My old social media posts, especially those on Facebook often feel like a nightmarish journey back in time. But they are also clues to the way we absorb the world and learn to eventually, navigate it as adults.

Bhoot Police is anchored by a terrifically unhinged Saif Ali Khan who along with other adept performances gives us a film that though formulaic has its fair share of entertainment and memorable moments.

Nayak tugs at middle-class righteousness which explains its cult following on Indian television. Like any good hypnotic trick it lets you believe that come the time of opportunity, it’s only the good in us that will surface. It’s a far-fetched dream, but one worth seeing over and over again.

I’ve never been comfortable admitting that I despise driving and lack the enthusiasm most share around automobiles in general. It has made witnessing and understanding the fandom behind the Fast and Furious franchise all the more fascinating.

Superhero films are underpinned by obvious tropes. But in its first female led outing, Black Widow could have been Marvel’s opportunity to come of age with the rest of the world. Instead, it choses to retreat to formula and with it to an unremarkable film.

Karan Johar’s film was ahead of its time in terms of context, but conservative, ultimately in its tropes and education. It could have been so much more had the director not felt apologetic for broaching the topic in the first place.

Malayalam new wave cinema is all the rage right now, consistently putting out trendsetting films that have become a point of obsessions for cine lovers from across the country. But not just the new wave, Mollywood has produced some classics before as well.

Literature teachers are heavily romanticised in cinema, and for good reason. It takes a poetic perspective on life to escape the specificities of science and mathematics. Literature teachers help us find ourselves through stories and poetry when we’re growing up, and that’s what makes them so special.

It requires a particular kind of naiveté, of course, to believe that all human beings have access to, or resources for, the creation of beauty in a way that can become life-defining. Beauty that is the bedrock of most self-help books.

When there are battles to be fought, when there is a hostile takeover of a land and way of living, there is suffering, and much of it is female. Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan is just another chapter in the long history of women and children paying the price for conflicts between men.