MR. SAMPATH--THE PRINTER OF MALGUNDI by...

MR. SAMPATH--THE PRINTER OF MALGUNDI by R.K. Narayan (University of Chicago Press: $10.95; 219 pp.). Srinivas, the editor and lone writer of the high-minded, low-budget weekly newspaper the Banner chronicles the rise and fall of his stubbornly dependable printer in this sardonic tale. When Sampath and his friends found Sunrise Productions, they envision a modest studio producing films of moral and cultural significance, but their first project balloons into a baroque mishmash. Narayan shows that corruption and unchecked egotism are occupational hazards of film making everywhere.