Reshaping reality: on Manoj Kumar Panda’s One Thousand Days in a Refrigerator

[Did this review for The Hindu] When you first encounter a writer who works in a language other than the one you’re discovering him in, you ...

The devilry of nearness: thoughts on caregiving

Rohit Brijnath has written this very moving piece about dealing with parents’ mortality – many good points elegantly made, well worth readi...

Parents, children and changing equations in Nil Battey Sannata

This week sees the release of The Man Who Knew Infinity , about the great – and tragically short-lived – mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan’s...

Celluloid Will: some of my favourite Shakespeare films

[ Did this p iece for BLink's speci al S ha kespeare issue ] Among my most harrowing school memories is one of our class being marched t...

Fear and healing at Land: on Arjun Nath's White Magic

[ Did a shorter version of this review for Open magazine ] In mid-2010, Arjun Nath, a heroin addict in his early thirties, joined a rehabil...

Why Fan reminded me of puppet-masters and their psychotic dolls

Not a review of Maneesh Sharma’s Fan , just some thoughts, best read if you know the basic premise (and you do live on planet earth, yes?). ...

Flyovers, fans, Anupam Kher and disco killers (in which life outdoes satire)

[ My latest Mint Lounge column ] Holding a ceiling fan above her head, like a Mother India lurching under the weight of a misshapen, three-p...