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In his centenary year, a tribute to the maestro who led India’s new wave with panache.

In this issue

25-08-202330 STORIES

Stealing the show: Review of ‘Yellowface’ by Rebecca F. Kuang

A satire about publishing, race, and social media, Yellowface is a disturbing and essential read.

Kushalrani Gulab

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New books on the shelves

A homage to the campy horror movies of 1980s Bollywood, the unseen history of 1930s Indian cinema, and much more.

‘In the Shadow’: An Odia story in translation

Translated from Odia by Rabinarayan Patnaik.

Indulata Mohanty

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Made with fire: Review of ‘Varavara Rao: A Life in Poetry’

Words speak the unvarnished truth in this anthology representing six decades of Varavara Rao’s career as a poet.

Serish Nanisetti

‘The Dystopian Times’ by Appupen

Irshalwadi landslide exposes criminal neglect threatening Western Ghats ecology

Landslides in Maharashtra’s Sahyadri range raise the question: is Gadgil report the way out?

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Rajasthan’s gig law a step in the right direction, but more needed to protect platform workers

Gig workers need laws that safeguard them from the exploitation of platform companies and their toxic algorithms.

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Science & Technology

How a photodetector will diagnose urinary infections faster

A fast and accurate way to diagnose urinary tract infections, a puzzling discovery about the sun, and more in this edition of Science Notebook.

R. Ramachandran

IMF’s urgent loan to Pakistan driven by the West’s paranoia over China

The Fund’s urgency to extend a short-term loan is aimed at stemming Chinese influence in the strategically important country.

C.P. Chandrasekhar

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‘Mrinal Sen’s stark images transformed me’: Shoojit Sircar

The director of Vicky Donor, Madras Café, Piku, and Sardar Udham says he draws inspiration from Sen’s presentation of realism.

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From revolution to realism, the multifaceted legacy of Mrinal Sen

When conformity and obedience to the state become the norm, his dissent stands out as a beacon of inspiration.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Coup, chaos, and Taliban: The turbulent history of modern Afghanistan

Half a century since a bloodless coup ousted King Zahir Shah, marking the start of unrelenting turmoil in Afghanistan.

Gujjar-Bakarwal agitation: Why Kashmiri tribals are up in arms

Tensions escalate as the government pushes to extend Scheduled Tribe privileges to non-tribal communities.

Ashutosh Sharma

‘Mrinal da was an argumentative filmmaker’: Goutam Ghose

The director of classics such as Paar (1984) and Padma Nadir Majhi (1993) said Sen was uncompromising both as a filmmaker and as a human being.

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‘To everyone Mrinal Sen was bondhu (friend)‘: Avik Mukhopadhyay

The famed cinematographer, who worked with the master in his last film Aamaar Bhuvan (2002), says Sen never stopped trying to break the stereotype.

Avik Mukhopadhyay

Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877–1947)

How androgyny and ambivalence outdid other methods of resistance in India

One gets the optics of union between the feminine and the masculine very many times throughout India’s cultural history.

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Ranajit Guha (1923-2023): Historian of the ‘small voices’ that make a people’s history

A scholar who tirelessly documented the voices of the labouring and toiling women, men, and children.

Gyanendra Pandey

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‘India still functions as an imaginative paradigm for the West’: Dorothy Figueira

The author talks about her intriguing engagement with the Gita and its translations.

Abinash Dash Choudhury

‘Art must emerge from life and its tribulations’: Ganesh Haloi

Sharp as ever at 86, Haloi urges artists to draw inspiration from Indian nature painting over Western realism.

Choice, culture, and creativity: Review of ‘The Essential U.R. Ananthamurthy’

This anthology makes Ananthamurthy seem more like a remote legend but misses his everyday intellectual presence, eccentricity, and idiosyncrasies.

Shiv Visvanathan

An instrument of change: Review of ‘T.N. Rajarattinam Pillai’ by Terada Yoshitaka

Terada Yoshitaka’s comprehensive book tells the story of the nagaswaram through the life of the legendary T.N. Rajarattinam Pillai.

How ‘Rocky aur Rani’ encapsulates the world between real and make-believe

Karan Johar’s films are filled with candied stories of love and characters whose lives evoke both escapism and aspiration.

Prathyush Parasuraman

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Letters

Readers write in.

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Editor’s Note: Mrinal Sen shattered our illusions about life and cinema

Introducing a new cinematic idiom, Sen challenged conventions and forced the audience to confront unsettling questions.

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Dhritiman Chaterji on Mrinal Sen: ‘There was no difference between the filmmaker and the man’

One of the great actors of Indian cinema, Chaterji worked with the master director in Padatik and Akaler Sandhane.

Dhritiman Chaterji

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From Paradise Café to political cinema: Mrinal Sen’s radical journey

His films defied party allegiance and national cinema norms, identifying sectarianism as the true adversary.

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Memory, history, and political commentary

Mrinal Sen deftly balanced contemporary political issues with a layered narrative of history and memory.

Madhuja Mukherjee

Parakala Prabhakar: ‘Cylinders to the poor, airports to a friend’

The political economist believes that even if BJP were to lose in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, its brand of politics will not go away anytime soon.

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Modi government’s new environmental laws a threat to India’s biodiversity and forests

They could open up precious forest resources to the exploitation of private companies.

Leo F. Saldanha

Has police inaction and administrative failure fuelled the communal clashes in Haryana’s Nuh?

Violence between Hindus and Muslims leaves a trail of destruction, with six deaths, widespread property damage, and 116 arrests.

Archive

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