Indian Cinema Archives

How I grew up with Lata Mangeshkar’s voice

My Lata Mangeshkar connection would always be bound by home and nostalgia. I didn’t immediately take to her, and though her politics hasn’t always appealed to me ,her stature, her longevity and ultimately her legacy can neither be doubted nor denied

Pragyan Mohanty July 14, 2016

Pop Culture

Anek Review: Raw, but Ultimately Rewarding to Watch

Anek isn’t perfect or even gainful in storytelling for most parts, but in mainstreaming a conversation about the North-East we seldom have, it serves the purpose of a trigger, our industry needs to explore and experiment.

Divya Unny July 3, 2016

POV

Thar Review: Lots of Style, but Little Substance

Spectacular to look at, Thar sports a more than decent performance by Anil Kapoor. Everything else about the film though underwhelms.

Divya Unny June 21, 2016

Bollywood

Happy Birthday, Irrfan Khan. We’ve Missed You

For a man like Irrfan Khan, who has always marched to the beat of his own drum, narrating his story of fighting cancer might be his boldest role yet. By sharing the truth of his struggle with his fans and followers, he has displayed a rare kind of generosity.

Kahini Iyer May 31, 2016

Pop Culture

Dhaakad Review: Kangana Ranaut Cannot Rescue this Stylish Yet Wasteful Thriller

In Dhaakad, Kangana Ranaut acts as a living, breathing, killing machine in a film that is too influenced by its western predecessors to have something of its own to say about a genre that we can only hope gets bigger and better.

Divya Unny May 25, 2016

POV

In Memory of Friends: Why a 1990 Documentary on the Fallout of the 1984 Pogrom Still Remains Relevant

Anand Patwardhan’s 1990 documentary In Memory Of Friends made me realise that the alienation and othering of Sikhs reached alarming levels during the ’80s. As Sajjan Kumar is sentenced and Kamal Nath’s role is under scrutiny, we continue to feel the fallout of the violence of 1984 even today.

Sourodipto Sanyal May 5, 2016

Pop Culture

Ranbir Kapoor: The Patron Saint of Lost Boys

Ranbir Kapoor has come to be the validation for millennial angst in all its glory. But it’s now time to make a big-boy decision: To man-child or not to man-child.

Anahad Madhav May 3, 2016

Pop Culture

20 Years after Dil To Pagal Hai, Checking on Rahul and Pooja

After hugging lustfully in front of the audience in 1997, Rahul and Pooja got hitched. But it’s not easy to live with a man who uses Coke as mouthwash and a woman who records all her feelings on audio cassettes.

Jackie Thakkar April 29, 2016

Pop Culture

Notes from a Screening of The Kashmir Files

I knew I was in for a unique experience when I chose to watch The Kashmir Files, but it was the absurdly regular and occasionally awkward events outside the film that made it, in certain ways, a special experience.

Takshi Mehta April 25, 2016

Bollywood

Is Pataakha the Sisterhood Story Bollywood’s Been Waiting For?

In Bollywood films, sisters are always selfless; they are mostly bechara, often vidhwa. If they are twins, one is bold, the other is timid. Our films have mostly paid lip service to a bond as ubiquitous as sisterhood. Will Vishal Bhardwaj’s Pataakha change that?

Pragyan Mohanty March 30, 2016