It seems Radhika Pandit is a star, one of those top heroine types in the Kannada film industry, tackily called Sandalwood. (Karnataka, née Mysore State, has sandalwood trees in abundance, an excuse enough to lend itself to an industry that
Like art and literature, cinema is a reflection of life and society. It’s little wonder, then, that Bollywood films over the years have reflected the state of our politics. The Indian view of Pakistan has changed over the years since
In the open nocturnal summer terraces that would run into each other across the many terraces of close-knit neighbourhoods in the small-town mohallas of western UP, surrounded by mango orchards, peepal and neem trees and water pumps, and in the
“Hum apne ghar mein khoobsurat parde lagwayenge aur main yeh jaanne ki koshish nahin karoonga ki is parde ki doosri taraf duniya mein kya ho raha hai. Hamare khoobsurat ghar ke baahar log marte hain to marte rahein! Smuggleron
If Bollywood had its own chic version of Marx lurking behind all the glitz, he would have climbed a roof by now and proclaimed in a loud shrill voice that the spectre of feminism is haunting his abode. The Indian
In the spring of 2006, I was taking the Amtrak train from Washington DC to New York. It was a full train, so sitting by oneself was not an option. Luckily, the passenger next to me turned out to be
“Ye shall make you no idols, neither shall ye rear you up a graven image, or a pillar, neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God.”
Elmar Rajsur is a minor celebrity in his country, albeit a slightly unorthodox one. He sings Bollywood songs for a living. Rajsur is Russian, and if his profession isn’t amusing enough, his name is, in fact, an amalgam of Raj
Ever since the Supreme Court upheld the right to gender expression in the NALSA verdict (National Legal Services Authority v Union of India and others) in April last year, transgender mobilisations across the country have started receiving the attention of
Dear Mitron, In case you didn’t see the customised suit I wore during President Obama’s India trip, my good name is Damodardas Narendra Modi. I am a Hindu nationalist and your beloved Prime Minister. You may have been surprised