Shoma A. Chatterji

On the centenary of her birth, Mahasweta Devi’s work endures as a reckoning with power and neglect. Born in 1926, Mahasweta Devi remains, even after her death in 2016, one of India’s most formidable literary presences. Few writers have so insistently fused literature with moral urgency or treated writing as an act burdened with responsibility. Prolific she certainly was, producing over a hundred novels, hundreds of short stories and thousands of pages of reportage. As we take stock of this...

Sting operations promise accountability, but often blur the line between public interest and voyeurism. The term ‘sting’ was popularized in the classic Robert Redford-Paul Newman caper film ‘The Sting’ (1973). It was released in India at a time when no one understood the meaning of the term. It featured two men who attempt to pull off the ultimate con a ruthless crime boss (brilliantly played by Robert Shaw) when one of their associates gets killed. But as many viewers (including this writer)...

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...