The White Tiger (2021) is a dark and explosive rags-to-riches Indian story, cooked to be palatable to Western tastes. The adaptation of Aravind Adiga’s novel sticks too close to its source, losing on screen what was gained in text. By Karan Madhok

The OTT vs. theatre competition isn’t a challenge, but a delightful opportunity, writes Sanchit Gupta. We can have the best of both worlds: both the mediums need equal space to grow where different films with different objectives can find their home.

The diversity of Hindi-language web series over the calendar year was truly remarkable, featuring shows that thrilled, entertained, and pushed forward Indian storytelling more than ever before. From Paatal Lok to Aarya, and Scam 1992 to Panchaayat and beyond, Jamie Alter picks ten of the very best.

With characters that explore complexities of LGBTQ and Disability issues, Netflix’s new coming-of-age web-series takes baby steps into bringing a diversity of representation into the mainstream. - By Atulya Pathak

From Paatal Lok and Leila to A Suitable Boy and Deepika Padukone’s films, Indian movies and web series face targeted attacks from the outraged right-wing, hell-bent to shape the national narrative to their own terms. Is there a way forward for true creative voices to survive in the mainstream? By Karan Madhok

The true rags-to-riches tale of a stockbroker, Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story is a gripping chronicle of the corrupting power of ambition, as well as an astute commentary on an archaic financial system that both boosted and crippled India’s economy - by Jamie Alter.

From the fierce Baldev Singh in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, the inimical patriarchs in Mohabbatein and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, and gentler fathers in Thappad and Gunjan Saxena, Harshita Murkarka takes a look at the evolution of fatherhood in the post economic-liberalised Bollywood.

Interview: Kuldeep Ruhil, the scriptwriter of the MX Player web series Aashram stayed at eleven ashrams and deras in North India to research why devotees are drawn magnetically to self-styled Babas.- by Barkha Kumari

Season 2 of Prime Video’s hit show Mirzapur continued its debauchery of gore, lust, back-stabbings, and politics from the UP/Bihar belt. But at its core, the series is an exploration of fathers and sons, of expectations and fallouts, of family lost and family found. By Karan Madhok

The MX Player web-series Aashram (2020) follows a similar blueprint in tackling India’s fascination with seductive, flawed godmen—mysticism, sex, violence, and masala—without daring to truly examine the deeper roots of society’s discontents. - by Harshita Murarka.

S.P. Balasubrahmanyam’s iconic voice and plethora of soundtracks marked the multilingual singer as one of the most essential artists of his time. Jamie Alter recalls the impact of the crossover artist in the Hindi film industry.

Mira Nair’s limited series, A Suitable Boy—based on Vikram Seth’s novel—reveals even with changing times, many of our approaches to arranged marriage in India have remained the same. By Nidhi Choksi Dhakan.