Posted inPop Culture
Jab Saut Kare Karva Chauth
I work in a world where even the saut fasts for the long life of her lover on Karva Chauth, bag, baggage, and cheap stilettos in tow.
Posted inVice
The Great Matka Slowdown
It’s holiday time for Kakaal, a matka operator from Mumbai. What choice does he have? The demonetisation drive has forced him to shut shop, at least for now.
Posted inBollywood
11 Years of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi: How Suri Taught Us Love Is About Letting Go
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, which turns 11 today, is often mocked for its simplistic premise. But the film actually overturned quite a few tropes: Taani is the textbook definition of a tortured hero, while Suri’s “hep” alter-ego Raj is like the manic pixie dream girl, instrumental in triggering the hero’s profound transformation.
Posted inCulture
50 Years of Rajdhani: India’s Original Social Network
A country is often defined by the way it travels, and for India, the Rajdhani has served as the quintessential vehicle. The train, which has turned 50, has earned near-cult status as a wistful compromise between affordability and indulgence.
Posted inPeople
Farewell, Alyque Padamsee, the Original Mad Man of Mumbai
Alyque Padamsee donned many hats: Actor, theatre director, ad-man. In the Mad Men-like world of Indian advertising in the ’80s and ’90s, Padamsee was the masala version of Don Draper. The man who gave us the “Liril girl” was nothing short of a god in advertising.
Posted inBollywood
Sridevi: The Goddess Who Reigned Supreme in the Age of Overstatement
In the late ’80s and ’90s, Bollywood witnessed the Age of Overstatement and Sridevi was its leading light: A classy embodiment of this period dominated by mismatched outfits, bouncy hair, and pelvic thrusts.
Posted inPop Culture
Trolls vs Tandav
What the makers of Tandav presumably set out to do was give audiences a thriller that painted a picture of the underbelly of Indian politics. But the intolerant response to the series by trolls has illuminated the ugly side of Indian society.
Posted inPeople
There’s Something about Sylvia
In "Rustom", Sylvia Nanavati is portrayed as a repentant wife, awash with tears. But the real Sylvia would not be relegated to the role of the adulteress.
Posted inBollywood
Before Haathi Mere Saathi and Junglee, Elephant Boy Started Our Jumbo Friendship with the Pachyderm
Hollywood director Chuck Russell’s Junglee – the story of a military veteran who fights a poaching ring in an elephant reserve – brings back memories of Haathi Mere Saathi. But much before the Rajesh Khanna-starrer, the 1937 British film called The Elephant Boy chronicled the friendship between man and the gentle giants.
Posted inLove and Sex
To All the “Misunderstood” Dev.Ds We’ve Loved Before
Dear Dev.Ds, we fell for you; we wanted to be the ones who changed you. We wanted to make your darkness evaporate. But we should have known better. You were never going to change, and we would end up losing ourselves.