In the volatile politics of the Telugu States, lineage often opens doors but does not guarantee longevity. Kalvakuntla Kavita in Telangana and Y.S. Sharmila in Andhra Pradesh are learning this the hard way. Born into powerful political families, both women once operated comfortably within the established party structures. Today, each is attempting to chart an…
Earlier, the Telangana Assembly was noisy, argumentative, and partisan, but it still remembered that it was a legislature, not a street corner. Members shouted and interrupted often. But they stopped short of dragging the vocabulary of the gutter into the sanctum that was once called the temple of democracy. That fragile line has now been…
Haq arrives on Netflix quietly, without the chest-thumping marketing that usually accompanies films dealing with faith, gender and law. That perhaps works to its advantage. Directed by Suparn Verma (The Family Man), the film takes inspiration from the landmark Shah Bano case of 1985 and Jigna Vora’s book Bano: Bharat Ki Beti, but chooses to…
For years, Arnab Goswami was accused of asking questions selectively – loudly interrogating the opposition, softly stepping around power. That caricature, fair or otherwise, has now developed a crack. And that crack is unsettling many who once found comfort in predictability. In recent weeks, Arnab has raised a set of issues that do not sit…
Indian cinema in 2025 marked a subtle but significant shift. The industry appeared less anxious about approval, less apologetic about history, and more confident in telling stories rooted in its own civilisational experience. This was not a year of uniform success, but it was a year of recalibration – of audiences rewarding clarity and conviction,…
Telugu actor Sivaji did not set out to offend women. He set out to lecture them. And in today’s India, that distinction matters little. Both end the same way – with outrage, official notices, and a carefully worded apology. What he offered was not an argument but a sermon, a prescription instead of reflection. In…
Rahul Gandhi does not merely want to lead India. He believes he is entitled to rule it. The entitlement clearly is hereditary. His grandmother, Indira Gandhi, once believed that power was not something to be exercised but something to be possessed. When power went to Indira’s head, the Constitution was treated like an inconvenient speed-breaker,…
Fifty years on, Sholay still refuses to age. In fact, with Sholay: The Final Cut, it seems determined to stay young for another fifty. The 4K restoration with Dolby 5.1 sound does not merely preserve a classic; it revives it – frame by frame – into something that feels both archival and alive. I have…
Almost a week after its release, I finally watched the much-hyped Dhurandhar. Better late than never, especially when a film insists on occupying 3.5 hours of one’s life, presumably in the national interest. I broadly agree with Arfa Khanum Sherwani’s analysis and with other suitably ‘unbiased’ reviewers who have identified Dhurandhar for what it is…
There is no shortage of achievements that we Indians like to flaunt. The third largest producer of salt. Fourth-largest economy. First in WhatsApp forwards per capita. And now, if that meme with Kanhaiya Kumar’s beaming face is to be believed, we have secured the global gold medal in manufacturing traitors. A proud moment, surely. The…
