Srinivas Krishna is an Indo-Canadian film and television director, most noted as the director, writer and lead actor of the 1991 film Masala.Suanne Kelman, "Lord Krishna tries on a hockey sweater". Toronto Star, July 7, 1990.
Born in India, Krishna moved to Canada with his family in childhood.Nandini Ramnath, "‘Masala’ revisited: Why the cult cosmic comedy has retained its kick three decades later". Scroll, September 3, 2024.
Masala premiered at the 1991 Toronto International Film Festival.Jay Scott, "Finding solace in tragedy with life-enhancing comedy: First-time directors Srinivas Krishna and Jan Oxenberg have each created a bizarre, very funny film based on bizarre, very unfunny realities". The Globe and Mail, September 14, 1991. The film, which drew on some the cinematic traditions of Bollywood rather than relying solely on the social realist conventions of Canadian film,Tom McSorley, "Masala". The Canadian Encyclopedia, September 21, 2009. has come to be recognized, alongside Deepa Mehta's contemporaneous Sam & Me, as being the first major landmark films about the Indo-Canadian experience.Shlomo Schwartzberg, "'Film-makers of color' resist being pigeon-holed". Financial Post, August 13, 1994.
Krishna followed up in 1996 with the film Lulu,Peter Goddard, "Arid still-life sells Lulu short". Toronto Star, October 11, 1996. which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.Judy Gerstel, "Torontonian director exposes his philosophy at Cannes". Toronto Star, May 11, 1996.
After Lulu, Krishna principally directed television, with his credits including episodes of Lexx and The Smart Woman Survival Guide, as well as having an acting role in Phillip Barker's short film Soul Cages.Werner Bergen, "Former city man nominated for Genie Award". Peterborough Examiner, January 27, 2001. He returned to film in 2009 with the documentary Ganesh, Boy Wonder, about a young boy in India undergoing facial reconstruction surgery after being born with a severe facial disfigurement.Cathy Dobson, "Ganesh film premieres in Sarnia; to travel world". Sarnia Observer, October 13, 2009.
In 2011, he curated an exhibition for Toronto's Luminato Festival, celebrating the work of Indian film director Raj Kapoor.Liz Braun, "Festival features films from around the world". Toronto Star, June 10, 2011.
In 2023, Telefilm Canada announced that Masala was one of 23 titles that would be digitally restored under its new Canadian Cinema Reignited program to preserve classic Canadian films. The restored version screened in the Classics program at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
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