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
“Break the Barriers!” – An Interview with Usha Uthup
Continuing a five-decade-long singing career, Usha Uthup speaks about staying relevant with changing times, meme culture, radical self-love, and covering Miley Cyrus. By Deepansh Duggal
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.
Poems by Aardhra Chandran: ‘Concrete trucks rumble past his fence, shaking the loose teeth / in his jaw, spitting black diesel smoke onto his holy basil plant. // He measures his life not in years, but in missing trees—/The neem chopped for wood, the mango that died of thirst.’