February 8, 2022
‘Whenever you hear my songs, you will hum with me’
If I am asked to pick one song from a Hindi film that best encapsulates how the posterity would look back at the singing legends Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi, it would be “Pagla Kahin Ka” (1970), where they sing: “tum mujhe yun bhula na paoge / jab kabhi bhi geet sunoge mere / sang sang tum bhi gungunaoge”.
February 7, 2022
The songbird falls silent
Lata Mangeshkar’s voice is immortal.
February 4, 2022
A Director’s Delight
It was the spring of 1985 in New Delhi. I, along with my father Vishnupada Bhattacharya, a linguist, literary critic and a teacher at the Department of Modern Indian Languages in Delhi University, came out of Vigyan Bhavan after watching Satyajit Ray’s “Ghare Baire.”
January 29, 2022
Of Buddhadeb, Azad and Award
Rejecting or returning official awards is not uncommon in India.
January 23, 2022
Your Netaji Versus My Netaji
A political battle to appropriate the legacy of India’s freedom struggle icon Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is going on between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
January 15, 2022
Poll amid pandemic: Voting right vs human life
On January 8, 2022, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule of fresh assembly elections in five Indian states—Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa,
January 8, 2022
India’s polarised politics and media
On December 29, 2021, India’s Chief Justice NV Ramana sent out a message to the Indian media that could not have been timelier. In fact, it served as a wake-up call.
December 28, 2021
India’s Omicron challenge on multiple fronts
Since the first Omicron case of Covid-19 was detected in Karnataka on December 2, instances of the most rapidly mutating and contagious variant of the disease have been on the rise across India.
December 24, 2021
The political rumblings in India over 1971
As a teenage school student in 1971 living in Delhi, I had a limited idea about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
December 9, 2021
India-Russia ties in a changing world
As Russian President Vladimir Putin wrapped up his six-hour visit to New Delhi on December 6, most commentaries on India-Russia relations invariably termed it as the continuation of decades of romance that first blossomed in the Cold War era—a global geo-political scenario that is very different from what it is today.
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