70 Years of Secularism
For all his copious verbal and textual nonsense, even Jawaharlal Nehru, the Granddaddy of secularism in India, couldn’t have come up with the stealthy genius of Salim-Javed who so subtly, insidiously promoted Islamism in mainstream cinema in the garb of secularism and the “Hindu-Muslim Bhai bhai” template. Deewaar was
Communism
The first and greatest thing about Deewaar is the fact that it truly is a fantastic piece of cinema. It is also why it has endured as a classic. The storytelling is simply compelling, a big reason for its repeat value. Indeed, there is truth in the near-universal consensus that
Indian National Congress
Let’s look at two representative instances[i] from the post-independence history of India drawn at random. Both concern the same people, both are related to each other and both provide a good framework of reference to understand much of the seventy-year-long national economic woe that followed. 1. On Nehru’
Hindi Cinema
In my memoriam essay on Girish Karnad’s death, I had remarked that Girish Karnad was a mediocre director and a terrible playwright. Starting with this piece, we will examine a few prominent plays and cinema of Girish Karnad if only to puncture the hot-air balloon of unearned fame that