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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“Kajol stuns in a royal blue wrap dress as she posts a boomerang of herself swirling and pouting.” This is a Republic World report about the success party of a film about rape. Other media outlets are busy telling us who came to celebrate this film that has also been accused of plagiarism by Abhishek […]
Dalip Kaur Tiwana, a name to reckon within the field of Punjabi fiction the world over, and one of the strongest pillars of Punjabi literature passed away yesterday and obituaries are pouring in from every nook and corner of the world. Her family, friends, readers, and students are mourning this great loss. The voice […]
In a country where women are raped and occasionally burnt by packs of predators, the most powerful image in the past few days was this. A few young women from Jamia Millia Islamia protecting a cowering young man from police violence. And the women of Bangalore, forming a protective circle around men to shield them […]
“So, you’re imagining things again.” “You’re stupid. You always get it all wrong.” “I never said that, it never happened.” Rings a bell? It’s true that there are times when we can misunderstand, misinterpret or overreact to a situation. However, ask yourself, if it’s always true by putting your thoughts on trial under the light […]
I’ve been following the global #MeToo Movement for a few years now, torn between celebrating the outpouring of sisterhood and solidarity for survivors of sexual harassment and appalled at the shame and ridicule they were being subjected to for speaking out. The #MeToo implosion in India followed a scarily similar turn of events, raging through […]
So there’s a term for an unnamed ache. Ambiguous loss. Such a loss leaves behind sharp objects, doesn’t it? Memories. The ones that made us feel something for the first time like in forever. There’s something compelling about this grandiosity that makes us see ourselves with new eyes as we say; “I was a bright […]
Anthony Bourdain. Wiry, sunburnt, weather-worn, bristling with life and one liners that travelled like streaks of lightening through your mind and illuminated for a moment, thoughts and perspectives you had not considered before. ** He was more than a vegetarianism baiter, a culinary provocateur and a man who berated some of the most famous […]
I woke up with an unfamiliar feeling that gnawed at me. I slowly recognised it as resentment. Unfamiliar because I, consciously or unconsciously, I have practised not to look back unless the memories are happy ones, or not to look too far ahead for a future that is uncertain, even imaginary. This has helped […]
I know what you are doing right now. Your shoulders are rounded and down, your back is curled and your head is bent forward at an angle (at about 60 degrees) that is exerting about 60 pounds of pressure on your cervical spine as you read this post on your smart screen. Now that you […]
I can’t get this image out of my head. A young survivor of the latest mass shooting in the US, clinging to a parent, with a Valentine’s Day balloon clutched in the hand. And yet another image. Of screaming children raising their hands in the air as a SWAT team breaks into an auditorium. And one […]
“What’s your name,” Coraline asked the cat. “Look, I’m Coraline. Okay?” “Cats don’t have names,” it said. “No?” said Coraline. “No,” said the cat. “Now you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names.” ― Coraline by Neil Gaiman I wait while […]
The shorter days and longer nights make me thankful for the warmth of the sun and the long lazy days of summer that never ended. Pumpkins, squash and sweet potatoes in abundance remind me that Mother Earth will provide for us even when the cold winter winds blow. A roof over our heads and family […]