Theodore Baskaran, a film historian, began his career in Tamilnadu Archives and then entered civil service. His book  'The Message Bearers'(1981) is a standard reference work on early South Indian cinema. His other book 'The Eye of the Serpent: An Introduction to Tamil Cinema' (East West, 1996) won the Golden Lotus award from the President of India. His third book 'History Through The Lens' (Blackswan) was published in 2010. Baskaran was a member of the Advisory Board of National Film Archives, Pune. In 2002 he taught a course on Tamil Cinema in the University of Michigan. In 2003 he was on the jury for National film awards. Baskaran has lectured on cinema in Western Australian National University, Princeton and University of Chicago. He is a graduate of the National Defense College, 1985 batch. He writes both in Tamil and English on cinema. He lives in Bangalore.