A conversation with the renowned Indologist on how myths endure across cultures and traditions, why they resist fixed meanings, and what is at stake in attempts to control them
New Delhi continues to expect deference from Dhaka, but Tarique Rahman’s BNP administration has a stronger position in negotiations with India than previous Bangladesh governments
How Manu Joseph’s ‘Why the Poor Don’t Kill Us’ falls short in diagnosing the ills of liberal India, and how the novelist turned provocateur has lost his way
The superstar is aiming for a grand entrance into politics in Tamil Nadu’s 2026 assembly election, but history tells us stardom alone will not be enough to challenge the state’s duopoly of Dravidian parties
The educationist, writer and activist Syeda Hameed remembers the first decade of free India as one of immense hope in this conversation with Harsh Mander
As vehicles for Hindu Right ideology and pro-Modi propaganda, ‘Dhurandhar’ and ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ first blur the lines of reality before overtly glorifying anti-Muslim violence
In a conversation on his new book 'Iconoclast', Anand Teltumbde challenges the hagiography surrounding B R Ambedkar, calling for a more nuanced reassessment in view of the ongoing oppression of Dalits in India today
From manufacturing mythic pasts to promoting muscular nationalism, militarism and Islamophobia, Hindi cinema is increasingly aligning with Hindutva politics, and ripping up Indian secularism and democracy in the process
