Reviving civilisational identity

Narendra Modi has normalised the public expression...

Maha Kumbh: Where science, astrology, culture and spirituality intersect

Spiritually, taking dips in the holy water...

SC grants bail to one accused in Jal Jeevan Mission irregularities

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday...

swati

Movie review: This sequel has little novelty to offer to film, or dance

A bunch of aspiring dancers are caught out and shamed at a televised dance competition for copying another international troupe's routine. Rejected, dejected and...

The Ride Ain’t Over

Q. The Entourage film took some time to happen! The show ended in 2011 and it's been a long four year wait.A. The first...

Subterranea gives listeners 18 straight days of Thom Yorke

The longest individual piece of music I've heard is a record called Somnium, split into three parts, by ambient composer Rober Rich. The album...

The making of the South Asian brand

The 56th Venice Biennale opened on 9 May to much fanfare and the attendance of an array of art world celebrities and others curious...

A Bimmer that is perfect for every situation

BMW launched the 320d Gran Turismo Sport Line in India last week, at Rs 39,90,000 (Delhi ex-showroom). As the newest member of the Iconic...

From One Way Circle all the way to Glastonbury

Is Anant "Donn" Bhat a prototype realist? It's not every day that you speak with a musician who doesn't place the ego at the...

Voluntourism: Make your sabbatical count, explore the path less travelled

You'll often find disgruntled professionals opting out of their steady corporate workspaces to head out for extended breaks or choosing to take sabbaticals between...

Mercedes Benz S-Guard: A fortress on wheels

There are two things that the rich and famous desire the most. They want all the luxury in the world, and they want to...

Restaurant review: Hit-and-miss culinary experiments

"Everything in here has a twist," the restaurant manager told us, pointing to the cutlery, the mismatched furniture and the twists in the menu...

Movie review: The dinosaurs are back for more and worth your money

Jurassic WorldDirector: Colin TrevorrowStarring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Irrfan Khan'Tis the season for reboots of childhood favourites for the '90s kids. Jurassic Park...

Movie review: Balan-Hashmi’s sobfest drags on, and is entirely avoidable

Hamari Adhuri KahaniDirector:Mohit SuriStarring: Emraan Hashmi, Vidya Balan, Rajkummar RaoThe last time we saw Vidya Balan, she was everyone's favourite example of a powerful...

An online summer camp for your kids

There was a time, let's say five years ago, when switching on the television and handing the remote over to your kids would have...

A phone to make you swoon

Xiaomi Mi 4iRs 12,999Having spent over a month with the device, the MI 4i and I have developed a love-hate relationship. Sometimes, the phone...

Common Sense: The obvious medicine for malice and malware

Ladies and gentlemen, we're under attack. No, Baba Sehgal hasn't released a new music video, but there's another online phenomenon that's equally scary (even...

New social media for the music ‘scene’

Yahavi.com is hoping to become the yellow pages for musicians in India's big cities like Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. When an artist signs up...

‘Not from nothing but from the bones of who you are’

Your great-grandfather wanted to go to Fiji, so he went." This is how Minal Hajratwala's family relays the first overseas immigration among their Gujarati...

The naturalised cinematic world of the film genius Ray

One keeps hearing of the revolutionary spirit and avant-gardism inherent in what's come to be known as the new wave of Indian cinema. The...

Movie review: Age of Adaline is a dreadful mix of mush and boredom

Age of AdalineDirector: Lee Toland KriegerStarring: Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Harrison FordWhat do we know, at the beginning of the film, thanks to its...

Madhur Bhandarkar, the ‘investigative journalist’

Q. Calendar Girls! As usual, we don't really need to ask you what that could possibly be about, but why don't you take us...

When unwritten rules become the law of the land

The LessonSowmya RajendranHarperCollins IndiaPages: 200Price: Rs 399We have all seen it coming: the spectre of reality television, a monster that chips away at the quality of...

A scratchboard wizard and his chronicles of trial and (t)error

Tales of Error (2003)Writer/Artist: Thomas OttFantagraphicsI have seen comics artists showing off their skills live: sketching on a napkin, painting on a wall or using...

Hussein’s stories are murder with a silk scarf

37 Bridges and Other StoriesAamer HussainHarperCollins IndiaPages: 184Price: Rs 350What connects Kilgore Trout, Lalmohan Ganguli and Pierre Menard? They are all writers that other writers dreamed...

Digital storyboard? There’s an app for that

Type out the text and hit enter. It will then appear on your digital board like a sticky note. Keep adding to them and...

Asus X550J is a portable beast that tackles your gaming addiction

Asus X550JPrice: Rs 69,999Asus X550J is a laptop made for gamers. It's a bit on the heavier side, but that's the sacrifice you make...

Computex Taipei: A peek into the upcoming, unrealistic world

Las Vegas has CES, Berlin has IFA and, similarly, Taipei has Computex. The 35th edition of Computex Taipei ended last week. There, the computer...

