Inspired by a recently released movie, Shoma Chatterji explores how the lipstick and burkha establishes a woman’s identity in public spaces and liberates them in private.

In 50 percent of the killings of Indian journalists since 2010 there have been no arrests so far. We need to come together to protect our tribe, urge Geeta Seshu and Sevanti Ninan.

"I wanted to show not just a few victims, but to help viewers understand the mechanics and the politics of trafficking and migration," says Ananya Chatterjee. Shoma Chatterji revies Understanding Trafficking.

Loha Garam Hai is a no-nonsense, no-holds-barred comment on lop-sided strategies of development. It is focused more on information and education than on the aesthetics of cinema, writes Shoma Chatterji.

If there are differences between a documentary and a feature film, Faiza Khan's Supermen of Malegaon dispels them all. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

Set in conditions that are bare in many ways, Bilal defines the purity and the innocence of the child even in the most desperate circumstances. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

More than half a century after it was produced Shyamchi Aai remains alluring to children and adults alike, with its simple and straightforward message of unconditional love. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

Bauddhayan Mukherji's film series hands men a proactive role in tackling domestic violence, simply by letting abusers know that they are being observed. Shoma Chatterji reviews Bell Bajao!

A cinematographer remembers his own journey of documentary film-making, offering insights into the technical and emotional challenges of his work. Shoma Chatterji reviews In Camera - Diaries of a Documentary Cameraman.

A mainstream Bollywood production in the making, titled Gulab Gang, draws heavily on the circumstances and even the name of a now-famous real life movement, but purports to be purely fictional. Shoma Chatterji explores the questions of ethics and creative morality that this raises.

Flickering Angels, a moving documentary on the lives of children of imprisoned parents in West Bengal, helps a child of an illegal immigrant caught in tragic circumstances to go back to her homeland. Shoma A Chatterji dwells on the reformative capacity of cinema.

Though based on strong reporting, India’s Daughter remains restricted in its scope, and even strays from its purported objective, thanks to a very pronounced colonial supremacist gaze, writes Shoma Chatterji in a dispassionate review that cuts through the noise.

Court narrates a compelling story and evolves into a hard-hitting realistic portrayal of the Indian legal system. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film with a deep exploration of all that sets it apart from a regular courtroom drama.

Shoma Chatterji talks about caste and the portrayal of Dalit in Hindi cinema beginning with Bombay Talkies Achhut Kannya (1936) to Bimal Roy’s Sujata (1959) followed by many mainstream films, and the small-budget, low-key ones which have focused on this significant social issue in the past so many years.

Debaranjan Sarangi, a documentary film maker, writer and human rights activist was arrested recently in Kashipur, Odisha. Shoma Chatterji writes about Sarangi's arrest, his activism and his films which deal with Adivasis and their struggles.

The tremendous rage against Pahlaj Nihalani around the Udta Punjab (2016) issue finally resolved by the High Court gives a reason to revisit some memorable deletions and suggestions made by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) over the years, says Shoma Chatterji.

West Bengal's rail hawkers are women of sheer grit and palpable passion says Sharmistha Choudhury.

There is a surprising hope in the most despairing places. It isn't often that many of us see this, but when we do, we are struck by the determination with which enormous deprivation is tackled by real heroes. Somnath Mukherji encounters the work of Tomorrow's Foundation in Kalighat, West Bengal.

Samir Chanda's Ek Nodir Galpo, which premiered in Kolkata in November 2007, offers the moving experience of a father who makes it his mission to name a river after his dead daughter. His struggle evolves into his way of reinventing his daughter. Shoma Chatterji has more.

A CRY report from Nandigram finds that children's experience of the violence there is intensely personal. Their vocabulary now includes words like shilpo, santrash and proshashon. Shoma Chatterji reports.

At the crux of Ekbalpur's women boxers' passion lies a sense of liberation and recognition that they do not get from anything else. Sudhiti Naskar reports.

Grounded in its feminist views, Praajak works with runaway boys and young men, to give them livelihood options and help them reunite with their families. Shoma Chatterji reports.

