Bollywood has had a long history of finding “inspiration”—or barefaced plagiarism. Nivedita Dey recounts the many films, songs, and creators who imitated from the West (and more) and muses on the value of artistic originality.

From the fantastical to socio-psychological, comedic to gory, Nivedita Dey traces the diverse trends and the masters who shaped the genre since its appearance in the late-1940s.

In an uneven year for Bollywood, Nivedita Dey picks seven of the finest releases—films that combatted themes of patriarchy, politics, disability, religious fanaticism, and more.

Ronald Ross was once immortalized in Amitav Ghosh’s historical novel. Nivedita Dey rediscovers a memorial dedicated to Kolkata’s forgotten, Nobel laureate physician.

A city rooted in colonial legend, Nivedita Dey examines the linguistics of place, names, food, and culture that keep the “Calcutta” in Kolkata.

Nivedita Dey recalls the glory days of Mumbai’s bygone Cafe Samovar, where for decades, friends, family, strangers, students, lawyers, homemakers, thinkers, creative souls, Bollywood icons, Marxists, liberals, and more diverse groups of humans huddled over cups of cutting chai.

From Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Lagaa, Badhai Do, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, and more, a fresh lease of life seems to have been granted to a responsible on-screen LGBTQIA+ representation in the glitzy-verse of commercial Bollywood over the past decade. By Nivedita Dey

Linda Ashok’s Sharpless 29 is a collection that marries precise scientific theories to metaphors of both mundane and extraordinary human questions, all interspersed with witty and rich poetic ornaments. By Nivedita Dey