Mass Market Hate
Propaganda films force upon us the grand question, writes Sanjay Basak: Are we loudly applauding the breathtaking production on screen, or are we quietly absorbing the idea that someone, somewhere, deserves to be feared, hated, or erased?
The Unsettling Politics of Violence and Music in ‘Dhurandhar’
With brutal carnage presented with celebratory beats, Dhurandhar: The Revenge pushes viewers towards a stony insensitivity, creating a sense of heightened tempo and exhilaration without moral recoil. By Abin Chakraborty
How to Resist a Postmodern Zombification
From Dhurandhar’s Rahman Dakait to Shaurya’s Rudra Pratap Singh, Abin Chakraborty delves into Miltonic rhetoric to explore social media trends of heroism celebrated without moral rectitude.
Welcome to ‘Nation of Auteurs’, a series composed of critical essays by academics, filmmakers, historians, and cinephiles, to examine the deep diversity of Indian film auteurs and illuminate the country’s wider cinematic landscape. By Ashish Dwivedi