Shekhar Deshpande
The Fundamental Quandry
The events of 9-11 have changed cinema. These changes have been far ranging, from narrative construction and movement to the aesthetics of urgency.
Midnight's Children: Two Authors in Search of a Film
Rushdie and Mehta’s Midnight’s Children promises a doubled up feast for thought and senses before the theater goes dark.
Celluloid Man: Past Without History
For Nair, the very existence of the past, even in its residual form was more important than constructing a discriminating history of cinema.
The Right’s Last Gasp
America was once their country. They sense they are losing it. And they are right.
Sex Before Viagra
Very few Indians have actually read the Kamasutra, which is boringly pedantic and — shockingly to many — did not contain pictures in the original.
The Kite That Couldn’t Fly?
The idea that national cinema cannot be translated into a broader idiom for viewers around the world is misplaced.
Little More Hollywood For American Audiences
Brett Ratner who remixed Kites for U.S. audiences, on Bollywood’s potential in the United States.
Dark Shadows
We may still covet the “dark, tall and handsome” man, but “pretty, fair ladies” are all the rage for our liaisons, permanent or otherwise.
The Salahi Way
As we catalog the decade of the noughties, ring up a new contribution to our vocabulary.
The New Socialists
No hammer and sickle flags may flutter on poles and no busts of Marx and Lenin may be erected in our public squares, but we are rapidly embracing the Marxist ideals of social equality
A Million Slumdogs Now
Slumdog Millionaire is a brilliant, vile film that puts the pornography of poverty at the center of its universe.
Mutts R Us!
The mutt honcho of the land does not want mutts in the White House. What kind of example does he set for others? Did we not elect him as a mutt?
GOD (Awful) Actor
It is important to remember that Amitabh is a star, despite the BBC poll of the Millennium that accuses him of being an actor.
Political Dozers
If you are well-disposed to the American political orientation and have sufficiently lowered your expectations, then the convention speeches might be fun.
Remember Those Conventions?
What a difference a day, a week, a month make! Let's not even talk about tomorrow!
Olympian Neuroticism
The Olympics are a demonstration of the dominance of the few, of their obsessive, neurotic pastimes.
Don't Look Back Now!
With two sensational political conventions over, the campaign has begun in earnest. Despite the call for a new politics and the rhetoric of change from
Remember the Immigration Issue?
The issue of immigration was not discussed at either political convention. Of course, it would be foolish for us to think this is an election
The Obama Problem Of The 21st Century
The press conference of the American Muslim Democratic Caucus was instructive of some of the inherent problems in Barack Obama’s candidacy for White House. As
