Thought Box
Retroscope

Lights Still On: Portrait of a 70-year-old Photo Studio where once Bollywood’s Legendary Stars Shone Bright

 The incalculable number of photographs – running into crores – of vintage Hindi cinema’s charismatic actors and film classics have vanished into thin a...

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Kaleidoscope

Into the Mind of A Cop

A lot of writers have come up with bestselling crime fiction, but not many of them would know the workings of a police force inside out, as one who has been there. Clare Macki...

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Thought Factory

Yesterday He faced Starvation; Today He’s a Star in his Own Right on the Art Firmament

The bustling town of Vadodara – familarly known as Baroda – houses a count of nearly 2,500 artists. Of them, there are the globally feted masters, a rapidly-rising...

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Retroscope

Bareilly Kaifiyat that throbs in the Bone, Pulse and Heartbeat of a Doctor: Dr Brijeshwar Singh

On April 24 2016 while being car-driven from Delhi to Bareilly I was already in Bareilly Kaifiyat (State of Mind). Driver Roop Singh was an expert on the wheels and a fabulous...

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Kaleidoscope

Daddy's Day Out

The saas-bahu domestic conflict is old hat now, Atul Satya Koushik comedy-drama, Dad’s Girlfriend, twists genders for sasur-damad tug-of-wa...

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Retroscope

Piya Ka Ghar – Days of the Future Past

We called him just Chatterjee. The only pragmatic answer to avoid a comedy of errors was to address him simply by the surname! Chatterjee. Suddenly there were two Basus -Ba...

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Thought Factory

The Inspiring Story of a Village Goatherd-turned-Artist of Substance

His artworks have an unusual power. They experiment with various media – oils, acrylic, watercolours, charcoal – and aren’t devoted to any singular theme. ...

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Thought Factory

Salman Khurshid’s ‘Triple Talaq: Examining Faith’ - A straightforward yet comprehensive view of a complicated issue?

I’m here and writing about Former Minister of External Affairs and Indian National Congress party leader, Salman Khurshid’s latest book ‘Triple Talaq: Examin...

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Kaleidoscope

Hidden Prejudices

After the uproar over the denial of restroom access to two African American men, on May 29, the coffee chain Starbucks announced that it will close more than 8,000 stores acro...

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Kaleidoscope

Difficult Daughters

Neil Simon (along with Moliere) must be the most popular western playwright whose works are adapted (often plagiarized) on the Mumbai stage. There is something about so many ...

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ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: THE MANY WAYS WE LOOKED IN 2025

A sweeping year-end chronicle of cinema, culture, memory, rebellion, and conscience&mdas...

December 17 2025

ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: DOING IT MY WAY

Lately, it’s been raining awards and accolades on the path-breaking multi-media ac...

December 16 2025

POWERFUL PEOPLE: LISTENING TO LIVES

Journalist, author, translator, and cultural chronicler Sathya Saran reflects on a life ...

December 15 2025