Bollywood and the art of propaganda

The timing of a recent slew of ‘political’ and ‘nationalist’ films before the elections is not a coincidence The scene in black and white shows Mumbai in the 1960s. A young Balasaheb Thackeray, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, goes inside a movie theatre. What starts as a funny cartoon suddenly takes the shape of a “black […]

Delhi Policewali

Netflix release Soni is an honest take on a woman in a position of power struggling to find space in a man’s world Which Indian woman hasn’t heard of the familiar trick of applying sindoor (vermilion) in the parting of our hair as an acceptable measure to ward of sexual harassment? After the December 16 […]

Bitter taste of Koffee

Karan Johar’s show on Star World is finally getting flak for its disturbing attempts to tease out revelations about the sex lives of its guests “Have you ever gone skinny dipping?” “Have you ever taken a shower with someone?” “Are you a part of the mile-high club?” “Have you ever made out in a car […]

Softening up biases

The documentary Son Rise by National Award winning filmmaker Vibha Bakshi tells the story of ordinary men from Haryana who stood up for women’s rights Jitender Chhatar, a farmer, marries Kusum — a survivor of gangrape. Furthermore, he puts his life in danger by fighting relentlessly to put criminals behind bars and get justice for […]

‘My mantra is to let go’

For National Award winning filmmaker Arunaraje Patil, age is just a number and sky is the limit She was the first woman technician to be trained at FTII. She is a prolific filmmaker and a three-time National Award winner. Arunaraje Patil is also a well-known documentary filmmaker and a Padma Shri awardee. And the list […]

Poster art redux

The dismissive attitude to film posters in this digital age has had its day, and their revival as an art form is on the cards Capturing the theme and mood of a film in a single frame is not an easy task. Though film posters are often seen as mere publicity tools, they are much […]

Side effects of Netflix

Its an obsession, it’s a sensation, it’s taken over our lives —without any ad breaks A monotonous tone, wreaking havoc on the state of senselessness. It’s existence down to life’s ambiguously enshrined practice of waking up and living. My alarm is no different. It does its job, sometimes even when I don’t want it to, […]

Decoding female desires

Bollywood’s depiction of female sexuality onscreen is getting bigger and better, but we still have a long way to go A married professor in her early 30s, embarks on a sexual adventure with her 21-year-old student. A maid shares a sexual relationship with her master, who is about to get married. A middle-aged woman is […]