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Luscious Fragonard from St. Petersburg
She was leaning on him as if she would fall if he did not support her. Then I noticed his foot on the bottom folds of her carefully pleated white dress. He was persistent. He was a thief; the kiss was stolen, grabbed, plucked. Sahir Ludhianvi’s Abhi Na Jaao Chod Kar gently played in the…
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The Lebanese Sajeria Hua!
We tried out The Lebanese Sajeria for lunch. Let me start off by telling you that their location is super, and their drinks were nice. The ginger homemade lemonade was wonderfully made, not too sweet, not too sour, blended perfection. That is where my praise for this place ends. Their interior was sterile holstein cow…
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Musings after watching Pataakha
I happened to chance upon Pataakha (PT) – the movie, which is now available on Amazon Prime. Vishal Bhardwaj is an immensely talented director, and PT did not disappoint. I gather that it did not perform well at the box-office, primarily due to the release of Sui Dhaaga (SD) during the same time. SD had bigger stars…
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Dangal and the Phogat Sisters – A Tale of Many Struggles: Praveen Verma
Guest post by PRAVEEN VERMA Dangal literally means the Indian style wrestling competition for male pahalwans (wrestlers). Dangal has been an important form of entertainment for ages, especially in … Source: Dangal and the Phogat Sisters – A Tale of Many Struggles: Praveen Verma <—click link for the Kafila article.
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PK after thodi si peeke
Have the reviews and counter-reviews for PK died down? Because, in that case, now would be a good time to write down my thoughts about the movie. For starters: I did enjoy the film and here I will try to delve a little into why I was motivated to do so, amongst usual blog-like meanderings.…
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Unpacking Salzburg Global Seminar
My trip to Salzburg to participate in the Salzburg Global Seminar’s twelfth session “Defining America: New Writing, New Voices, New Directions” at the beautiful Schloss Leopoldskron comprised of many profound moments of learning. At our Graduation Dinner in St. Stephen’s College, way back in 1999, my happy batch-mate Siddarth Correya had said that his learning in college had…
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Using words
Today’s online edition of Times of India has a rather bizarre headline – “Salman Khan beats Katrina Kaif“. Inside you will find an article on an online search engine result. How callous and insensitive have we become to find insinuations and violent innuendos perfectly acceptable. I was also thinking about headlines to do with actors…
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Teesri Manzil
I have been on this spree of discovering movies that I had watched a long time ago, or watched in bits and pieces on Doordarshan before the cable TV revolution hit India, its been bitter-sweet finding these gems and reliving moments I had almost forgotten. Most of these films (full and complete) are on YouTube.…
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Notes on Earth-1947
I will be presenting Earth at a screening in Utrecht. These are my notes. Why is this movie called Earth or 1947? 1947 is the year two nations Pakistan and India were born out of British India. The British East India Company had its presence in India from the early 18th century. The Company was…
