.  Anger of the mythological character he is representing but most important, his own seething, unreleting anger. This scene in the film completely took my breath away.

Shutter Stories

"A photographer is someone who paints with light"

                                                                         -Wim Wenders, The Salt Of The Earth

Mary Ellen Mark

Falkland Road

Amy Vitale

Gujarat

Pablo Bartholomew

Morphine Addicts

Stephanie Sinclair

The Little Bride

Brent Stirton

Blood Ivory

Marcus Bleasadle

Sebastio Salvagado

Rwanda

Steve Mccury

Prayers

Nick Nicholas

Touch

Nirvair Singh Rai

Monk

The tortured genius

                    Kurt Cobain, the tortured genius. best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the grunge band Nirvana, the band that redefined the sound of the nineties . Cobain formed Nirvana with Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1985 and established it as part of the Seattle music scene, having its debut album Bleach released on the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989. After signing with major label DGC Records, the band found breakthrough success with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from its second album Nevermind (1991). Following the success of Nevermind, Nirvana was labeled "the flagship band" of Generation X, and Cobain hailed as "the spokesman of a generation". Cobain, however, was often uncomfortable and frustrated, believing his message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, with his personal issues often subject to media attention. He challenged Nirvana's audience with its final studio album In Uetro (1993). It did not match the sales figures of Nevermind but was still a critical and commercial success.

He died at the age of 27, by a supposedly self inflicted shot gun wound, leaving behind a musical legacy, Here is one of the few interviews he ever gave.