Milk Teeth, a Virus, and Tagore
(Readers’ submissions: Celebrating one year of the Indigenous Blog) By Shayeri Bhattacharyya It’s a cloudy June morning.My cousin brother makes a face at his breakfast as I slurp on my thick milk tea. This is the first time, probably, that he is choosing something, or someone unknown over good old luchi and shaada aloor torkari […]
The Disciple: Zerrissenheit of a Fading Dreamer
(Readers’ submissions: Celebrating one year of the Indigenous Blog) By Rohit Saha “Music…is a sufficient gift. Why ask for happiness; why hope not to grieve?“ Vikram Seth, An Equal Music. A train compartment. A kid is sleeping while leaning on to his father as the father discusses the hit-and-miss nature of a renowned singer’s performance— […]
The Psychology and Economics of Superstition Through the Eyes of Devi
(Readers’ submissions: Celebrating one year of the Indigenous Blog) By Moumita Roy “Superstition is really black marketing in the business of faith.” Narendra Dabolkhar, social activist and rationalist. One of the most spectacular scenes in Devi (1960, Satyajit Ray) is when Umaprasad (Soumitra Chatterjee) realizes that he has lost the argument with his father, […]
Dance is Architecture is Dance
Reclaiming Heritage through Movement
A Night of Memories
‘Aadate bhi ajeeb hoti hai saans lena bhi kaisi aadat hai jiye jaana bhi kya rivayat hai jiye jaate hai, jiye jaate hai aadate bhi ajeeb hoti hai’ (Aadat/ Maya’s nazm – Gulzar) A tale of memories, separation, and love that becomes difficult to separate from habit. A poet went behind the lens, translated his […]
The Mani Magic
By Birjis Patel Back when OTTs were not at everyone’s fingertips, exposing us to the whole new, untapped and mesmerizing world of cinema coming from various languages, ethnicities and continents of the world, it was rather difficult to come across good cinema from even the different parts of India, let alone the world. Under such […]
The Mountains and the Mist
Every time I’m asked to name my favourite Satyajit Ray film, I do not know how to respond. Earlier, I used to stare stupidly for a while and then blurt out a name which, for no apparent reason, came first to my mind. Once you decide on a favourite, it is thereon easy to explain […]
Cinema for Change: Shyam Benegal’s Rural Trilogy
‘Through my films I can say, “Here is the world, and here are the possibilities we have,”’ – perhaps it is the existence of these possibilities that made Shyam Benegal the bearer of the winds of change in Indian cinema. There were filmmakers before him working independent of mainstream cinema, experimenting with different styles of […]
Musings, Ghungroos, and Kathak on Screen
By Aliyah Banerjee Wrapping Ma’s dupattas around my head, slipping into the cotton ghagra my grandmother sewed for me, and dancing along to Tagore’s Phule-Phule defined my early years and intertwined dance with the usual memories of a child growing up. My love for Indian music could not help but blossom as I spent evening […]
On Mothers and Daughters
Exploration of this powerful relationship through two films by Rituparno Ghosh
