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Annie Besant, a 1925 photograph.

Grit and gumption: Annie Besant and the Indian freedom movement

An assessment of Annie Besant’s (1847-1933) role in the Indian freedom movement on the 175th anniversary of her birth.

Vidyarthy Chatterjee

The newly elected President Gabriel Boric before the presentation of his Cabinet in Santiago on January 21.

Chilean documentary films: Records of resistance

As Chile looks forward to a hopeful future under the recently elected socialist President Gabriel Boric, a review of the large body of films that has

VIDYARTHY CHATTERJEE

An image of Henry Derozio.

Henry Derozio: Early iconoclast

A freethinker par excellence, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio’s alleged notoriety lay in his incessant exhortations to his students to cease conforming to

Vidyarthy Chatterjee

Still from ‘Two’, Ray’s shortest film. It runs for 15 minutes.

Satyajit Ray's documentaries: A mixed bag

When it came to documentaries, with the exception of The Inner Eye on the blind painting genius Benode Behari Mukhopadhyay, Satyajit Ray did not scale

Vidyarthy Chatterjee

Maya Roy in her heyday.

Maya Roy: Forgotten star of silent era

Debiprosad Ghosh’s painstaking research pieces together the writings of Maya Roy, an actor of the silent movie era who did groundbreaking work as a pe

Vidyarthy Chatterjee

Tareque Masud with Mishuk Munier during the filming of “Adam Surot”, 1985.

Of genocide and liberation: the works of Tareque Masud

Tareque Masud introduced the new generation of Bangladeshis to the freedom struggle through his Muktir Gaan, Muktir Kotha and Matir Moina, films that

Vidyarthy Chatterjee

Smita Patil in ‘Akaler Santhaney’ (In Search of Famine). The film won the Silver Bear at Berlin.

Revisiting Mrinal Sen’s "Calcutta ’71"

Mrinal Sen’s provocative reaction to the spectre of hunger, Calcutta ’71, turns 50. This work of the master film-maker deserves to be seen, studied an

Vidyarthy Chatterjee

Manna Dey performing in Bangalore on May 10.-G.P. SAMPATH KUMAR

Haunting melodies

Manna Dey, the 2007 Dada Saheb Phalke Award winner, has enthralled discerning listeners since the 1950s. (Published in the issue dated November 6, 200

PARTHA CHATTERJEE

J.D. Bernal (sitting, fourth from left) with Frederic Joliot Curie (third from left) at the executive council meeting of the World Federation of Scientific Workers in 1946.

Scientist as revolutionary

The life of J.D. Bernal is a testimony to the commitment that a scientist must use his knowledge and technique only for human welfare. (Published in t

Sumitra Bhave: A quiet rebel

Sumitra Bhave’s (1943-2021) Marathi films were important signposts for expressing popular disquiet in a strikingly restrained language.

VIDYARTHY CHATTERJEE

Engels studied the historical process behind the evolution of the steam engine, which was another factor that contributed to the industrial transformation. Here, a picture of steam engines on display at the Barleylands Steam Fair in England in September 2009.

Remembering Engels’ thoughts on science and socialism on his bicentenary

While studying capitalism, Engels studied science and history of science. The most comprehensive summary of his views on science can be found in Socia

Hari Vasudevan.

A scholar and a gentleman

The Kolkata-based historian of Russian studies Hari Vasudevan (1952-2020) was a guru who gave his students the greatest of all gifts, the gift of inte

Choi Chatterjee