The Journal
Essays & Dispatches
Long reads on the films, filmmakers and movements of meaningful Indian cinema.
Tamas (1988)
Tamas (1988) is a made for television film written and directed by Govind Nihalani. Based on a Hindi novel of the same name by Bhisham Sahni, Tamas is set in the backdrop of a small town in the now Pakistani Punjab during the partition of India in 1947.
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.
Partap Singh remembers Sukhdev
Sukhdev was certainly the greatest Indian documentary film-maker that ever lived. A gentle, a clown, an extraordinary friend, Sukhdev had no pretension to him, He could not brook pettiness, puffery or prudery.
Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho! (1984)
Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! is a 1984 Hindi film directed by Saeed Akhtar Mirza. Based on a story penned by Mirza, the film tells the story of an elderly couple who decide to take on the corrupt nexus of the rich and the law and pay dearly.
Paar (1984)
Paar is a 1984 Hindi film directed by Goutam Ghose, with Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi in prominent roles. Based on the Bengali story ‘Paari’ by Samaresh Basu, the film tells the story of a Dalit couple forced to flee their village after a massacre and their ordeal and quest for homecoming.