The Journal
Essays & Dispatches
Long reads on the films, filmmakers and movements of meaningful Indian cinema.
Ashadh Ka Ek Din (1971)
Ashadh Ka Ek Din (1971), based on Mohan Rakesh’s play of the same name, is Mani Kaul’s adaptation of the love triangle between Sanskrit poet Kalidasa, Mallika, and Priyangmanjari.
Elippathayam (1981)
Elippathayam, directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, is a 1981 film, that chronicles, with extraordinary restraint and formal control, the extinction of an entire social order through the fate of one thoroughly unremarkable man.
Anantaram (1987)
Anantaram, directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, is a 1987 psychological drama that is considered one of Indian cinema’s most sophisticated meditations on the relationship between storytelling, memory, and psychological disintegration
Kodiyettam (1977)
Kodiyettam, released in 1977 and directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, stands as one of the defining works of the Malayalam New Wave cinema.
Jubilee (2023)
Jubilee (2023) is a Hindi period drama web-series directed by Vikramaditya Motwane. Set in the early days of 1947, the film traces the path of Hindi Cinema from the days when talkies have become a norm and the Studio was the king.
Crushed Wings – A Film on FGM
CRUSHED WINGS is the first drama film of its kind on Female Genital Mutilation – also known as FGM – on the harsh reality of this brutal, increasingly widespread cultural ritual.
Akramana (1979)
Akramana (The Conquest) is a 1979 Kannada film directed by Girish Kasaravalli. It had Vijaya Kashi, Vaishali Kasaravalli, Padmashree and Chandrakumar Jain in the lead roles. The film is a psychodrama revolving around its three protagonists, their struggle to break free from the limitations of family and tradition, and the ultimate acceptance of the realities of life.