Baba, Music, and Us
On what would’ve been poet and filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s 78th birthday, her daughter, music composer Alokananda Dasgupta looks back on the music that shaped her – from that of her father’s films to the works of contemporary artists. Baba and Ma (Kuntala Dasgupta, who passed away in 2009) introduced me and my sister Rajeshwari to […]
In the Twilight of the Mind: Revisiting G. Aravindan’s Pokkuveyil
‘Somewhere within your loving look I sense,Without the least intention to deceive,Without suspicion, without evidence,Somewhere within your heart the heart to leave.’ ‘Interpretation’, Vikram Seth A lot of who we are is shaped by the people around us. We become friends, care, and love – and each of these social acts builds us; even in […]
Ganesh Pyne: A Dreamer of Darkness
Guest Author: Debmalya Bandyopadhyay One of the first artworks I have an active memory of viewing was Ganesh Pyne’s. I was about 10, browsing through an art magazine tucked away in a corner of our house. The ensuing article had used big words such as “surrealism” and “chiaroscuro” to speak of the artwork, and of […]
Woman or Goddess? The Politics of the Female Body Based on the Short Film Devi
(Readers’ submissions: Celebrating one year of the Indigenous Blog) . By Arpita Chowdhury Lakshmi, Saraswati, Parvati…Kathua Hathras, Unnao – Do these names sound familiar? Every day, scanning through the newspapers, at least 40% of the news articles talk about the violence against women, whether it’s rape, sexual assault, eve-teasing, or domestic violence. The horrific tales […]
Shadows and Sunlight: Chhaya Surya, Remembering a Forgotten Classic
(Readers’ submissions: Celebrating one year of the Indigenous Blog) . By Piali Bose Chhaya Surya (1963), (pronounced ‘Chayasurjyo’ ) – a Bengali film based on a short story by the famous litterateur Ashapurna Devi, is a poignant tale of a girl who is ostracized by her own family because of her dark complexion and her […]
The Woman’s Mind: Satyajit Ray and his Feminist Storytelling
(Readers’ submissions: Celebrating one year of the Indigenous Blog) By Anisha Roy While Indian cinema was well known for its over-the-top portrayal of the ‘angry young man’ archetype which mostly used women as tools for a man’s self-actualization, some beautiful minimalist films were being made around the same time by one of India’s finest, Satyajit […]
The Perspective of Framing in Ankur: Revisiting Shyam Benegal’s Storytelling
(Readers’ submissions: Celebrating one year of the Indigenous Blog) By Banhi Sarkar “Cinema is a social medium, unlike the medium of painting. And because it is a social medium, somewhere along the line, a sense of social responsibility does creep into it.” Shyam Benegal (Benegal, 2017) Cinema as a medium has various tools in its […]
The Aftermath of a Crisis- Subarnarekha During a Pandemic
(Readers’ submissions: Celebrating one year of the Indigenous Blog) By Param Raval One of the first dialogues in Subarnarekha is Sita asking Haraprasad, “When we left the village you said we were going to our new home,” following that up with “if this is our new home then why is there so much fighting here?”. […]
A Lullaby of Nonsense – The Wild World of Sukumar Ray
(Readers’ submissions: Celebrating one year of the Indigenous Blog) By Eshna Benegal “(Jodi) kumropotash naache, Khobordaar esho na keu astabol er kaache Chaibe nako daaye baaye chaybe nako paache Chaarpaa tuley thakbe jhule hottomular gaache” “ (If) Pumpkin Grumpkin dances- Don’t for heaven’s sake go where the stable horse prances Don’t look left, don’t look […]
Tagore: A Reading List
(Readers’ submissions: Celebrating one year of the Indigenous Blog) By Sakshi Nadkarni As a non-Bengali who didn’t grow up listening to Rabindra Sangeet every night, or hearing Tagore being alluded to in every other conversation, I was largely unexposed to the literary brilliance of Tagore for the major part of my life. My first encounter […]
