TRENDS
Gulzar gets Jnanpith Award 2023: Why Gulzar's writing still resonates across generations
Gulzar, 89, has received the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Padma Bhushan, multiple National Film Awards, a Grammy and an Oscar for Best Original Song; and on Saturday, India's top literary prize, the Jnanpith Award. Long-time collaborators Rakhshanda Jalil and Sukrita Paul Kumar talk about translating Gulzar, and being translated by him.
TRENDS
Book review: Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad & other revolutionaries fill the pages of The Man Who Avenged Bhagat Singh
The novel is a fictionalised retelling of the assassination of Phanindra Nath Ghosh, former revolutionary-turned-approver, whose testimony was crucial in the conviction of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru.
TRENDS
6 films & shows to help you understand Artificial Intelligence
Here are some films and TV episodes made in the last decade or so, dwelling upon AI, spanning genres — classic science fiction, dramas, comedies, thrillers, and documentaries — and most of these are streaming in India currently.
TRENDS
5 books to help you understand Artificial Intelligence
With a politically contentious issue like AI, it is all the more important that readers access a wide range of views and then make up their own minds.
TRENDS
Book review: Huma Qureshi's debut superhero novel Zeba is a fun ride, when it doesn't let the inexperience show
The familiar beats of a superhero origin story are repackaged effectively Huma Qureshi's Zeba, and Marvel fans in particular will appreciate the Muslim superhero’s evolution.
TRENDS
Tribute: Indian art history BN Goswamy was witty, and an authority on Pahari paintings
Author of over 25 books on art, history and culture, BN Goswamy was considered the world’s foremost scholar of Indian miniature paintings.
TRENDS
Book review: What the first British ambassador to India saw, and thought of the business of imperialism
Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire, winner of the British Academy Book Prize 2023, is a feat of archival work. Author Nandini Das uses Ambassador Thomas Roe’s extensive records and journals to paint a vivid picture of early 17th century India.
ENTERTAINMENT
All the Light We Cannot See review: The show is a flawed, messy adaptation of a near-perfect novel
While fans of the book will be disappointed, there’s plenty here for newcomers to enjoy despite the show’s missteps.
TRENDS
5 spooky films and 5 scary shows to watch to ring in Halloween 2023
Halloween means curling up in front of your screen with your favourite horror movies. If you’re looking for a new favourite this spooky season, look no further, here's a list of 10 scary films or shows
BOOKS
Book review | Mad Sisters of Esi: Tashan Mehta’s fantasy novel on the world of whales is wryly funny
In terms of methodology, Mehta’s second novel has much in common with the works of Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino, while its fragmentary nature and adroit usage of scientific language recalls science fiction masters Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.
TRENDS
Mahatma Gandhi and his image on Indian rupees is a throughline in KR Meera's Assassin
To be sure, KR Meera is not the first writer to work memories and images of Mahatma Gandhi into literary fiction. Since the 1940s, prominent writers like RK Narayan have done it too.
TRENDS
Revisiting Warrior, on Bruce Lee's 50th death anniversary
If you’re a Bruce Lee fan looking for a well-made tribute that matches the indomitable spirit of the great man, look no further than Warrior, now streaming on JioCinema.
ENTERTAINMENT
5 popular franchises that owe a debt to JRR Tolkien and 'The Lord of The Rings'
On a July day, 69 years ago, author JRR Tolkien reached out to us with 'The Fellowship of the Ring', the first installment of 'The Lord of the Rings' franchise. Seven decades later, a look at more screen adaptations that owe themselves to the LOTR franchise.
TRENDS
Book review: In 'Office Secrets', Harish Bhat offers serious advice in a light-hearted vein
The 50 chapters in 'Office Secrets' by Harish Bhat all began life as newspaper columns. With a sense of humour that’s cheeky but never insolent, Bhat explains how to manage up, down and sideways.
TRENDS
Book review: The Wind Knows My Name is another triumph from bestselling author Isabel Allende
The Wind Knows My Name is really two stories in one: the first of these involves the Holocaust, and the second is set amid America's parent-child separation policy for undocumented immigrants under Donald Trump.
TRENDS
Who Killed Moosewala book review: A true crime narrative that also captures the ‘crisis of masculinity’ in Punjab today
Who Killed Moosewala could have been content with breaking down its subject’s death. Instead, it succeeds in presenting a clear-eyed, sober deconstruction of Sidhu Moosewala’s life.
TRENDS
Book review: Homi J. Bhabha's new biography captures the hope and power matrix of his times
The biggest achievement of 'Homi J. Bhabha: A Life' is that it manages to capture an era of unvarnished hope, when scientists held the unadulterated belief that they could change the world for the better.
TRENDS
Book review: India’s Finance Ministers: From Independence to Emergency (1947-1977)
BOOKS
British fantasy writer Samantha Shannon: ‘Novelists can be unintentional oracles’
Samantha Shannon, who recently released 'A Day of Fallen Night', the prequel to her 2019 work 'The Priory of the Orange Tree', speaks about the making of the novel, qualities she looks for in a fantasy novel, and the problem with the 'strong woman' trope.
BOOKS
Book review | 'Exprovement' lucidly lays out ways of radical, exponential improvement
The case studies in Hersh Haladker and Raghunath Mashelkar’s new book 'Exprovement: Exponential Improvement Through Converging Parallels', on radical, paradigm-shifting problem-solving, will be of interest to mid-career professionals.
BOOKS
Book review | 'Meow Meow': Mumbai’s drug queen gets a new life in Srinath Rao’s incredible account
Former crime journalist Srinath Rao’s non-fiction book 'Meow Meow: The Incredible True Story of Baby Patankar' stamps its class, narrative cohesion, and journalistic rigour early on.
TRENDS
The Last of Us on HBO: It's the future of game-to-screen goodness
The biggest takeaway from success of The Last of Us, the star-studded, big-budget series on HBO, is that it shows us the future of streaming — gaming fans are the next big market for streamers
BUSINESS
Dr C. Rangarajan: Repeated loan waivers across a period of several years hurt repayment culture
Dr C. Ragarajan's book 'Forks in the Road: My Days in RBI and Beyond' is releasing on November 7.
