In Mumbai, An Exhibition of Atul Dodiya’s Paintings Revives the Golden Era of Hindi Cinema
In the 1949 film Dulari, India’s beloved playback artist Mohammed Rafi sang: “Suhani raat dhal chuki, na jaane tum kab aaoge” (The golden night has faded, who knows when you will arrive). While a salve for the pining heart might not have been found as yet, the artist Atul Dodiya has
BOOK REVIEW | A Dark Tale from Cottonwood Grove is a Story of Love and Betrayal
As in Indonesian folktales, moments of beauty and darkness are woven together in the novel. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStock The silky filaments of cottonwood seeds float across the dark Javanese landscape of Mahfud Ikhwan’s mysterious account of a murder foretold with teasing tenderness and underlying savagery. It is a
Game Changer Review: Is the 2-Hour Film Starring Ram Charan for the Instagram-Reel Generation?
To watch films like these is to see cinema emerge not from the scene but as some haphazard, cumulative, misshapen thing. In picture, director Shankar and actor Ram Charan from the sets of the film. | Photo Credit: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Riddle me this. You say you are making a
The Role of Women in the Rise of the Chola Empire | Book Excerpt from Anirudh Kanisetti’s ‘Lords of Earth and Sea’
Women had played a central role in the rise of Chola power but as their power faded, so too too did the status of their women. Chola royal women practically disappeared from the historical record from the early twelfth century, as the dynasty shifted from a sprawling empire to a
New Books on the Shelves
Scarlet Sands Udayan Mukherjee Picador Rs.450 The second instalment in the Neville Wadia Mystery series is set in Goa. The body of a British journalist washes up ashore on Anjuna beach, leading to an investigation by Neville that uncovers a corrupt nexus, a mysterious cult, and some dark truths. ___
The Disposable Woman: How Indian Cinema Uses Sexual Violence to Build Male Heroes
A girl gets raped in Baby John, the Hindi remake of the Tamil film Theri, a crime that is repeated in Bagheera, Kannada cinema’s most successful film this past year, as also in Maharaja, starring Vijay Sethupathi, another Tamil blockbuster. In the Rajinikanth-starrer Vettaiyan, again, it is a woman who is assaulted, raped, and murdered. In Pushpa
How Kashmir’s Sufi Shrines are a Reminder of an Accommodative Islam That Once Existed in the Valley
Kashmir has a rich Sufi heritage, which is enshrined in the ancient tombs and hermitages (or khanqahs) that dot its landscape. Its encounter with Sufism started in the 14th century, when wave upon wave of Sufi theologians from former Mongol and Timurid territories migrated to Kashmir. Historically, six Sufi monastic
M.T. Vasudevan Nair: The Chronicler of Kerala’s Inner Conflicts
He was officially M.T. Vasudevan Nair, but peers close to him and friends of the same or older generation called him Vasu; others generally used his initials “MT”. He chose the last for me when, in the 1980s, I wrote to him from Delhi to ask how I should address
How Jules Verne’s Visionary Works Inspired Modern Technology and Innovation
When French author Jules Verne died in 1905, powered air flight, which he put at the centre of his 1886 book Robur the Conqueror, had moved from fiction to reality. Just two years earlier, the Wright brothers had achieved the first manned air flight in human history. Yet more of
Delhi’s Historical and Cultural Legacy Inaccessible due to Pricey Heritage Walks and Privatisation of Monuments
At the first interactive session on Delhi’s heritage, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), as part of its inaugural heritage walks and talks initiative held at Town Hall, Chandni Chowk, experts delved into the mystery surrounding the grave of Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and