Quick Facts
Biography
Madabhushi Rangadorai (born 8 November 1937), better known by his pen name Randor Guy, is an Indian lawyer, columnist and film and legal historian associated with the English language newspaper The Hindu. He is also the official editor of the weekly column "Blast from the Past" that appears in The Hindu every Sunday.
Early life
Guy graduated in BSc and B. L. from Madras University and commenced his career as a lawyer. After practising as a lawyer for a short time, he quit his job and joined a firm called Paterson and Co. where he worked for five years. In 1976, he resigned to devote all his time to writing.
Work as a film historian
Guy has been writing books on history and films since 1967. He became popular when his article on Frank Capra was purchased by the United States Information Agency for use as a reference work. As of 2008, he remains the only non-American whose work has been acquired as reference material by the Government of the United States of America.
Guy is a regular columnist for such newspapers as the Mylapore Times, The Hindu and The Indian Express. He also writes for the film magazine, Screen. He writes on a variety of topics though he is mainly popular as a film historian and critic.
Films
Guy has written the screenplays for a few short documentaries and feature films. He has also produced a few advertisement films. In 1999, he scripted a 100-minute feature film in English titled Tales of The Kama Sutra: The Perfumed Garden for a Hollywood film company, directed by Jag Mundhra. It was subsequently dubbed into Hindi, Tamil and Telugu as Brahmachari. He has written a Sinhalese film called Paradise Peak based on a best-selling crime novel written by him. His recent works include Kamasutra Nights: Maya starring Kollywood actress Namitha. Maya is Namitha's first film in English.
Awards and felicitations
On 12 November 2007, during a function commemorating the fifth anniversary of Samudra, a magazine dedicated to art and culture, Guy was awarded the Gnana Samudra award in recognition of his contributions to the arts.
Books
- While the Breakers Roared. 1967. (Fiction)
- Indian Ribaldry. C. E. Tuttle Co. 1970. ISBN 0-8048-0906-2.
- Chaya. 1980. (Fiction – Telugu)
- Kasi. 1981. (Fiction – Telugu)
- Madhuri Oru Madhiri. 1982. (True Crime-Tamil)
- B.N. Reddi: a monograph. National Film Archive of India. 1985. ISBN 81-201-0003-4.
- A History of Tamil Cinema. 1991. (Film History – Govt. of Tamil Nadu)
- Starlight, Starbright: The Early Tamil Cinema. Amra Publishers. 1997.
- Murder for Pleasure. 1972. (Fiction)
- Chitale (Biography)
- Monsoon. 1997.(Novelization of a Hollywood movie shot in India)
- Mehta, Purushottam Pragji (1979). Indo-Anglian Fiction: An Assessment. Prakash Book Depot. p. 367.