Features

Mainstream Hollywood cinema is cliche-ridden. All cliches start as facts, and then they become what they are. After a point, many become irritants. Here's my pick of the 25 most irritating ones: Let’s get out of here! Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Don’t you die on me! Breathe, dammit! Cover me. I’m going in. You can't do this to me. I'm a American citizen. You’d better come in. Follow that car! I’m not leaving you. Is this some kind of sick joke? What seems to be the problem, Officer? I...

By the time you read this piece, there might well be some developments on the front that this write-up is about. The core issue, however, will remain. It’s about the film producers being up in arms over the proposed changes to the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010. The Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by Oscar Fernandes has submitted its report on the Bill and may well become law soon. It is a 118-page report, and by far one of the most exhaustive such documents to have been produced...

The world played a mute spectator to the Rwandan genocide of Tutsis in the Nineties. It enacted the same role when untold atrocities were being perpetrated in DR Congo. Now that the UN report on DRC is out, the world must speak out. And, of course, act. The 566-page UN report, DRC: Mapping human rights violations 1993-2003, is not merely a clinical catalogue of violence committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1993 and 2003. It is a documentation of till how far human beings can go...

Ten years after the landmark World Commission on Dams (WCD) report, activists say the guidelines charted out by the document remain India's best roadmap towards ensuring that future dams minimise social and environmental impacts. The most comprehensive guidelines for large dams that protect the rights of river-dependent communities were outlined by the WCD in 2000. The commission had assessed the development effectiveness of dams in an independent, participatory process, and established what has...

Out there every film critic worth his or her salt is writing about the fifty years of Jean-Luc Godard’s À bout de soufflé ( Breathless), including those in Hollywood which has suddenly remembered that the French filmmaker deserves an honorary Oscar. Back home anyone with half a glass cinematic eye is celebrating the golden anniversary of Ritwik Ghatak’s Meghe Dhaka Tara ( The Cloud-capped Star), his biggest commercial success at that time. Both, needless to say, were landmark films. But there...

Sometime back I chanced upon a moth-eaten book at a relative’s place. The author’s name on the spine had caught my eye and I was sure I had struck gold as I gingerly pulled the paperback out from under a pile of books that were meant, quite possibly, to be disposed of. The writer was, to me, one of the greatest names in Indian cinema. His repertoirSometime back I chanced upon a moth-eaten book at a relative’s place. The author’s name on the spine had caught my eye and I was sure I had struck...

With curtains of mist on its blue-green mountains, the land is home to a haunted cliff, a demonic lake and a skully cave. You will actually feel the thrill in your bones as you learn of the ancient lores the tiny landlocked state, Mizoram, is steeped in. They are grandmother’s tales taking you back in time and place. And as you wind your way up the steep and rolling inclines, the zestful gasps of the clean, fresh mountain air remind you of the once pristine earth. But, to reach the loftiest peak...

There’s a beeline for India – from publishers of magazines and newspapers to manufacturers of garments and textiles. Not quite without reason – its ever-growing affluent section is bigger in numbers than many European nations put together. If you care to look beyond the obvious, you will realise those making this beeline have not just been taken in by speculative hype alone. Numbers scream realities, and the numbers indicate that the Indian fashion market is huge, it is growing, it is vibrant...

Had he not become the leader of the dreaded insurrectionist organisation, he would probably have been serving in a mission. The last time that negotiations were held between the Indian government and Naga guerrillas in the late Sixties, playing a key role was a suave young man in his mid-30s. Another 30 summers later, the same man is set to play a bigger role in the current negotiations. Meet the soft-spoken, deeply-religious chairman of the underground National Socialist Council of Nagaland...

The roots of Indian cinema are almost as old as those of the medium itself. Within eight months of taking Paris by storm, the touring agents of Lumiere brothers' Cinematographer landed on the shores of India. On July 7, 1896, The Times of India carried an advertisement heralding the arrival of "the marvel of the century" and "wonder of the world". Four screenings took place that historic evening at Watson's Hotel in Bombay (now Mumbai). The entry fee was one Rupee. The show received an...