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2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | M.K. Raghavendra |Vaishna Roy |A.K. Ramakrishnan |Vivek Katju
The standard approach among film critics to classical Hindi cinema of the 1940s and 1950s is to treat these films as aesthetic objects shaped by auteurs who also gave expression to social concerns. However, Hindi films made after 1947 may be more valuable as documents of their times—even if they are not as transparent or straightforward as historical records. As we move from pre-Independence cinema to cinema after 1947, one of the first noticeable shifts is the emergence of a new kind of hero.
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2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Aditya Shrikrishna |Vivek Katju |Vaishna Roy
There are several enduring images of Raj Kapoor. One image of the greatest showman of Hindi cinema—as he is called—is his riff on Charlie Chaplin and the Tramp, a spitting reflection that he made his own by injecting a lovable, warm-hearted rabble-rouser in films like Awara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955). Another image is that of the lonesome entertainer of Mera Naam Joker (1970), one who barters his life and soul for the endurance of his art, a quality that could belong to the man himself.
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2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Vivek Katju |Vaishna Roy |Trisha Gupta
Jay Khanna, the winsome filmmaker protagonist of 2023’s celebrated OTT series Jubilee, begins life as a child of the theatre. Brought up by a Punjabi Khatri father who runs his own drama company, Jay’s childhood experiences have equipped him for both production and performance. Jay’s first script is written for the stage and for his actor friend Jamshed Khan. Then Partition takes away Jamshed and catapults Jay into the orbit of Bombay’s biggest film studio, Roy Talkies.
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2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Vaishna Roy |Vivek Katju
From this issue on, Frontline will produce at least four special issues a year. The focus will be on various topics, and the idea is to dedicate an entire issue to the subject and cover it thoroughly, thoughtfully, and interestingly. This is the first in the series and we have made it a Raj Kapoor special to commemorate the great showman’s centenary. In many ways, Raj Kapoor’s career, cinema, and concerns closely shadow India’s own.
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2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Vivek Katju |Vaishna Roy
In India, hate crimes against the LGBTQIA+ community persist in many forms. From physical assaults and family-driven conversions to online harassment and institutional discrimination, queer individuals continue to face hostility in both public and private spheres. The violence may not always make headlines, but it is routine and intimate.
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2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Gopalkrishna Gandhi |Vivek Katju |Vaishna Roy
It is in the epilogue to this luminous and exquisitely written “personal history” that Gopalkrishna Gandhi (“Gopu” to me) gets around to explaining his strangely inconsistent title, The Undying Light—in the stark reality of the gathering darkness of India today, we see reason retreating and blind faith taking over—by saying: “India’s human truth… is its very soul”; ergo, “India’s light can dim; it cannot, will not die.” Such flights of overblown metaphysics are not necessary as the mundane...
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2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Vivek Katju |Vaishna Roy |Soni Mishra
The Constitution of India, in its original calligraphed form, opens not just with words, but with waves. Part XXII, which formally names the document (“This Constitution may be called the Constitution of India”), is flanked by two oceanic illustrations. The first shows a boat setting sail, the shore still in view. The second, more elaborate, depicts an ancient ship battling a storm, every hand on deck as towering waves threaten to swallow it.
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2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Vivek Katju |Vaishna Roy |Sanhati Banerjee
The name “Operation Sindoor” follows a clear symbolic logic. The terrorists targeted unarmed Hindu men. In response, the state evoked the vermilion worn by married Hindu women—particularly those from dominant castes—as a metaphor for national honour. For every Indian life lost, the cry went, a speck of sindoor in retaliation. The symbolism resonated nationwide, yet its implications ran deeper.
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2 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed |Vivek Katju |Vaishna Roy
The monsoon rain hammered the black tarpaulin canopy where 40 Jenu Kuruba, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group who are historically honey gatherers (jenu means honey in Kannada), huddled against the chill in their newly formed hamlet in the foothills of the Western Ghats. When Frontline visited them in late May, it was exactly 24 days after the group had set up camp just inside the boundary of Nagarahole National Park, a 643 sq. km.
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3 weeks ago | 
frontline.thehindu.com | Jinoy Jose P |Vivek Katju |Vaishna Roy
“I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchenWhen company comes...”Dear reader,This is the opening stanza of “I, Too” by Langston Hughes, a prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance. As you can see, the poem speaks powerfully about racial inequality, identity, exclusion, and, of course, resistance. Obviously, Hughes’ kitchen is more than a room.
