Recommended
In 1932, Rao Sahib K Kothandapani Pillai translated three of Leo Tolstoy’s short stories to Tamil in a collection titled Kadhaimanikkovai. KK Pillai was the Collector of Madras and Controller of Emigration until India became a republic. The author’s great-grandson Venkatesh Kumar G who is also a filmmaker (Lightman, Unakkul Naan, Seerum Puli) has been invited to the Leo Tolstoy Musem in Yasnaya Polyana. This is Tolstoy’s birthplace and where he wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina.
The filmmaker will take part in the 14th International Seminar Of Tolstoy And Other Russian Classical Writers to be held between September 10 and 13. Venkatesh will deliver a talk titled ‘Leo Tolstoy’s Influence On Tamil Literature’. The seminar will also feature Rahul Aluwalia’s talk ‘Tolstoy and the Indian Struggle for Independence’ and Girish Munjal’s ‘Translation of Non-Verbal Behaviour of Heroes in the Works of LN Tolstoy.’
Image credit: PR Handout