Before Tulsidas’ retelling turned him into an infallible God, Rama was designed to be the first self-aware, doubt-ridden, painfully human avatar of Vishnu. In Valmiki’s epic, he makes many questionable moral choices, like the killing of Vali and the banishment of ...

It is often said that every story ever to have been told is in the Mahabharata. It is no wonder that the sweeping epic has been the inspiration for books and movies like Shashi Tharoor’s The Great Indian Novel and Shyam ...

Critics in India panned it; critics in the US have gushed with praise. What’s a desi to do? Should one assume that Kites has certain Western sensibilities that backwater hicks in the homeland can’t appreciate and fork over the 11 dollars in the theater? Or trust in the instincts of ...

The play was fabulous, but the setting wasn't. ICC, stop hiring out Malavalli Hall for these kind of events - it is a disservice to both the actors and the audience.

What is cinema? Is it storytelling, technique, or performance? And what is its objective? To entertain, inform, or just shake the viewer out of celluloid apathy? Dibakar Banerjee (Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky Oye Oye) ...

Anyone who has ever tried to penetrate the world of children’s book publishing will tell you what a daunting task it is. A few fortunate ones, like Pooja Makhijani ( Mama’s Saris) and Uma Krishnaswami (Monsoon) make it to the mainstream, ...

My Name is Khan has the ambitions of an epic. It wants to be an odyssey set in America; something hatke, something award-inspiring. In Johar’s hands it ends up being a mainstream Bollywood offering. Had movies like A Wednesday and 3 Idiots never been made, it may have even stood ...

How is it that a movie with grim themes (academic pressure, student suicides, frustrated ambitions) can make you feel uplifted and hopeful as you leave the theater? Director Rajkumar Hirani accomplishes this neat trick in 3 Idiots, the blockbuster ...

After taking the new kid on the block to soaring heights of success with Wake Up Sid and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, the capricious fame gods brought Ranbir Kapoor crashing down to earth with Rocket Singh. On paper ...

A motley group of would-be travelers waits for visa approvals at an Indian visa and passport office in an unknown city. When a massive earthquake strikes, they are thrown together in a struggle for survival. Quickly, roles are delineated; the leader, the caregiver, the rebel. After an abortive attempt at ...