Pen-name Valarmathi. Playwright, literary critic and aspiring independent film maker. Have traversed a broad terrain of fields ranging from history, literature, philosophy, theatre, cinema and socio-political issues within the Tamil social-cultural milieu for the past 25 years.
Began my career in the field of literature as translator of snippets from Afro-American literature in 1995. Played a pioneering role in introducing the critical historical school “Subaltern Studies” in 1996.
Conceived and Organized a documentary film festival in Chennai screening around 60 documentary classics in March 16-25, 2006.
Performed as Curator of the “Classical Documentary Film Workshop”, screening and lecturing on 15 documentary classics, organized by the Madurai based film society Yadhartha, 12.02.07 to 15.02.07.
Presented a screening of three films, Powers of Ten by Charles Eames, Soldier Girls by Joan Churchill and Nicholas Broomfield and Full Metal Jacket by Stanley Kubrick with an introductory lecture on different modes of documentaries and the relation between reality (in documentaries) and fiction with particular reference to the latter two films at the Film Festival organized by the Department of Performing Arts, Pondicherry University on the eve of their BI-decennial celebrations and Inauguration of Audio- Visual Unit on 11th October 2006.
First play “Parama Padham” (Lords Feet) was staged in 2004. Second play “Vamsa Vadham” (Annihilation of a Clan) was staged in 2008.
Turned to film making with the short film “Shiva: The Third Eye” commissioned by UNESCO in 2007. My recent short film titled “My Beloved Child” emphasizing the importance of female child education was commissioned by the Department of Social Welfare, Govt. of Tamilnadu in Nov. 2020.