salman khan Archives

15 Years of Baghban: It’s All About Guilting Your Children

Baghban might have been a superhit when it released, but the film has aged very badly. The most damning part about the film is the reinforcement of the mistaken notion that all adults choosing to live their lives away from their parents, must certainly hate their elders and treat them like trash.

Jackie Thakkar July 27, 2016

Pop Culture

How to Win Bigg Boss 12: A Guidebook by Shilpa Shinde

Shilpa Shinde went from being the most annoying contestant on Bigg Boss 11 to the most adored one. The show revolved around her love-hate relationship with Vikas Gupta and her rivalry with Hina Khan. The arc of Shilpa Shinde then became the central narrative of the show.

Ananya N July 17, 2016

Sports

Person of the Week: Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi is famous for two things – faking retirement and always doing the unexpected. For uniting past and present players of Team India on Twitter, he is a natural choice for Person of the Week.

Dushyant Shekhawat July 16, 2016

Bollywood

20 Years of Hello Brother: The Embarrassing Yet Enduring Legacy of the “Pungi”

In 2019, twisting your homies’ nipples in public is a flagbearer of inappropriate behaviour. But in the hallways of my school back in 2001, a time when we boys lacked foresight and sensitivity, “pungis” were all about brotherhood.

Jackie Thakkar June 28, 2016

Bollywood

Can Salman Khan Stop Mocking Priyanka Chopra and Start Talking About Bharat?

It’s now been almost a year since Priyanka Chopra decided to no longer be a part of Bharat but Salman Khan seems to have been unable to get over her decision. The digs he has taken at her since then are a prime example of how the Indian male’s ego is unable to process a simple “no” from a woman.

Poulomi Das June 25, 2016

Pop Culture

Bigg Boss, Jersey Shore, and the Universal Appeal of Trashy Reality TV

The concept of cramming a bunch of oddballs into a house and filming the fuckery is not exclusive to Bigg Boss. It’s a tried-and-tested reality formula, and it always works. You may consider it low-brow and yet you’ll consume it, as I learned when I discovered Jersey Shore.

Kahini Iyer June 15, 2016

Bollywood

26 Years of Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!: The Stairs that Killed Bhabhi Are the Biggest Baddie of ’90s Bollywood

The biggest plot twist in Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! is the death of the adorable, ever-smiling Pooja bhabhi. Twenty-six years on, this endlessly rewatchable sequence is a cultural phenomenon – it’s now a meme. In the age that we live in, this is the ultimate form of flattery.

Arré Bench June 11, 2016

Pop Culture

2017: The Year That Destroyed ’90s Bollywood

This was the year our rose-tinted memories of the glorious ’90s died. “Oonchi Hai Building” is permanently sullied by Varun Dhawan and we’ll never look at Govinda, Sridevi, and Sanjay Dutt the same way again.

Poulomi Das May 31, 2016

Bollywood

Dabangg 3 Review: 53-Year Old Overgrown Child Continues Romancing 20-Year-Olds

The first few minutes of Dabangg 3 do an incredible job of lowering expectations, foreshadowing in a way, the unpardonable daftness that makes up the film’s 162-minute runtime. Eventually it becomes clearer that this film is just an excuse for 53-year-old Khan to romance actresses half his age.

Poulomi Das May 30, 2016

Bollywood

Dear Bollywood, Enough With the Item Girls. Where Are the Item Boys?

Item girls shimmied their way into Bollywood back in the ’40s and there’s been no looking back ever since. Think Madhuri Dixit in “Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai” and Malaika Arora in “Munni Badnam Hui”. But where are our item boys? What is stopping Bollywood from tapping into the sea of testosterone?

Mallika Chakrawarti May 28, 2016