Reel Review

Review: What Sex Work Taught Feminism: Tales of the Night Fairies
Two sex workers standing and talking outside a chawl. They both are dressed in sarees, and are wearing a red bindi on their forehead.
Review: What Sex Work Taught Feminism: Tales of the Night Fairies

Note: Five sex workers – four women and one man – along with the filmmaker/narrator embark on a journey of storytelling. Shohini Ghosh’s Tales of the Night Fairies explores the power of collective organising and resistance while reflecting upon contemporary debates around sex work. The labyrinthine city of Kolkata (Calcutta) forms the backdrop for personal and musical journeys.
By Moulshri Mohan
April 18, 2016
Review: What Sex Work Taught Feminism: Tales of the Night Fairies
Review: What a controversial book and blockbuster tell us about male infertility
Still from film 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns'. A woman and a man in a wedding. The man holds a baby wrapped in a white cloth in his arms. The woman wears a red Indian suit, red bangles, and has open hair. The man wears a red turban and golden kurta.
Review: What a controversial book and blockbuster tell us about male infertility

What does Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015) have in common with Perumal Murugan’s controversial book, One Part Woman (2013)? Stories on emasculation…
By Shweta Krishnan
July 1, 2015
Review: What a controversial book and blockbuster tell us about male infertility
Films of Desire/Bodies of Desire
Still from the film 'Margarita with a Straw' showing actress Kalki Koechlin being given a bath by actress Revathy
Films of Desire/Bodies of Desire

The Church says: the body is a sin Science says: the body is a machine Advertising says: the body is…
By Geetanjali Misra
June 1, 2015
Films of Desire/Bodies of Desire
Man, His Madness, and the Mad Woman
Collage of posters of three films - Omkara, Maqbool and Haider. The first poster shows a man and woman embracing, the second shows a man intimately caressing the head of a woman and the thirs shows a man holding up a human skull
Man, His Madness, and the Mad Woman

Mad adj. crazy, nuts, loony, mental, insane. adj. angry, frustrated, raging. No one is a better drama queen than William…
By Shweta Krishnan
April 1, 2015
Man, His Madness, and the Mad Woman
Sita Sings the Blues
An animated figure of Sita, with big kajal-laden eyes, wearing a crown, pink lehnga, and having four hands. She holds a shell, a lotus, and a sudarshan chakra in three hands. The background is watery green.
Sita Sings the Blues

“For every incarnation of Rama, there is a Ramayana”, says AK Ramanujam in his essay ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas’. So, too, there…
By Lekha Sridhar
January 15, 2015
Sita Sings the Blues
Reel Review: Memoirs of a Geisha
Poster of the film "Memoirs of Geisha". It focuses on face of a fair South Asian woman with straight hair, blue eyes, wearing red lipstick.
Reel Review: Memoirs of a Geisha

The Hollywood rendition of the Geisha world, with Edward Said’s Orientalism [1] thrown in, reminds us of a simple fact: things…
By Jasmine George
January 1, 2015
Reel Review: Memoirs of a Geisha
Reel Review: Blue Is The Warmest Color
poster for the film 'blue is the warmest colour', which shows two young girls facing each other intimately
Reel Review: Blue Is The Warmest Color

There are many ways of looking at Blue is the Warmest Colour, last year’s French release about a love story…
By Bishakha Datta
December 1, 2014
Reel Review: Blue Is The Warmest Color
The Dirty Picture
Poster for the film 'dirty picture', shoeing actress vidya balan leaning against actor emraan hashmi
The Dirty Picture

The Dirty Picture, directed by Milan Luthria (2011) has ushered in various debates around sexuality through its representation of sexuality…
By Sujatha Subramanian
October 1, 2014
The Dirty Picture
Reel review: Bend it like Beckham
Poster for the film 'Bend It Like Beckham' showing a girl standing with her back facing the camera. She's wearing a cvolourful magenta and green sari and is holding sports shoes in her hands.
Reel review: Bend it like Beckham

‘All I have to say is sporty spice is the only one without a bloke’  is the warning given by…
By Debanuj DasGupta
September 1, 2014
Reel review: Bend it like Beckham
Review: Scarlet Road
Review: Scarlet Road
August 1, 2014
Review: Scarlet Road
The Impossible Collective: A Review of Rituparno Ghosh’s Dahan (1997)
The Impossible Collective: A Review of Rituparno Ghosh’s Dahan (1997)
June 1, 2014
The Impossible Collective: A Review of Rituparno Ghosh’s Dahan (1997)
Reel Review – Revolutionary Road
Poster of 'Revolutionary Road', which shows actors Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet leaning their heads against each other
Reel Review – Revolutionary Road

To their neighbours, as to themselves, Frank and April Wheeler are ‘special’.
By Asilata Karandikar
April 1, 2014
Reel Review – Revolutionary Road
Reel Review: Blue Is The Warmest Color
Reel Review: Blue Is The Warmest Color
March 1, 2014
Reel Review: Blue Is The Warmest Color
Reel Review: Tomboy – Innocent, Subversive, Powerful
A still from the movie "Tomboy", showing a young child in a white vest and blue jacket that's falling off her shoulders.
Reel Review: Tomboy – Innocent, Subversive, Powerful

Celine Sciamma’s ‘Tomboy’, is a brilliantly woven tale that dissolves rigid gender and sexual boundaries and defies quite a few…
By Parigya Sharma
January 1, 2014
Reel Review: Tomboy – Innocent, Subversive, Powerful
Reel Review: Of Sex and Desire: What Mark O’Brien Taught Me
Reel Review: Of Sex and Desire: What Mark O’Brien Taught Me
December 1, 2013
Reel Review: Of Sex and Desire: What Mark O’Brien Taught Me
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