Alternative Entertainment

ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: 50 YEARS OF GARM HAWA

On Balraj Sahni’s birth anniversary, Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri looks at the lasting legacy of Garm Hawa, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year, and wonders if...

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ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: LOOKING FOR THE MAHANAYAK

Srijit Mukherji’s Oti Uttam is a film hard to dislike. And no, it’s not just Uttam Kumar who is responsible for that, writes Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri. Screenings of...

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ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: THE RIVER OF LIFE

OP Srivastava takes us on the banks of Gautam Ghose's film. Paar, crossing the river of life, is a story of human endurance, and courage to fight against caste based oppressio...

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ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: MAINSTREAM VS. ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES

A comprehensive understanding of mainstream and alternative movements enrich discussions about the strengths and weaknesses of each. Sharad Raj explores the complexities of ci...

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ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: REALISM OF THE MATERIALISTIC WORLDVIEW

Sharad Raj explores the evolution of realism in Indian cinema, its many forms and structures, and the deviations in its style through the lens of Kumar Shahani’s “...

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ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: A POETIC DOCUMENTARY

This week it is O.P. Srivastava's tryst with temporality as he remembers Mani Kaul's documentary film, a masterpiece, Siddheshwari – a film that leaves itself to interpr...

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ALTERNATIVE CINEMA: THE CINEMA OF SOUND & CUT

"The Zone of Interest" and the cinema of sound and the cut is what Sharad Raj explores as he shares his personal experience while viewing the film. I hadn’t heard of Jo...

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ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: TAPAN SINHA’S EK DOCTOR KI MAUT

Tapan Sinha’s Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1990) shows how scientific research and innovation is not given its due in India, and how professional jealousy and insensitive governme...

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ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: THOSE FREEZE SHOTS OF TARUN MAJUMDAR

Satyabrata Ghosh explores the genesis and evolution of the freeze shot used by auteurs of cinema to capture a lasting impact of on emotional moment, through the cinema of Taru...

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ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: MUSIC OF THOUGHT AND IMAGINATION

It is Kumar Shahani's Khayal Gatha (The Saga of Khayal), a 1989 Indian experimental film written and directed by Kumar Shahani, that O.P. Srivastava narrates today. The film ...

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RETROSCOPE: THE FLAME THAT STILL BURNS

When Smita Patil Breathed Her Last On The Midnight Of December 13, 1986, The World Of Ci...

December 13 2025

MOVIES: A STARK MIRROR OF EXPLOITATION

In this powerful review, critic Utpal Datta examines The Untold Agony, revealing how Jay...

December 12 2025

ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT: TALE OF A CRIME THAT CUTS DEEP

A gripping Saudi thriller that uses the framework of a desert murder mystery to expose t...

December 11 2025