Shoma A. Chatterji

Author Pratik Majumdar’s latest book argues that 1975 transformed Bollywood in ways memory has flattened. Sadly, whenever we go into a flashback to 1975, all discussions boil down to  Sholay , a milestone in the history of Indian cinema and perhaps also, across world cinema. “Sadly” because, few are aware that 1975 can be defined as the Golden Year of Bollywood cinema. Did you know that not less than 80 full-length feature films were released across theatres in India and some of them were big...

In a nation that codes satellites and debates artificial intelligence, women are still burned alive for crimes invented by power, greed and fear. India is universally described as the largest democracy in the world. If this be true, debatable in the current Indian polity, why is witch-hunting still prevalent in India? In a country currently dogged by the AI debate, the return of the second Indian from space back to earth, the omnipresence of a digital world, what can one say about the...

India’s justice system, hobbled by delay and weak legal aid, has worryingly transformed procedure into a tool of prolonged imprisonment. Forget about ‘celebrity’ cases like Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima and Shifa-ur-Rehman who are reportedly imprisoned without a charge-sheet or presentation in court for years together. They are only the most visible edge of a far larger failure. Nearly 70 percent of India’s prison population consists of undertrials, many of whom have spent years...