Reading recent pieces, and Karan Johar’s comments about the importance of publicists and stylists in Bollywood, you are reminded of the time, not so long ago, when the relationship between stars and the media was not so complicated.

Stars used to have a secretary, who was an all-rounder, doing everything from negotiating contracts to fixing appointments [...]

I know this is a blog entry that is going to provoke the most hideous retribution, yet it is a burden I need to off load and so I place my neck on the platter and await a mass chopping. I have no regrets; First off, I utterly loathe almost everything about the entire concept [...]

Topping Khooni Dracula was always going to be a tough ask at the very least but director/writer Bhoosan Lal felt an artist’s urge to bring his own interpretation of Bram Stoker’s legendary novel to the screen with one final definitive version and so Dracula (1999) was unearthed to swooning masses. Kiran Kumar – who has [...]

Do you fiddle with your Blackberry when a film is running on screen? Do you discuss the price of stocks and shares when Kareena and Shahid Kapoor are romancing in Jab We Met? Did you ever pick up a fight with your girlfriend/boyfriend for everyone to listen to when Race in racing on the screen [...]

I was in Shajadpur, a sleepy hamlet in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district about a fortnight ago. Work over, as the dusk settled in, I wanted to settle down for a relaxing cuppa at the local tea-stall. I called my chauffeur-guide Nurul over to join me but I sensed an unfamiliar edginess, [...]

There is a quotable quote that turns up often in pieces about lack of equality between the sexes:  A woman has to work twice as hard a man to be thought of as half as good.
This was proved right in the media response to recent releases, Wanted and Dil Bole Hadippa!. The first meant to [...]

Recently, I was invited as ‘celebrity guest’ by a Bengali channel to participate in its daily cookery show. No one was more surprised than I. I do not consider myself remotely linked to the word ‘celebrity’ in a subjective sense though my profession makes me rub shoulders with celebrities every day. So, I asked myself [...]

Wonder what Emraan Hashmi would have done then—till a few years ago, many housing societies in the suburbs did not want to allow film people into their buildings. The person’s religion had nothing to do with it, they were afraid of the corrupting influence of film people on their kids—ordinary folks believed the “film line” [...]

With the passing of the self proclaimed King of Pop Michael Jackson the world has lost a truly unique and irreplaceable and indeed legendary personality. Michael Jackson was not only one of the most successful recording artists of all time but also an icon who impacted not one but successive generations and whether you were [...]

I am just back from a gruelling ten-day Fellowship workshop on CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT - FEMINIST CROSSINGS organised by the Jadavpur University’s Department of Women’s Studies.

The workshop was held at Lataguri, right in the midst of Gorumara Wildlife Sanctuary in North Bengal. The environment was lush, green and very romantic. So, having to discuss, [...]