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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Even before I met artist and sculptor Dimpy Menon, I met her art. On my way to work many years ago, I would pass an art gallery and often see on its feature wall, the doodle of a human figure cradling a lotus. Just a few lines but there was immense warmth in their flow. […]
Your heart must have skipped a beat when you first heard my heartbeat, Your brow must have frowned. How couldn’t it? You had nothing You must have spent many sleepless nights But look Maa, today here I am. Maa… You held on to me in your womb, with all your might, When life was scarce, […]
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 […]
You went in what they call ‘an unnatural way’. They usually mean a murder, suicide or an accident. They mean you died young. Suddenly, even 40 is young when you are dead. If you’re alive, though, it is the opposite. You went without a goodbye. You went leaving a trail of devastation behind you. You […]
No new words from you… No skies to paint blue, Your pictures will fade, Your memories slowly pale. No wonky smiles to throw At me across the road, No hints about your muse, No teasing to amuse. Your voice on the phone And how it always shone, No promises now to keep, No tears left […]
Recently I made a new penpal in America. Here’s a copy of the first letter I posted. Dear Holly Wood, I hope you are doing well. I know you have been awfully busy trying to come up with all sorts of movies, and I understood from your last letter that you are feeling extraordinarily stressed […]
River as a witness. River as a companion. River as a traveller. River as a habitat. As a purveyor of food. Waste. Faith. Goods. Livelihoods. Memory. Artist, film maker and photographer Bhavani GS has been obsessed with the many faces of Cauvery for years now and decided to travel along with the river “to see what […]
She came. She sat. She watched. She was in a hospital again. Surrounded by stark walls, the overpowering antiseptic smell assaulting her, the starched white nurses, ward boys bustling about, the doctors moving about doing their daily bit, relatives looking sad and weary and patients waiting their turn to be back on their feet again. This […]
Bright yellow mangoes with their fragrance and juicy sweetness occupied most of little Pranay’s thoughts these days. Now, this was not an out of ordinary occurrence given that Pranay and his family were major mango fanatics. Year after year along with the summer heat a certain mango mania descended upon the Sharma household. *** Mummy […]
My metro rides are often accompanied by books or music. Reading about a woman’s struggle against an oppressive society within the comforts of an air-conditioned Ladies’ coach in the train or listening to Manna Dey’s ‘Zindagi Kaisi hai Paheli Hai’ while the surrounding crowd grooves to the beats of ‘Yeh Saali Zindagi, ’ I often find […]
Just another day. I leave office and wait for an auto to ferry me home. A cheque I had deposited on Monday, should have been credited by now, I think to myself. It surely would help. I am listening to music. A ritual to lose my mind that sometimes can’t focus on life or work, into […]
Trust. Is it a belief, a hope, an expectation? No. Belief is an exaggerated expectation. A conviction, an idea. Hope is a mere peg to hold on. A desire waiting to be fulfilled. Trust is neither expecting nor holding on. Trust is letting things be. Never reflecting.. never suspecting Never complaining of the betrayal It […]