For decades, Hindi cinema celebrated heroes who challenged injustice, questioned authority and stood beside the powerless. Today, many of its biggest blockbusters increasingly glorify state power, ideological nationalism and performative cruelty. Through Ajay Devgn's journey from The Legend of Bhagat Singh to Chauhan, this essay examines what that transformation says about Bollywood—and about us.
Dhurandhar: The Revenge is more than an action thriller. This review examines how the film uses symbolism, spectacle and revenge to shape ideas of nationalism, Muslim identity and patriotism, raising important questions about propaganda, democracy and the politics of fear
Long after The Voice of Hind Rajab ends, what lingers is not the imagery. It is the sound of human voices—and the failure they expose. A six-year-old pleading for help. Operators struggling to keep her calm. Paramedics waiting for clearance. A rescue that never arrived. Together, these voices reveal what statistics cannot. War wounds not only bodies but the systems meant to respond
The World Cinema Project has restored, among other films, Titas Ekti Nodir Naam by Ritwik Ghatak. Martin Scorsese, the revered Hollywood film-maker who is...
The Bengal Files portrays Bengal’s 1946–47 communal violence through a selective, one-dimensional lens. By distorting history, amplifying fear, and reducing complex realities to binaries, it functions more as propaganda than cinema. Graphic violence and polemical dialogues fuel polarization, raising ethical concerns about manipulating memory and exploiting tragedy for political ends
Arnab Chatterjee, a 25-year-old filmmaker from Kolkata, makes his Bollywood debut with Murderbaad. A MetFilm School graduate, he shuns acting offers to focus on writing, directing, and producing. Without industry backing, he casts fresh talent and challenges the star-studio system, aiming to bring meaningful cinema back to theatres.
The release of Phule, a film on Jyotiba and Savitri Mai Phule, has been delayed due to objections from the Censor Board and protests by Brahmin groups. Despite celebrating the couple’s revolutionary legacy, the film faces resistance for critiquing Brahmanism, highlighting ongoing struggles over caste, history, and narrative control in India.
Films are a very powerful medium which creates a social understanding in various ways. Till decades ago we had films which reflected social realities and...