The Grand Cinema of Taking Offense
Considering the polarizing socio-political climate in the country, Sneha Bengani examines censorship and outrage in Hindi cinema, and the consequences of heightened intolerance towards this democratic, transformative medium.
Stranger Lives: AJEEB DAASTAANS—four uneven short films on life, love, and intersectionality
The four short films in Netflix’s Ajeeb Daastaans—far removed in theme and setting—are bound together by their ability to shock. And it’s Neeraj Ghaywan’s beautifully-crafted Geeli Pucchi that elevates the uneven anthology. By Harshita Murarka
Poems by Aardhra Chandran: ‘Concrete trucks rumble past his fence, shaking the loose teeth / in his jaw, spitting black diesel smoke onto his holy basil plant. // He measures his life not in years, but in missing trees—/The neem chopped for wood, the mango that died of thirst.’