Be a mebber of JOHN ABRHAM BANNERS

Documentary Film on a crow lover

Samanyashastram is going to produce films on ordinary people
we, Samanyashastram friends are inspired with the John Abraham, a kerela director who founded the Odessa Movies that came into existence in 1986. It was an attempt by a group of movie enthusiasts to change the history of film production and distribution by making it a collaborative effort with the public and thus act as an empowering and liberating medium. Their first film, Amma Ariyan, was produced with contributions from the general public and the film was screened on a non-commercial basis throughout the state.

Documenatry on a friend of crows
we, tributing John Abrham on 31 may 2007 published a book on him and organised a memorial meeting in Ramnagar of Hyderabad. And now planning to produce a 30 mt documentary film on Srinivasa Rao, a shipyard labour at vizag who is known for a friend of crows in the town.

Donate Rs.100 and be in the collective
Samanyashastram naming John Abrham banner, want to found a Collective, aiming at production and exhibition of films on ordinary people with active participation of the general public, without the intervention of market forces. Therefore we request individual donations for the cause of community film making besides Samanyashastram books.

Members...
Till now these are the members who joined in the collective.

• 1. Verramani, 50 years women, who owns a cycle taxi in Parsigutta, hyderabad
• 2. Shagapurapu Srinivas, a pan shop owner from Parsigutta, hyderabad.
• 3. venkanna, a light boy from parsigutta. He has worked for all of Shekar Kammala films.
• 4. E.Venkatesh, poet and student of literature from Hyderabad centrel university.
• 5. Vasiraju Prakasham, a well known film critic of Andhra Pradesh.
• 6. Venigella Venkataratnam, a senior journalist from secunderabad.
• 7. Hanumantha Rao is an artist and art curator from banjara hills, hyderabad.
• 8. Akbar, Artist and head of graphi art dept.of andhra jothy daily, is very much interested in the effort.
• 9. Pammi Pavan kumar, Telugu lecturer, Hyderabad centrel university expressed his wish to contribute whatever the way he can particuleryl towards acadamic needs.
  
• 10. Narsim, Senior Artist, India Today, Chenni wished all the best in the endeavour
• 11. Parusharam, Film editor, studied editing in pune film institutute promised to edit the film in his studio. and he is happy to be a member of john abraham banners.
• Wellcome
  who are interested to be a member of the the collective pl. contact 99480 77893.
  For John Abrham books, ask in sahachara or disha book store, hyderabad.
  
  for further details.pl.contact.
  kandukuri ramesh babu@yahoo.co.in

9th book LE PENSEUR

Here is the story which appeared in The Pioneer,
New Delhi 0n 07th August 2007

Beggar with a flute felicitated in Hyderabad
Omer Farooq Hyderabad

A blind flute artist, who sat on a street corner and enchanted the passersby with his soulful music for thirty long years, was felicitated by artists, writers, poets as well as ordinary residents of a locality in Hyderabad.

The occasion was the release of a book on flutist Lingaiah by Telugu writer Kandukuri Ramesh Babu, as after spending most of his life on a footpath in a lane of Nallakunta area in Hyderabad and living on whatever was given to him by the passersby, the 50-year-old man has now decided to go back to his native village in Mahbubnagar district.

As oblivious to all the humdrum around him, sitting hunched in a corner, Lingaiah continued to sing one touching song after another. Hundreds of people, men, women and children, gathered to hear him, curious passers by stopped to see what was happening as a local corporator garlanded the old man amid applause. People made contribution to collect money for him as a parting gift while some others brought food and new clothes.

It was indeed a rare scene that people, including some renowned artists in their own right deciding to celebrate a man, essentially a beggar as an "artist".
"What attracted me towards him and caught my attention was his sitting posture which reminded me of Le Penseur-The Thinker, said Ramesh Babu, who has also titled his 36-page book "Le Penseur".

Le Penseur, as Ramesh Babu explains, is a bronze and marble sculpture by Auguste Rodi, which is kept in a museum in Paris depicting a man's internal struggle. "Whenever Lingaiah Tata was not playing his flute, he would sit silently resting one of his cheek in his hand in deep thinking or hold his head in his hands. I found him strikingly similar to that statue. To me he was a thinker in deep meditation".

The book, apart from capturing Lingaiah's life story and the conversation the author had with him, also has a collection of his photographs. Ramesh Babu is known for his series of books on most ordinary men with extraordinary traits in their personality. But he was not the only artist to be moved and inspired by Lingaiah's flute over the years. Siddharth, a poet, has written a series of poems on him and another writer was inspired to weave a short story around him.
Chandrasekhar, a senior Government employee residing in the same area, said that since early 70s he has been seeing Lingaiah at the same place whether it was scorching summer heat and freezing cold nights. "It is wrong to call him a blind man. He sees the world from his inner eye and conveys his feelings through his flute. He has moved and inspired almost every body who passes through this lane", he said.

