By Riti Das Dhankar
Shoojit Sircar’s Piku is sheer magic in the way it captures ordinary life. It’s a sensitive portrayal of a father and daughter relationship. The magic in the movie comes from the brutal honesty and deep love that the duo shares for each other, despite being in an unenviable situation.
By Riti Das Dhankar
On the whole, the movie is a good watch with a dramatic Bollywood masala ending. The screenplay is effortless and very natural. The problems faced by the characters are believable because they are as confused any one of us
By Achyut Dutt
Jyoti Singh’s rape hasn’t changed anything in India. There is that Guinness Book record that India still holds and will continue holding – of being the place where every 20 minutes, there is a rape. That works out to 72 rapes a day, a nice round figure.
By Riti Das Dhankar
“India’s Daughter” does nothing but act like a mirror and by boycotting and banning it, we Indians are doing nothing but giving a loud and clear message that we don’t like to see what we have become.
By Mary Ann Chacko
In this interview, filmmaker Ajay Raina speaks to Mary Ann Chacko, about Kashmir Oral History Project (http://kashmiroralhistory.org/). This project intends to record the stories of ordinary Kashmiris, both in the valley and in exile, who have witnessed violence and misery since Independence (1947) and in an accentuated way in the 1990s.
By Mosarrap H. Khan
Natasha’s film works on two different registers: first, it reveals to us the extensive labor infrastructure and social life behind the everyday objects that we encounter in the built environment of the city, thereby highlighting our own alienation in modern life; second, it exposes the hazardous working conditions that are masked by the shiny surfaces of our great metropolises.
By Lopa Banerjee
Exuding a raw energy and supreme power of art, the entire Apu trilogy, on the surface level, traces the epic journey of the protagonist, Apu, from his impoverished rural boyhood to his years in Baranas and Calcutta and, finally, to his marriage and fatherhood. On a more metaphysical plane, the three films depict the unique life of the protagonist in various stages, repeatedly facing deep spiritual questions centered round the vision of death.
By Mosarrap H. Khan
One of the soldiers accompanies the old man back to where the horse has wandered into. Other soldiers gather and take turns to fire bullets from the Israeli side to scare it back into the Palestinian territory. The old man feels restless and requests the Israeli soldiers to stop firing. He wants to risk mines and cross into the no-man’s land to rescue his favorite horse.
By Mary Ann Chacko
In this ‘Cafe Dissensus’ conversation, internationally acclaimed actor and social worker, Nandita Das speaks to Mary Ann Chacko, an Editor of Cafe Dissensus, NYC.
By Cafe Dissensus
I could see that Shyam was deeply moved. I could well understand what was passing through his mind. When we left, I said to him: ‘I am a Muslim. Don’t you want to kill me?’ ‘Not now,’ he replied gravely, ‘but while I was listening to them and learning of the atrocities committed by the Muslims, I could have killed you.’
By Cafe Dissensus
In this ‘Cafe Dissensus’ conversation, Mr. Amit Khanna, Ex-Chairman, Reliance Entertainment, talks about the Indian entertainment industry.
By Mary Ann Chacko & Mosarrap H. Khan
In this Cafe Dissensus Conversation, Director Jayan K. Cherian discusses his new film, Papilio Buddha, which deals with the land-struggles of dalits and adivasis in the Western Ghats of Kerala.
Cafe Dissensus Everyday 