Slumgod Millionaire: On ‘Nayakan’, the Godfather of Indian Gangster Films
In revisiting Nayakan we are reminded that men become gods not as a sign of presumed cultural backwardness but because the modern nation-state has failed.
Subaltern Talkies
From ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ to ‘Baahubali’: Whither Indian Cinema’s Secularism?
A retrospective of Manmohan Desai’s Bollywood classic Amar Akbar Anthony, and the many secular and nationalistic films it has influenced.
Performing Bestiality: Beauties and Beasts in Tamil Cinema
Middle of the road Kollywood’s strange obsession with bestiality through the ‘Stockholm syndrome’ demands attention.
Hardline Feminism and Unfettered Capitalism in the Action-Masala, ‘Mannan’
How does a beautiful young corporate bigwig control a rambunctiously charismatic Alpha-male trade unionist?
Is Indian Cinema’s First Chick Flick, ‘Mouna Raagam’, a Hindu Nationalist Fantasy?
The "chick flick" medium doesn't completely obfuscate the espousal of the triumph of Hindu conservatism over secular-liberal institutions and socialist ideology.
From Yugoslavia to South India: The Rise of Tamil Turbo-folk
Like its Serbian counterpart, Tamil Turbo-folk masquerades as ethno-nationalist resistance against the dislocations brought to bear by nation building, liberalization, and globalization.
Birdman v Uttama Villain: Portrait of the Artiste As an Older, Wiser Man
Making their films resistant to easy consumption and demanding respect for the artiste is essential to the spirit of Birdman and Uttama Villain.
Does the Title of the Bollywood Blockbuster, ‘PK’, Actually Stand for Performing Kulturkampf?
In the kulturkampf between India’s intelligentsia decrying the ‘cultural terrorism’ of extremists, a film like PK has me wondering, how long can secular liberals retain the moral high ground?
Tamil Horror Films: Madness, Modernity and of Course, Misogyny
While Hollywood horror thrives on the anxieties over the persistence of evil, emanating from a malevolent source, Tamil horror films deal with the prevalence of social injustice.
The Defiant New Postmodern Tamil Cinema
Fed up with the empty rhetoric of utopian ideology and highfalutin discourse, the new generation of filmmakers take their frustrations out on the grand narratives of Tamil cinema.
The Myth of the Global Brown Messiah in Kollywood Cinema
Recent films from the action-masala genre project India as a global sheriff, replacing a toothless West as an expression of muscular nationalism.