The Artists: Arts, Culture, and Cinema with Suchita Bhhatia

How do you define a GREAT FILM?
Three films by Adoor Gopalakrishnan that every Gen Z cinephile should watch.
In this new episode of The Artists Podcast, we explore the cinema and thinking of one of India's most important filmmakers with V. K. Cherian—a journalist, film writer and author who has spent decades documenting Indian film culture. Cherian first encountered Adoor as a student through the Chitralekha Film Society in Thiruvananthapuram and has since written extensively on Adoor and the renaissance of Malayalam cinema.
Adoor's cinema asks us to slow down and really look—at people, relationships, society, silence and the spaces between things.
So if you're discovering Adoor for the first time, where should you begin?
We have three films for you.
Go deeper into the full conversation on The Artists Podcast.
Dropping soon on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & YouTube — link in bio.
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What makes a filmmaker an auteur? Is it a recognisable style—or a deeply personal way of seeing the world?
In this new episode of The Artists Podcast, we explore the idea of the auteur through the extraordinary cinema of Pier Paolo Pasolini with Robert S. C. Gordon, a leading scholar of Pasolini and modern Italian culture.
Pasolini brought poetry, literature, mythology, politics, religion and his own radical way of seeing into cinema—creating a visual language that was unmistakably his.
So, what makes Pasolini an auteur?
go deeper into the full conversation.
The Cult of Pasolini | How Did Pasolini Think?
Full episode on YouTube & Spotify.
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Who was Pier Paolo Pasolini—and what made him one of the most fascinating, controversial, and uncompromising artists of the 20th century?A poet, filmmaker, writer, intellectual and provocateur, Pasolini approached cinema differently from almost anyone around him. He saw cinema as a "language of reality" and developed a visual grammar shaped by poetry, literature, painting, faces, landscapes, religion and politics.In this episode of The Artists Podcast, we explore how Pasolini thought, created and saw the world with Robert S. C. Gordon, Serena Professor of Italian at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of the British Academy. Gordon is one of the leading scholars of modern Italian literature and cinema, and has written extensively on Pasolini, including the influential study Pasolini: Forms of Subjectivity.What is the central theme of a great artist? How does childhood shape an artist's imagination? Why did Pasolini's lack of conventional film training allow him to develop such a distinctive cinematic language?We explore his relationship with Federico Fellini and Orson Welles, his "cinema of poetry," The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Oedipus Rex, his fascination with faces and landscapes, and the complicated relationship between intellectualism and artistic ego.And finally: Which Pasolini films should Gen Z watch today?This is a conversation about Pasolini—but also about what happens when an artist refuses to fit into the world around him.⏱️
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Pier Paolo Pasolini remains one of cinema’s most fascinating contradictions: poet, filmmaker, writer, intellectual, provocateur—and an artist who refused to fit comfortably into any category.
He approached cinema as a poet, not simply as a filmmaker. Without conventional film-school training, he developed a visual language entirely his own, drawing from literature, painting, mythology, religion, politics and the faces of people rarely given space on screen.
He worked with—and around—some of the greats of Italian cinema, including Federico Fellini and Orson Welles, while creating films that could be as beautiful as they were disturbing and controversial.
His life was as provocative as his cinema. His sexuality, politics and outspoken public persona repeatedly put him at odds with Italian society, while his violent death in 1975 remains surrounded by unanswered questions.
Watch the episode to find out.
Dropping Soon!
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The full watch episode is now available on YouTube & Spotify.
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What does it really take to make a great film?
In this episode of The Artists Podcast, Suchita sits down with Siva Ananth—filmmaker, writer, director, producer of Thug Life, and one of Mani Ratnam's closest creative collaborators for over two decades.
Together, they explore the creative process behind Thug Life, what it's like working alongside two legends—Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan—and why filmmaking is ultimately a collaborative art.
This conversation also explores:
The making of Thug Life
Working with Mani Ratnam & Kamal Haasan
Why choosing the right collaborators can make or break a film
Filmmaking as a team sport
South Indian cinema vs. Hindi cinema
Literature, cinema, and the audience
The rise of Marathi and Kannada cinema
The qualities that define a great director
A thoughtful conversation on collaboration, creativity, leadership, and the craft of filmmaking.
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🎧 Stream the full episode on Spotify
🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts
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