From Wake Up Sid and Rockstar to Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Tamasha, Ranbir Kapoor became the poster boy of young men coming-of-age into his identity. Ananya argues, however, that the the true catalysts of these metamorphoses were always his female leads.  

What’s The Chakkar? Episode 17: We’re listening to Mir Kashif Iqbal; watching Gehraiyaan; and reading Chandan Pandey and Alice Munro. Featuring Anurag Tagat, Prateek Santram, and Shaista Vaishnav. Hosted by Karan Madhok.

What’s The Chakkar? Episode 16: We’re reading Krupa Ge and Gary Shteyngart; watching 83; and listening to Aditi Ramesh. Featuring Shaista Vaishnav, Prateek Santram, and Ady Manral. Hosted by Karan Madhok.

Streaming music giant Spotify’s ad campaign blurs the line between fact and fiction, a meta conversation that offers the listeners less annoyance with more upgrades. Does it work? By Shambhavi Gupta

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

Irrfan Khan was both subtle and mesmerising, performing with words and with his eyes, embodying characters we would never forget. Jamie Alter analyses the five crucial roles that helped define the art of the acting legend.