In 1979, Basu Chatterjee made Baaton Baaton Mein and unobtrusively brought to us the dating and courtship rituals of a community that was till then either caricatured or just overlooked in Hindi cinema. Nancy Perreira and Tony Braganza…
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Matriarchal manipulation in a patriarchal world is depicted unsparingly in Usha Priyamwada’s Pachpan Khambe Laal Deewarein (Now playing on Prasar Bharti). The mother resentful of her lecturer daughter’s comfortable life in her college residence because the younger daughters…
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“Start with hope..always start with hope. We went from being a shitty team to become one of the biggest dynasties in the sport and all it needed was one match to light this fire,” says Michael Jordan at…
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In 1947, my grandparents brought three children and the remains of an uprooted life from Pakistan to India in a train. One of those children was my mother. I grew up hearing a lot of stories about the…
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Three documentaries streaming right now show the ultimate culmination of the Bois Locker Room culture. And what happens when one gender is taught to mistrust its instincts of self-preservation and the other does not even learn something as…
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In Sudip Sharma’s Paatal Lok (Now streaming on Amazon. Co written by Sharma, Sagar Haveli, Hardik Mehta and Gunjit Chopra. Directed by Avinash Arun and Prosit Roy), India’s disowned inhabit the headlines we turn away from. A young…
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If there is anything more criminal, more crushing than injustice; it is a denial of its existence. I look at the dark clouds hovering over her head, sensing the claws that are tearing apart her sense of reality. The world outside is smiling benignly at her anguish, telling her what a sunny day it […]
Most Indian parents follow a religion of making available to their kids all they missed out on. Some go a step further; wanting to give their kids all that they did not have plus what they think the next generation should have. A sport was on one such wish list for our girls. We […]
The country is in the throes of an inexplicable regression. Cover up or get raped is the message that is getting steadily strident and sinister. Stay safe with traditional clothes. Dispense with jeans and shorts if you want to preserve your modesty. Watch what you wear and how! The sneaky, judgemental voices emanate from everywhere. A […]
Something intriguing and fascinating is in the air. The mere memory of a place is regenerating and revitalizing lost and even non-existent connections. A certain band of people, well into their40s and 50s, who once knew each other as children in a never-never land called Pachmarhi, are reaching out across continents, countries through charged cables […]
I first saw him in jeans and a white shirt, an orange knapsack over one shoulder. He never forgave me for asking if he was a good pilot, that first encounter. He claimed he stood on his toes to get picked for the Republic Day parade, so we could get to know each other in […]
Not enough has been said about the power of silence. Silence can speak more and louder than mere words. Words only hurt, silence can annihilate. Words may, at times, heal; silence embalms. Words have been known to persuade; silence can virtually seal a deal. Silence is a killer, decimating soundlessly. It can withhold and show largesse, all […]
I have been watching the skin on the back of my mother’s hands very closely. In consonance with the changing texture and folds of skin, there has grown in my head a sketch of what it means to watch one’s parent get on in years. There was a time when the hand was smooth and unblemished. […]
Well, this news did not make the headlines but the world observed Heritage Day on April 8 this year. In a country struggling under the crushing weight of poverty, illiteracy and corruption, any mention of heritage is treated with incredulity. Oh no, we are not a nation too high on heritage walks or preserving landmarks. The appreciation […]
In my book, privacy is a longing of youth. There is vulnerability when you are young that demands some kind of a protective filter around. Privacy might also be critical to the professions of stealing, spying, politics or the building of a financial empire. Celebrities certainly need to guard their personal spaces with ferocity, considering […]
Something about the Aarushi Talwar case tugs at my heart. I feel transfixed every time the TV splashes Aarushi’s childhood pictures and videos. The normalness of the images is chilling in that they bear no hint, not a shimmer of the terrible fate that awaits this family round the corner. The clips reveal a regular, attractive […]
I am just back from the movie Ishaqzaade. On the face of it, a usual and regular outing for us empty nesters. But this particular viewing turned out to be a very different experience. For one, we chose to go to Delite Diamond on Aruna Asif Ali Road to watch this flick. It is a very different world […]
A 24- year- old Indian student was shot dead near the Boston University in USA on April 19. He was a grad student from Odisha, nearing completion of his degree at the University’s School of Management. As the news went live on transcontinental wires, my thoughts flew to his parents and the excruciating process they […]