From Water and Lagaa Chunari Mein Daag to Masaan and Mukti Bhawan, Ankur Choudhary examines films about the holy city of Varanasi to uncover the uneasy intersection of culture, gender politics, modernity, and more.

In a deconstruction of Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), Ishan Mukherjee revisits the history, soundtrack, and the work of an inspired auteur director that truly made this saga a cinematic classic.

A cyclone. A phone call. A two-dimensional time-machine. Barnali Ray Shukla shares the tug of emotions after storms of the past and the present in this poetic photo-essay.

Photo Essay: Deep in the mountains, the seeds of mutual loneliness evolved into an unlikely camaraderie. Aman Panwar writes about his friend Shyama—a cattle-herder and shepherd—in the Har Ki Dun valley.

To provide a glimpse of India’s metal scene, Nidhi Lodaya interviewed some of the country’s top bands, shared personal experiences, and expressed hope for a genre beyond its traditional stereotypes and misconceptions.

Four poems by Amit Shankar Saha: ‘The city awakes / / from the depths of sleep / and beyond the walls / their minds are released / from quarantine.

The nihilistic poetry collection Black Verses (2018) by Sarvesh Wahie offers a call for pure meditation, of accepting oneself in a vacuum. Review by Karan Madhok.

An existential homage to the Coen brothers, the Indian web-series Afsos emerged as surprising, surreal, and - despite its flaws - a must-watch. Review by Prateek Santram

India’s economy has failed the most-vulnerable half of the population. Shefali Saldanha argues that the pandemic could be an opportunity to change the system.

Aiming for transcendent commentary on female sexual power, the Netflix series SHE fails in providing true agency to its heroine, falling instead in a powerless trap - Sabah Virani writes.

Personal essay: Anant Mital, drummer of new Delhi-based Nowhere Station, shares the story of the band’s origins and ambitions on the eve of their debut release.

From the school basketball courts to international cricket tournaments, how India’s diversity and divisions can be united under the umbrella of sports - by Adit Joshi in Student’s Corner.