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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Symbols matter. Symbols sum up ideals that are bigger than phraseology and represent the best of humanity. And no one knows how an intangible idea brimming with something vast and indefinable, gets distilled into a symbol and comes to belong to all of us. When artist Shepard Fairey created the iconic Barack Obama poster emblazoned with the word “Hope” in 2008-2009, […]
Fear is a friend. She’s been by my side for as long as I can remember. While most friends tend to drift away or come back into my life sooner or later, she’s never wavered. No matter how safe a country, city, street or home is, she’s taught me to regard all men with suspicion, […]
While performing a street play in Sahibabad township, on 1 January 1989, Safdar Hashmi, a member of the Communist Party of India , a playwright and activist, was attacked and murdered by the followers of an election candidate. What followed was unexpected. During the staid Doordarshan coverage of the National Film Festival Awards, Shabana Azmi […]
Sometime last year I went for a late night show with my 18-year-old and forgot one cardinal rule I have always followed while going out after dusk though it is a rare occurrence. Dress down. Wear a big shawl that hides the fact that though 47, I am a woman still. No flashy neck or […]
When the soul remains shrouded In the dead silence of a few past days, When the heart lies curled up Too heavy to move; When the sky remains overcast With smoking clouds of pain and agony When words lose their meanings And protests their fire; When things remain As they had been; I look vacantly […]
A national distraction A national auction Your money for your patriotism Your hand on your heart Feet on clouds of fervour Head completely emptied Cocooned by propaganda Cushioned by heart’s-talk Robbed of all volition A slave to wild hope And daydreams of destiny Craven, coward, compliant Complicit in a conspiracy Masquerading as a country Pic: […]
India is grappling with a new alphabet. A is for ATM ka line. B is for Black Money. C is for Cash. Or rather for the lack of Currency. D is for Demonetisation. D is also for overwhelming Distress across the country. E is for Extreme measures. H is for Heart Attack. N is for Nation. […]
Lisa Haydon was the latest some time back to join the bandwagon of Bollywood actresses who say, “I’m not a feminist.” Vidya Balan has said it too, so has Madhuri Dixit and many others. So why are Bollywood actresses so scared of the F-word? I do accept the fact that people could have different […]
The US elections saddened me beyond belief. I didn’t know that an election process in a part of the world so far away from mine would impact me to such an extent. Truth be told, it has. I’ve considered myself an optimist and have always banked on the hope that the world is slowly gaining momentum towards […]
When a television serial right in the middle of an innocuous narrative about a controlling mother and an independent daughter-in-law weaves in a little banter about demonitisation with one of the characters hailing it, when a plug inserted between ads on FM radio says, “Desh ko line pe laana hai toh line mein lagiye” and […]
My baby She woke up crying For the fifth time, tonight I gathered her in my lap and put the bottle into her mouth At 18 months, she does not understand black money, demonetization or national interest. *** Meanwhile, three men died in the queue, waiting for their daily share Of 2000 rupees, which would pay […]
Let’s begin with a story. A poor woman, a mother of five, is divorced by her husband. Uneducated, with no means of income to support her, she approaches the court for alimony to keep her body and soul together and take care of her children. After the usual delay that the legal procedure is wont […]