Kahini Iyer, Author at Arré

Tam Brahm Weddings: The Holy Union of Boredom and Bananas

We live in a time when the nation has joyfully adopted Karan Johar’s vision of the ultimate shaadi. But when everyone else has boarded the party bus, the Tam Brahm prefers endless agarbatti-fuelled ceremonies, Bharatnatyam, and a lunch of rice and sambar.

Kahini Iyer March 24, 2016

Pop Culture

The Marvellous Mrs Maisel Asks, “What’s So Funny About Checking Your Privilege?”

As a privileged upper-class woman, Midge Maisel keeps her comedy a secret from her elite social circle. But the second season of The Marvellous Mrs Maisel explores Midge’s anxiety as her disparate worlds collide.

Kahini Iyer March 23, 2016

Pop Culture

Why it’s Game Over for Game of Thrones and Me

It hurts to say that, as the show’s final season finally arrives, I have officially broken up with Game of Thrones. With its reliance on CGI dragons and impending apocalypse, GoT has become almost conventional, nearly predictable — and utterly disappointing.

Kahini Iyer March 22, 2016

Pop Culture

Can We Love Lewis Carroll in a Post-#MeToo World?

Lewis Carroll based his most famous character on Alice Pleasance Liddell, the 10-year-old daughter of his friend. Carroll’s views on little girls bordered on the predatory. So how do we read the beloved Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland in a post #MeToo world?

Kahini Iyer March 22, 2016

Sports

Winning the World Cup as Coach Will Be Ravi Shastri’s Greatest Achievement Since Rewriting Our Cricket Vocabulary

Is it even possible to describe a close match without calling it “down to the wire”, or concluding, in the end, that the real winner is cricket? In sports pubs and living rooms across the country, among scotch-swilling 50-somethings and cricket-mad teenagers alike, the language of Ravi Shastri reigns supreme. Let’s hope he puts it to use in some fiery dressing room speeches this World Cup.

Kahini Iyer March 20, 2016

Pop Culture

Mary Poppins Returns Review: A Whimsical Critique of the Big Bad Adult World

If the chief villain of Mary Poppins Returns is the big bad adult world, then the cutthroat bankers are its henchmen, and the dancing lamplighters its underdog heroes. The film illustrates the impact that collective action can have, even in the face of powerful institutions.

Kahini Iyer March 20, 2016

Pop Culture

Are the Emmys the Most Boring of All Award Functions?

Award ceremonies have long been criticised for being self-indulgent affairs, designed by the rich, white, and famous – for the rich, white, and famous. If the Emmys this year, defined by its snubs, were any evidence, there’s still a long way to go before that changes.

Kahini Iyer March 19, 2016

Pop Culture

Spunky Maheep Kapoor, Where Were You? Meet the Star of Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives

Visually stunning but supremely vacuous, The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives is a glistening heap of mediocrity, except for the binocular-wielding one-woman crime patrol of Juhu, Maheep Kapoor.

Kahini Iyer March 19, 2016

Gender

Smriti Irani’s Sanitary Napkins Remarks Were Twisted Out of Context. But They’re Still Regressive

Whatever her intentions, union minister Smriti Irani’s remarks on taking sanitary napkins into homes and temples fall neatly into a cultural norm that considers women “impure” for menstruating, capable of “desecrating” any place by their mere presence.

Kahini Iyer March 19, 2016

POV

When Did Terror Make Inroads into My Sleepy Toronto?

My hometown Toronto has been in the news for a spate of attacks on its diverse population. Are they a part of a creeping culture of polarisation and dissent? Is fear the new normal in Toronto, the only city where I’ve walked down dark alleys in the middle of the night?

Kahini Iyer March 17, 2016