Posted inPop Culture
Pokémon vs Aliens: 2016’s Cultural Milestones
Our selection of 2016’s cultural moments brings home an uncomfortable awareness of who we are and the world we live in.
Posted inDisArré
You’ll Never Believe the Guests at This Halloween Party!
Some top-notch investigative reporting from the sidelines of the most lit party in town. Warning: Number 1 will blow your mind!
Posted inBollywood
Stree Review: A New World Where Men Live in Fear of Women
In Amar Kaushik’s Stree, gender roles are reversed: Men are forced to comply with society’s impractical rules and police their behaviour for no fault of their own. The film uses its supernatural spirit to imagine a safer world for women, but fails to eventually carry it through.
Posted inCulture
Half Girlfriend, Complete Moron: The Anatomy of a Chetan Bhagat Heroine
It’s not just real-life women with whom Chetan Bhagat seems to share a tetchy relationship. The author’s heroines are always one-dimensional, unattainable college girls. They are quite stupid when it comes to matters of the heart — which is why they inevitably end up with one of Bhagat’s douchebag protagonists.
Posted inSports
Why India Should Play Pakistan at the World Cup, Despite Pulwama Attack
India playing Pakistan isn’t about giving peace a chance but about giving its own World Cup campaign a chance. Even the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators chief Vinod Rai has said, “We would be shooting ourselves in the foot if we don’t play Pakistan in the World Cup.”
Posted inPOV
Shashi Tharoor, You’ve Put Liberals in a Spot. We Now Have to Defend Arnab Goswami
With that FIR against Arnab Goswami, Shashi Tharoor has now legitimised the Republic TV anchor as a journalist. Tharoor has enabled the biggest bully of our times to play the victim card, and put all of us in the awkward position of having to side with Goswami on the issue of freedom of press.
Posted inBollywood
Thappad Review: Anubhav Sinha’s Film on Domestic Violence Settles for Easy Solutions
Although it is backed by a compelling performance by Tapsee Pannu, Anubhav Sinha’s Thappad serves a crowd-pleasing definition of feminism that is more interested in making a statement rather than interrogating the status quo.
Posted inGender
How Powerful Men Intimidate Women When their Hallowed Reputation is Under Threat
Former minister MJ Akbar filed a defamation suit against the women who accused him of sexual harassment. But defamation is a growling denial of culpability, an act of aggressive sidestepping. Because men will go to any length to protect the myths they have lived by.
Posted inGender
India’s Epidemic of Sex Crimes: Do Desi Fathers Ever Talk to their Sons About How to Treat Women?
The Indian father-and-son duo may share a drink together, but they almost certainly never arrive at a conversation about how to treat women. I, myself, cannot remember if my father, after he had had a quarrel with mom, ever came to tell me that I was not supposed to behave the same.
Posted inCyber
Into the Secret Online World of Truth or Die
The unforgiving world of the social networking site, ASKfm, is a black hole of teenage anxiety filled with “dragon ds”, adolescent hookups, and its vicious after-effects.