Starved Of Fresh Content, Bollywood Is Desperately Looking For New Ideas
Faced with stiff competition from the South Indian film industries, Hindi cinema is looking at an existential crisis
OTTs Are The New Mainstream, Here's How
The pandemic hastened the OTT boom by several years, and offered hungry new talent from outside the establishment an opportunity to shine
Contrasting Ideas Of Nationalism In Indian Cinema In 50s
The new Bollywood movies are single-minded in suggesting that military duty prevails over everything else, and signalling the rise of Hindu nationalism
How Dubbing Has Contributed To The Growth Of South Indian Movies
There are as many ‘South’ film industries as there are ‘Madrasi’ languages. And they are winning the pan-India market with lavish extravaganzas.
I’m Driven By Fear Of Complacency: S.S. Rajamouli
Giridhar Jha speaks to S.S. Rajamouli, the 48-year-old director with the Midas touch, who has taken the box office by storm with his Telugu-Tamil bilingual, Baahubali: The Beginning (2015), its sequel Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017), and more recently RRR (2022).
OTT Is Just Like IPL, It Introduced More Opportunities For Talent In Indian Cinema
In Hindi cinema alone, we discovered a new, talented crop of filmmakers who created such lovely pieces of content like web series 'Gullak', 'The Scam', 'Paatal Lok', and even movies like 'Sharmaji Nakeem' and 'Kaun Pravin Tambe?', writes Shujaat Saudagar
The Irresistible Rise Of Popular South Indian Cinema In The Pan-Indian Market
The South Indian cinema ecosystem is taking on interesting subjects and putting them out in new, creative ways. Is this making Bollywood feel insecure?
Southern Surge: Film Industries Of South Are Doing What Bollywood Used To Do In 70s & 80s, Even Better
Have southern films outsmarted Bollywood? Pushpa’s chin-wipe has cast a spell across the world, as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films sweep aside Bollywood’s carefully manicured reputations, budgets and delusions of invincibility.
Making Visible The Invisible: The Gender Inequity Of Domestic And Caretaking Labour
A slew of Malayalam films attempt to highlight toxic patriarchy and unaccounted toils by women at home
‘Dalithood’ In Kollywood: The Dalit Magic In Tamil Cinema
Increasingly angry and anarchic, a new spate of Tamil films are embracing—even asserting—their inherent Ambedkarite politics in ways that are both revolutionary and rewarding
Demigods Of South Indian Cinema
As Kannada and Telugu screens birth new gods, Rajinikanth’s star slowly fades away
Strength Of A Woman: Why South Indian Filmmakers Are Willing To Bet Big On Their Heroines
The phenomenon of actresses successfully working both in commercial and women-centric movies is more common to the South than Bollywood
The Great Mollywood Kitchen: How OTTs Empower Regional Cinemas To Compete With Bollywood
Malayalam cinema’s recent flowering has fortuitously coincided with the rise of OTT platforms, exposing new audiences to their cutting edge offerings
‘Indian’ Cinema And Dravida Nadu
Many cinephiles and playwrights accepted the stereotypical and entrenched trope of the abalaippen—the helpless woman who has to be rescued by a man
Portrait Of A Writer As An Artist
Author Amitava Kumar on the importance of keeping a journal, juggling words with drawings, and writing fiction in the time of fake news
Middle Cinema Of The 70s Bridged Commercial And Arthouse
Poised against extravagant masala films and sombre arthouse outings in the tumultuous 70s, Middle Cinema limned the lives of middle class men and women
Diary Of A South Indian Growing Up In The Hindi Heartland
I could never get into the South Indian film milieu like some of my friends who had grown up in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore or Cochin. I missed a lot of great films as well as the buzz around many filmmakers of that time. But it had its pluses too