The Everlasting Beauty of a Brief Romance
Posted inLove and Sex

The Everlasting Beauty of a Brief Romance

I used to think of accidental connections as a deceptively simple concept in the guise of a grand scheme of life-changing events. But I soon realised that they aren’t. They are, at best, idealistic dreams that cannot be a party to the realities of life.
28 Years of Lamhe: Bollywood Could Do with More Heroes Like Anil Kapoor’s Viren
Posted inBollywood

28 Years of Lamhe: Bollywood Could Do with More Heroes Like Anil Kapoor’s Viren

Yash Chopra’s Lamhe is not “ahead of its time” for daring to show a salt-and-pepper Viren falling for a barely legal Pooja. What makes it unique, to me at least, is the man’s intense internal struggle, self-flagellation, and multiple desperate efforts to not act on the impulse. How often have we seen a hero who doesn’t feel entitled to the affections of the woman his heart desires?
A Case for Marriage in an Age that Celebrates Being Single
Posted inLove and Sex

A Case for Marriage in an Age that Celebrates Being Single

Every time I think marriage is not for me, I see my parents, and the weirdly hypnotic co-dependence that I would have sneered at a decade ago, but have come to appreciate in the last few years. I’ve seen a facet to the infuriating, irrational togetherness that is marriage that escaped me while I was revelling in the invincibility of my youth.
Posted inPop Culture

Bollywood Romances Don’t Work the Way They Used To

On paper, Brahmastra had every right to think it would revive the larger-than-life romance. The fact that none of the Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt spark translates on screen says a lot about mainstream Hindi cinema’s dated ideas, and the modern viewer’s demand for nuance.