This week saw the New Zealand economy enter a recessionary phase in the business cycle with negative GDP for the June and September quarters. This was the steepest two-quarter downturn since 1991 and weaker than expected. The RBNZ (central bank)… Continue reading →

The points that Vetri Maaran makes are sickle-sharp. But these points do not come together coherently in a cinematic form, because the film is extraordinarily dialogue-heavy. Taken together, Vetri Maaran’s two Viduthalai films are certainly some kind of achievement. Until now, the two-parter films we have had in India (or maybe even the world) have […]

By Hari Govind I recently met actor Vishnu Vishal at the Mumbai airport. During our brief conversation about the movies I had watched, I suddenly realized how deeply I admired “Lubber Pandhu”. Thanks to the two hours of delay of the flight back to Bengaluru, I was able to pen down my thoughts on the movie. […]

By Karthikeyan Ramamurthy When I saw the news that there was a series of Raj Kapoor films to be screened, I immediately asked my family about their willingness to see a movie that was released when my father was of the age of my younger daughter. Of course, they were game enough. With helpful comments […]

By Aman Basha Reflecting on the enduring relevance of a film titan as he completes a century When I had first seen Awaara a long, long while still at the impressionable age of 13 (how I miss those days), left in me were really a residue of imagery, of Prithviraj Kapoor’s stately presence, the lighting […]

I came across the graphic below from a company called ‘Pollination’. It summarises the five groups of natural assets, how companies use these but more importantly the negative externalities the companies generate. Nature, as is often emphasised, is in a… Continue reading →

By Vinu Karthick When the wisdom and emotions of the oppressed wild encapsulate into a human body and electrify that human mind, can it apply itself through the strategic mechanics of the man-made part of the world? Can it surpass the limitations of the tamed and colonially cultivated minds that have limited its capacities to […]

A post with a festive theme. This is from the Westpac Weekly Commentary which has a ‘Chart of the week’ feature. This week they looked at the change in price of ingredients of a Christmas fruit cake since 2005. Some… Continue reading →

Foreign Affairs magazine had an article entitled the ‘End of China’s economic miracle’ is which Adam Posen argues that the Chinese economy is unlikely to rebound to its pre-pandemic strength. He refers to this as “economic long COVID” which stems… Continue reading →

The makers do not try to duplicate the prose, and the situations are not exoticised. The lovely words are complemented by lovely, unfussy imagery that makes us feel the magical realism. The magic appears as casual, as inevitable as the realism. Arundhati Roy said she would never sell the rights for a film adaptation of […]

Anuja Chandramouli ABOUT THIS BOOK Love scorched the heavens and when it was lost, it turned everything to ashes… He was no hero. He was not one to rescue his loved one by hauling her back from the blazing wreckage of a broken world or by fighting a war to win her hand. But he […]

Once the Fahadh character moves out to make way for a new set of villains, the film’s energy drops. The last hour appears interminable. The new villains are generic and unmemorable, and the film becomes all about Pushpa Pushpa Pushpa. The rest of this review may have spoilers, so read/watch at your own discretion. The […]

Below is a very good video by Isabella Weber who argues that, in contrast to the traditional model of inflation caused by excessive consumer demand, the current inflation is driven by corporations raising prices beyond what is necessary to cover… Continue reading →

“You have an obsessive mind, a mind that tends to latch on to something and won’t quit thinking about it. And this time, you’ve begun to obsess about this elderly lady next door.” This is more or less what Nazriya’s husband tells her, but if she listened to him, there would be no story. So […]

Director Vinesh Viswanath makes a delightful debut with Sthanarthi Sreekuttan, where he sails through one of the toughest jobs in the film business: making a movie with kids and about kids, but also treating these kids the way you’d treat adults. They are not “cute-ified”. He has a remarkable cast of youngsters, and every one […]