8th book JOHN, 2007

ordinarology has released eighth book of it's series. This book is a tribute to the avant-garde director, john abraham.You can get books at sahachara and disha books houses in hyderabad.

















a brief note:

John Abraham (August 11, 1937 - 31 May 1987), was a Malayalam film director and writer
John Abraham studied at FTII, Pune and was trained by Ritwik Ghatak. Considered an avant-gardeVidyarthikale Ithile Ithile, 1972; Agraharathil Kazhuthai (Tamil), 1977; Cheriachante Krurakrithyangal, 1979; and Amma Ariyan, 1986. film director and writer, he produced only four films, namely

It was under the leadership of John Abraham that Odessa Movies came to existence in 1986. It was an attempt by a group of movie enthusiasts to change the history of film production and distribution by making it a collaborative effort with the public and thus act as an empowering and liberating medium. Their first film, Amma Ariyan, was produced with contributions from the general public and the film was screened on a non-commercial basis throughout the state.

Abraham was an alcoholic, and died after falling from the rooftop of a building in Kozhikode.

John Abraham has a cult following in his home state of Kerala because of his anarchic way of life, and those who were close to him swear by his humanist qualities. He was convinced of the value of using the power of cinema to change society.

7th book KALLE PAATALO

see, this is kalle paatalo, a finnish writer. ordinaralogy is happy to inform you that he might be the father of life writing, because of his extraordinary efforts. being a construction superviser, he wrote extensive biography that consists of 26 volumes of his life.
ordinarology has published a small book, Kalle paatalo, an introuduction to a finnish author to honour him. and his first book, my daily bread is to be translated into telugu within six months.
for Kalle Patallo, books,ask in sachachara or disha book store, hyderabad or write to me:

Kandukuri Ramesh babu
1-6-212/6/a, first floor, opp. wesley school,
parsigutta, hyderabad-20

post script:
for more details of Kalle paatalo, pl. browse:
http://www.taivalkoski.fi/paatalo-instituutti

HINDU story

when my first book, kolla mangaram and few others realeased in the midst of people, Hindu news paper carried a report on friday may 6th 2005

FULFILLING MISSION

One for the common man

K.V.S. Madhav

Kandukuri Ramesh Babu's write-ups are based on the lives of unsung heroes and the values for which they strive despite odds

HIS SMILE SAYS IT ALL: Kandukuri Ramesh Babu with Ilaiah. - Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

Hyderabad: Chicken shop owners of the twin cities and neighbouring districts dote on this commercial artiste. They would not start their business without his painting of the chicken's head! Trust a man to be known by his work and this chicken painter is popular as `Kolla' Mangaram!

Gudikada Chinna Ilaiah lives next to the Ganesh temple near the Secunderabad railway station.

This common man repairs flat tyres, slips into a khaki shirt and controls traffic on the busy road - even the dreaded rodeos of RTC dare not break the rule when he is around - and survives on tea, all of 60 cups a day. Ilaiah (64) eats once a week and urges people not to tell lies, whatever is the desperation.

"These are people without visiting cards, without bylines. They live in anonymity, unseen, unheard and fade away unsung. I want to give them their well-deserved place under the sun, that too when they are alive. The happiness in their eyes seeing their names and stories in print is immeasurable," says vernacular journalist, Kandukuri Ramesh Babu.

Babu captured the lives of ordinary men and women in his series of write-ups in a vernacular daily and brought out the stories in a book form and aptly named it `Kolla Mangaram Mari Kondharu' (Kolla Mangaram and a few others).

"He is the catalyst for my book," says Babu.

Kolla Mangaram died in a road accident and his wife's appeal for compensation was in the court.

"Based on my write-up, I was asked to endorse his credentials for clearance of compensation. I hit upon the idea of the book and wanted to give the first copy to the judge. It was readied, but the hearing got postponed. Mangaram's father received the first copy and was reduced to tears."

If highlighting the lives of the commoners as they were in all the greys and rainbow colours was a job earlier, it is now his mission.

"There is something beautiful in every person. Peel the veneer and there is much to write about. The values for which they strive for despite the odds and tragic undercurrents in life make great stories. All we need to do is listen," he says. "They are so large hearted that they would recommend others whom they thought were more deserving. It took all my persuasive skills to make them agree."

Having moved to a regional television channel, Babu continues his tryst with the common man anchoring the programme, `Oka saamanyudi autograph' (A commoner's autograph).