Masterclass in storytelling aboard a ‘ship of fools’

The Ibis trilogy is a masterstroke on the canvas of modern Indian literature, and the Flood of Fire a jewel in Amitav Ghosh's post-colonial...

A debut collection blessed with unusual wisdom

The Fingers RememberAditi RaoYoda PressPages: 118Price: Rs 195Is the poet (a) Somebody that you have known for years without having known them at all?...

A whacky cautionary tale that’s both utopian and dystopian

The Lost Thing (2000)Writer/Artist: Shaun TanLothian BooksAnne Hathaway, playing Catwoman in The Dark Knight Returns, articulated one of the inevitabilities of the Internet era...

Mellow out, brother, in the age of free love & protest

Another Little Piece Of My HeartRichard GoldsteinBloomsbury CircusPages: 208Price: Rs 399Projected nostalgia is the most delicate of emotions to evoke through words. It makes...

Five characters in search of an artist

The cosmic link between childhood and artistic genius is something that a lot of artists like to speak about. The theory goes something like...

A museum that tells the story of transport down the ages

Indians don't really like going to museums. This is probably because the museums here are not very dynamic and continue to exhibit the same...

The franchise apocalypse as experienced by Daniel Clowes

Ghost World (1997)Writer/Artist: Daniel Clowes FantagraphicsGhost World is an American town, remarkable in only one regard: its ability to look remarkably like every other...

Text-based art makes its presence felt

I know that the internet — or the "electronic cat database", as John Oliver memorably called it — has lionised kittens to an alarming...

A modern Marvel: Superhero adaptations get grittier, more realistic

For fans of the domino effect, the release of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight was a nodal point in history. Everybody agreed that Heath...

This is Year Zero

It was 2005. And six. And seven. And eight and nine too, just about. A couple of times a week, late in the evening,...

Restaurant review: Log on to the Social network

Def Col SocialAddress: 8 A, Defence Colony, Market, Defence Colony, New DelhiPh: (011) 3310 5934Meal for two: Rs 2,500 plus taxesYou know how, at...

An engrossing portrayal of xenophobic paranoia

Ring RoadsPatrick ModianoBloomsbury IndiaPages: 160Price: Rs 299When French novelist Patrick Modiano won the Nobel Prize last year, the overwhelming reaction from the American and...

A bank heist starring Pound, Joyce, Hemingway and co.

The Left Bank Gang (2006)Writer/Artist: JasonFantagraphicsWriters of literary fiction are liable to start cribbing about how it's difficult to earn a living purely through...

What Bhojpuri albums tell us about globalisation

Visual Homes, Image Worlds(Edited by) Christiane Brosius, Sumathi Ramaswamy and Yousuf SaeedYoda PressPages: 355Price: Rs 1,950Like a demonic wormhole or Candy Crush Saga, the...

Movie review: Three’s not a crowd, it’s a familiar joyride in Piku

We've been on a road trip with Deepika Padukone before. It was cacophonous, it was fun, it made us want to be in the...

A weekend at the iconic Claridges hotel, New Delhi

Am I going crazy, or is that lamp shaking? he asked, eyes narrowing before growing wide with alarm. "It might help to put your...

Movie review: Teenage angst has paid off well, now I’m bored and old

Kurt Cobain: Montage of HeckDirector: Brett MorgenCast: Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, Krist NovoselicMore than anything else, Brett Morgen's Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck is...

Movie review: Gabbar shouldn’t have come back

Akshay Kumar is starting to high-five that league of actors in Bollywood who sign films that mould themselves to the star; story, script, dialogues...

The changing tides of the music industry bring forth another player

The who's who of the music business, a finely curated list of the most obnoxious personalities in the field — Jay-Z, Madonna, Kanye West,...

Brent Owens: Reinventing the dosa and other stories

Brent Owens was squinting at me. Mostly because he was tired, but also because he was very suspicious. "Are you sure you know what...

Indian farmers and their impotent rage

A young farmer's family laments his suicide and keeps alive his memory through a framed photograph on the wall. It's a caption underneath a...

Restaurant review: Get me a pitcher of your finest beer

Doolally TaproomAddress: Reclamation, Bandra West, MumbaiPh: +91 98205 70311Meal for two: Rs 3,000 plus taxes How bright is too bright? It's a question posed by...

The story of suburban kings and giant human pyramids

Each year in Maharashtra, competing mandals form complex, acrobatic human pyramids as part of the Janmashtami festival celebrations. Participants hoist teammates on their shoulders,...

Music review: Bringing the apocalypse closer

Godspeed You! Black EmperorSweet & Other DistressConstellation RecordsIt's not something that happens too often, but Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress, the new record by...

Digital Suicide: ‘Killing our brothers / and we are dancing in television’

A playfully glib, velvety little drum 'n' bass arrangement forms the sheet on top of which vocalist Daniel Langthasa namedrops multiple militant groups active...

- A word from our sponsors -

spot_img

Follow us