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Ten tips to write better
By which I mean writing that doesn’t make an editor wince. Let me provide the context to this. Every now and then, I am approached by a wannabe writer who wants me to have a look at their manuscript...
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Nanak Naam Jahaaz Hai (1969)
Early in 2013, to mark hundred years of Indian cinema, I dedicated an entire month to regional Indian cinema. I reviewed several films of different languages, and realized, in the process, just how...
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Ten of my favourite Aankhen songs
Not nayan, not naina, not chakshu or any other Hindustani/Hindi/Sanskrit word for eyes, but aankhen. This post, though the immediate spur for it was Anu’s delightful list of zulfein songs, has been in...
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Book Review: Raju Bharatan’s Asha Bhosle: A Musical Biography
At the risk of being labelled an iconoclast and being trolled by diehard Lata fans, I have mentioned several times on this blog how much I like Asha Bhonsle. It’s not that I don’t like Lata: I do, very...
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How to write, Part 2: Non-fiction
A couple of weeks back, I wrote a post on how to write better: some basic tips on grammar, on punctuation, on dos and don’ts that help create a more polished manuscript. It drew a lot of attention, and...
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Hum Sab Chor Hain (1956)
I have to admit that I watched this film against all advice. Anu had watched it a couple of years back (and had written up a review of it); but I—remembering a long-ago viewing of Hum Sab Chor Hain,...
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Adam and Evelyne (1949)
This film has been on my to-watch list for years, one major reason being that it stars one of my favourite actors, the very attractive Stewart Granger. It also stars, opposite Granger, the beautiful...
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Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan (1968)
Rajendra Kumar is one of those actors whom I’ve repeatedly mentioned as ‘not being one of my favourites’. Saira Banu, beyond her first few films (notably, Junglee and Shaadi), I find too shrill for my...
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Here Comes Mr Jordan (1941)
Considering I’d reviewed Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan last week, and that was based on Here Comes Mr Jordan, it seemed appropriate to follow up that review with this one. I hadn’t heard of Here Comes Mr Jordan...
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Ten of my favourite ‘nazar’ songs
My blog posts come about in odd ways. Some are suggestions or recommendations from blog readers, or from friends. Some strike me as I go through life. Some are serendipitous—a video appearing on the...
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New Book! Introducing Put Asunder: A Period Romance
When I was about twelve years old, there were two important developments in my literary life. Firstly, my sister (who is five and a half years older than me) found herself amidst a bunch of classmates...
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Restaurant Review: Artusi
It’s been a long time since I reviewed a restaurant on this blog. That’s partly because most of the restaurants I’ve eaten at in the past few months have either been places I’ve reviewed before, or...
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Gone with the Wind (1939)
I’ve been writing this blog for the last eight years now, and in all that time, while I’ve reviewed some really obscure films, I’ve steered clear of reviewing many of the great classics—mostly because...
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Oonche Log (1965)
A scene near the beginning of Oonche Log is an interesting revelation of some of the themes that govern the film, and eventually have a bearing on its climax. Major Chandrakant (Ashok Kumar) is a...
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Balgan Mahura (1964)
Or, in English, The Red Scarf. Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that war films (and by that I mean those films which stay true to the genre and aren’t crossovers or about genre-bending) fall...
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Trios, Quartets, and More: Ten of my favourite songs
When I was in school, all school functions—even, on special occasions, school assembly—would have one particularly talented child presenting a solo (the first time I heard Ae mere pyaare watan was in...
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How to write, Part 3: Fiction
I’ve been writing an off and on series on writing, and decided it was high time I got around to what most people (myself included) would regard as my core competence: the writing of fiction. Fiction,...
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Kab? Kyon? Aur Kahaan? (1970)
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ve probably realized by now that I’m a sucker for suspense films. And that I have a soft spot for Dharmendra. And Helen. And Pran. Bring all of those...
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Birds, baoris and more
There was a time when I used to travel a lot (by my standards, which meant taking into account things like the fact that writers like me make money enough to do about one Delhi-Agra round trip a...
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A Christmas Carol (1938)
It’s that time of the year again—and time for a tradition I’ve kept up on this blog ever since its inception. Time for a Christmas movie. This time, wondering which film I should review, I came across...
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