In West Bengal, girls are being empowered to refuse early marriage thanks to a state government initiative that enables them to stay longer in school. The Kanyashree Prakalpa scheme has been remarkably successful in curbing child marriage and promoting girl child education, says Saadia Azim.

The tragic reversal of roles is the result of national policies that have neglected agriculture and farming in the wake of globalisation, says Devinder Sharma.

Removal of agricultural subsidies should be a pre-requisite to further movement on the WTO agricultural negotiations, says Devinder Sharma.

Compare the cost of agriculture subsidies to government salaries or the cost of farm policies that favour imports over domestic produce, to separate reality from rhetoric, says Devinder Sharma.

How can 'drastic cuts' in trade subsidies lead to no reduction? Simple: fudge the language. Economic jugglery and clever wording cannot, however, conceal the horrible effects of US and EU subsidies on livelihoods and food security in the developing world. Devinder Sharma urges the G-20 to simplify the terms of trade.

What is it like to be a modern-day Indian prince? Devinder Sharma and Bhaskar Goswami explain how, with the proliferation of Special Economic Zones everywhere, the laws of the land are being redefined to bring in the reality of the royal tag for the rich and beautiful. For the rest of the country, sub-Saharan Africa is the only comparison.

For 40 years, nearly 17 million cotton growers have been subsidising the textile industry. If only these farmers had got the right price for the cotton they produced, the number of their suicides would have been far less. Instead, cotton prices have been on a steady decline thereby acerbating the farm crisis, writes Devinder Sharma.

The television cameras and news reports tell us how dramatic the India Against Corruption campaign's rise to national consciousness has been. The story of how it unfolded is even more interesting, writes Devinder Sharma.

Though FDI in retail is being projected as a cure-all for the ills in the agriculture and food sector, Devinder Sharma cites examples from the world over to argue why we should not be pinning our hopes on it.

The depressing sameness of the days for those locked-in as the epidemic rages, is relieved only by the 24X7 flow of electricity – the juice that keeps us all connected, informed, entertained and as summer...

Mother is prowling around the house like an overzealous detective looking for clues of my ineptitude as a homemaker. This is an old habit. In the past, when I once asked her to babysit while...

The same qualities that make a woman a good mother, make her a better CEO too! A mirror was held up to me in a rather rude awakening just one day after I spoke passionately...

On 10 th of May, 1857 the Ghadar started. A group of Indian sepoys in employment of the ‘honourable’ British East India Company revolted in Meerut, killed its English officers and marched on Delhi. They...

India’s unemployment rate jumped to 27.1% from 8.4% as per the latest report by CMIE. The numbers in USA are 16.1% & 30 million folks unemployed, that’s close to ten percent of the American population…...

Former Australia captain Ian Chappell has proposed radical changes in the LBW laws, stating that a batsman should be given out leg before as long as the ball is hitting the stumps irrespective of the spot of its landing and impact.

The camaraderie that players share during the Indian Premier League (IPL) is what makes the tournament special for India and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli. He would have been leading RCB in the 2020 edition of the T20 league at this time, had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic forcing the postponement of the IPL until further notice.

A pandemic-forced lockdown may not be the ideal way to get families together, but it's not something that's under human control. What's in your control is to stay safe at home, hug your mom and say 'Happy Mother's Day'.

The epistolary novel, which consists of letters exchanged between two or more people, is one of the earliest novel forms and is successful for two main reasons.

Why is it that in the historical art galleries of painting - or of sculpture, for that matter - only a very few women are represented?

Biting — yet sensitive. He’s a study in contrasts. Just like his books. Writer Aravind Adiga won the Man Booker Prize in 2008 with his novel “White Tiger”. In the first interview given globally over his new book “Last Man in Tower”, Adiga now tells Srijana Mitra Das about being a small-town boy, falling in love with Mumbai, capturing the people and philosophies rich India overlooks, writing being his fate, generating controversy — and why he might just step away now.

Amitav Ghosh digs out a hidden part of the Raj history in a compelling story

In the spirit of Mother's Day today, we're taking a look at the most stylish celebrity moms. In addition to being a hands-on mom, these Bollywood beauties never fail to impress us with their sartorial choices.