Personal Essays

Dancing with herself

Sthira Bhattacharya thinks about why two dance sequences from Indian cinema of the 90s have stayed with her.

4 years ago

A meditation on the meaning of family

Harini Pryor writes about The Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Palme d’Or-winning film.

4 years ago

A Secret Love

Tehmina Khan shares her thoughts on Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire. 

5 years ago

Mysteries of Monsoon

Sripad Sridhar shares his experiences as a wildlife photographer and filmmaker.

5 years ago

Female Characters for the Ages

Anuradha Warrier writes about the women in the progressive cinema of Nav Ketan.

6 years ago

Jurassic Park Live in Concert

Sureshkumar revisits a movie from his childhood, under very different circumstances.

6 years ago

A stream of thoughts inspired by Zarina Begum…

...and her performance of ‘Nazar Lagi Raja Tore Bangle Par’, Richard Singer writes.

6 years ago

On Location

Naveena tags along with a film crew and lives to tell the tale.

6 years ago

On the perils of opining about a movie

Why watch a movie? Why write about it? Madhu has questions, and maybe some answers.

6 years ago

A song across generations

A short essay by Sara Siddiqui Chansarkar, about the potent power of nostalgia, and a song from the Hindi film…

6 years ago

How Studio Ghibli brought Japan back to me

Julia Shiota writes about growing up Japanese-American; with art work by Clinton Tham.

6 years ago

Movie watching in the Gulf

Manishankar Prasad looks at how the Indian diaspora in the Middle East consumes films.

6 years ago

Why Bergman? Why not?

Amitava Akash Nag tells us what Bergman’s films mean to him.

6 years ago

Missing dosa in Delaware

Naveena Vijayan watches a gourmet film that leaves her hungry.

6 years ago

The AV Room

Mukesh Manjunath was once a boy who watched too many movies. He writes a personal essay about the cinema that…

6 years ago

The City of People

Bala writes about experiencing the Kolkata of Satyajit Ray on his travels, and experiencing Ray's films as a window to…

7 years ago

மனிதர்களின் நகரம்

பாலா சத்யஜித் ரேயின் படங்களில் கண்ட கொல்கத்தாவிற்கு சென்று வந்த அனுபவத்தைப் பற்றியும், அவரின் படங்கள் நமக்கு கொடுத்த கொல்கத்தா அனுபவத்தை பற்றியும் எழுதியுள்ளார்.

7 years ago

The Dichotomy of Movies and Travelling

Looking back on his trip to Himachal Pradesh, K writes about the dichotomy that cinema and travel represent.

7 years ago