Chandra Mohan: Art’s Victim

“I wonder how ordinary artists in India survive.” I was telling my mother about this diatribe sparked by an opinion piece I’d written on a forthcoming cartoon film exploring the relationship between Sita and Rama. “Online, I have a thick hide and can argue my case; in the real world, I know the family can [...]

Sucks to be Sher Akbar

I thought I was having the week from hell trying to deal with a pool of online slime [long story, post in the works] while simultaneously trying to write one book and edit another and keep up the blog and edit articles on DC and get a handle on all the other one million things [...]

Preview: Cheeni Kum & Jhoom Barabar Jhoom

I’ve kind of slowly withdrawn my name from the Amitabh Bachchan fan club over the last couple of years. I understand he had financial difficulties and that he was only emerging from personal issues. He also did some fine work in movies like Black.
In fact, he was about the only thing apart from the set [...]

Mother & Daughter

When I was about eleven, my mother decided the time had come for me to learn about the facts of life.
“You see,” she said. “All flowers have pollen. Do you know what pollen is?”
“Yes,” I said. “We learnt about it in bio class.”
“Oh well, then you know how flowers are made.”
[...]

Sitayana: Eye of the Storm

Nina Paley bills herself as America’s Best Loved Unknown Cartoonist. Give her till 2008 when she plans to make her full length animation debut with a feature on the life of Sita and she’ll be India’s Best Debated Unknown Cartoonist.
To rewind a little, Paley is the creator of Sitayana a.k.a. Sita Sings the Blues, a [...]

Paris Hilton: The Jail Life

So Paris Hilton’s going to jail.
Well, she always was a trendsetter. Given that trashy crowd she runs around with (Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Ritchie and assorted wanna-bes I can’t be bothered to remember right now) is anyway in the news half the time for getting wasted in several ways, I bet Paris is about to get [...]

Bandini: Indian Masterpiece

Nearly fifty years have passed since Bimal Roy made Bandini, the story of a woman crossed in love who ultimately finds herself in prison, convicted of murdering her lover’s wife. And I have yet to see a movie to surpass it. Here are ten reasons why Bandini is my all time favorite:
1. Nutan as a [...]

From Tokyo Rose to Rosie

Rosie O’Donnell is a woman who has built a career out of celebrity, pop culture and controversy. When she went off the deep end the other day, alleging that the kidnap of British sailors by Iran was part of a larger, nefarious plot by the United States and Britain to escalate and extend [...]

Romance is Hard Work

A couple of years ago, my friends and I were standing in the courtyard of our college, getting lung cancer from second-hand smoke, talking about breaking into the publishing world, and how difficult it is these days. We were all writers, hence the conversation and the smoke. And then Brian, who is probably the most [...]