There are two avant-garde Indian films that are helping the country save face at the 71st Berlin Film Festival this year. They are Delhi photographer-filmmaker Sohrab Hura’s The Coast, a 17-minute short, and Naeem Mohaiemen’s feature Jole Dobe Na (Th

ON February 14, when Delhi Police arrested 21-year-old Bengaluru-based climate activist Disha Ravi and slapped charges of sedition on her, two distinct narratives emerged in the media. One group of people branded Ravi, who has been accused of making

Temple- and ashram-hopping are, of course, de rigueur for BJP leaders anywhere, but the fervour and commitment are hitting new levels in the Bengal poll campaign. And it’s not just Ram and Hanuman (or Bajrangbali, the preferred appellation for the mo

Even the phrase ‘mixed feelings’ cannot describe your emotions when you read the last page of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Last Queen. On the one hand, you’re grateful to have read a novel about Rani Jindan, the last wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh

On January 22, the Madhya Pradesh government notified an amendment to the Madhya Pradesh Minor Mineral Rules, 1996. The amendment tweaks the procedure for issuing permits to quarry ‘minor minerals’ like dolomite, used in the state’s steel and other i

Since November 2020, hundreds of villagers and flash mobs in Goa have been protesting against three major infrastructure projects in the picturesque Mollem town close to the state’s border with Karnataka. They say the projects—to double a railway tra

When Dr Dinesh Kapadia decided to register for Covid vaccination in New Delhi, he met with fierce resistance from his wife and two children. The reason: at 72 years of age, they felt, Dr Kapadia was too old to risk the potential side-effects of the v

Q. US-based Poisoned Pen Press calls you “one of India’s best-known comic-book writers”. You’ve published science fiction-horror comics such as The Kalki Project and The Reincarnation Man, as well as your Raj-era murder mysteries, A Very Pukka Murder

Last April, Ajesh Joseph, head mixologist at Jet-lag, Bengaluru, posted a video of himself zooming, literally, up and down a hallway, draped over a wheelie bin. It was captioned ‘Quarantine day 10’. He subsequently shared a slapstick routine, set to

P RATIK GANDHI HAS DONE GUJARATI THEATRE, blink-and-miss parts in Hindi TV shows, starred in hit Gujarati films including Bey Yaar and Wrong Side Raju and played the “hero ka friend” in Hindi films Loveyatri and Mitron. But the career-making role the

Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code defines sedition as any words, either spoken or written, or signs, visible representations or other communication that can cause ‘hatred or contempt’, or that ‘excites or attempts to excite disaffection’ towards

While presenting the Rs 39,039 crore budget of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for 2021-22—the largest ever in the corporation’s history and 17 per cent higher than the previous year—on February 3, commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal brought

The cold war between Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari is an open secret. The chief minister has not made the customary courtesy call for almost a year. And the governor was recently forced to fly commerci

As of March 2019, Assam had 3,908.5 km of national highways, accounting for nearly three per cent of India’s total highway network. Between 2016-17 and January 2020, 14,006 km of roads were constructed In December 2018, the 4.94 km Bogibeel bridge,

Last year, one of my long-held musical beliefs was shattered. I learned that alternative rock band REM’s 1991 single ‘Losing My Religion’, despite all the symbolism in its iconic music video, is not about lead singer Michael Stipe’s struggles with hi

Q. We have seen multiple war dramas, but the 1962 Indo-China war had remained largely untouched... We don’t delve into the China war because we lost. We tend to highlight battles we won. I don’t think there are any winners in war, but in the name of

In a last-minute rejig, Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) chose Gadwal Vijayalakshmi as the mayor of Hyderabad on February 11, and named frontrunner Mothe Srilatha Reddy as her deputy. Though the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TR

At a time when Covid-19 has already taken a toll on thousands of lives and millions of livelihoods, there comes a new burden for consumers—soaring fuel prices. Over the past year, petrol prices in Delhi have risen nearly 24 per cent, with diesel pric