Author: Bidisha Boral

“Cannibal”, “romance” and “coming of age” are not ideas one often comes across in a single sentence. And yet, here we are. Luca Guadagnino’s latest directorial venture is this and much more. Bones and All hit the silver screen earlier this week with its US release on 18th November 2022 and the buzz around the film seems to never end. Guadagnino reunites with his Call Me By Your Name star Timothee Chalamet, who plays the notorious character of Lee opposite Taylor Russel’s Maren.  Blood, Guts, Gore Bones and All has really taken the genre of body horror to the extreme.…

At 12 Wellington Square stands the relics of a palatial residence of one of Calcutta’s ( Kolkata’s)most influential historical figures. It was the epicenter of the most prominent intellectual and political movements the city ever saw. Bipin Chandra Pal, CR Das, Ganesh Sakharam Deuskar, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak were frequent visitors to this house. Sri Aurobindo stayed at the house during his time in Kolkata in 1906. The National Council of Education was set up on its grounds and Rabindranath Tagore would meet with Sri Aurobindo here to discuss policy and philosophy. Raja Subhodh Mullick’s late 1800s mansion today is…

Monica, O My Darling directed by Vasan Bala, and Drishyam 2 by Abhishek Pathak hit Indian theatres recently. Both the films promise to have a successful run as admiration has been pouring in from movie-goers. But do you know that both these stories have been adapted from one of Japan’s leading mystery fiction writers? Monica, O My Darling has taken inspiration from Keigo Higashino’s novel, Burutasu no Shinzo (1989). Featuring Rajkumar Rao and Huma Qureshi, the film centers around the robotics engineer who joins an uncanny band of allies in a plot to commit the perfect murder. Critics have hailed…

George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, a celebrated Victorian novelist and poet who made a lasting impact on English literature alongside her contemporaries Charles Dickens, William Thackeray and Thomas Hardy. She was born on 22nd November 1819. She lived a scandalous life in an age when women were expected to conform to strict conventions, writing progressive and forward-looking novels, editing revolutionary journals and cohabiting with her lover despite society’s harsh condemnation. A genius with words, she invented terms like “lawn tennis” and “pop” to refer to popular music and gave words like “browser” their modern meaning. …

Urdu writer Khalid Jawed has been awarded the prestigious JCB Prize for Literature. This win is historic since it is the first time an Urdu novel in translation has been recognised for this award. The book, The Paradise of Food was published initially in Urdu under the title, Ne’mat Khana in 2014. Baran Farooqi has been the translator for the book. The Paradise of Food was shortlisted along with translated works of fiction which has been unprecedented in the five-year history of the JCB Prize for Literature. Translated Hindi and Nepali fiction featured on the shortlist for the first time…

Earlier this year in July, two-time Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu announced his retirement from competitive figure skating. Widely regarded as the G.O.A.T (greatest of all time) of figure skating by fans, Hanyu now continues as a professional figure skater. Yuzuru Hanyu made history by winning back-to-back Olympic gold medals in men’s competitive figure skating at Sochi and PyeongChang in 2014 and 2018. He was the first skater to break through the 100-point mark in a short programme, 200 in free skate and 300 combined point mark in figure skating. Yuzuru Hanyu also holds an unmatched 19 world records in…

Do you want to dive into the world of experimental Japanese cinema? The Japanese film industry has a history that is more than a hundred years old. Its celebrated directors have produced some of the most influential films and their contribution to world cinema has been tremendous. If you are wondering where to start your exploration of Japanese arthouse cinema, here is a list of the 10 best art films to come from Japan. UNDO (1994) Directed by Iwai Shunji About a love story degenerating into madness and chaos, the 47-minute film features a young woman desperately trying to bind…

The Sahitya Aaj Tak Literature Festival would be returning this November for its fifth edition. The event will be held at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi and will go on for three days from 18th November to 20th November 2022. The Sahitya Aaj Tak Literature Festival is set to make a comeback after a three-year absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The event is organised by Aaj Tak, one of India’s leading vernacular news channels. Those interested to attend need to register. Registration for the literature festival is free of charge.  The programme is packed with shows…

Climate change activists in Vancouver, Canada splashed maple syrup on Emily Carr’s 1934 painting Stumps and Sky yesterday, 14th November 2022. This has been a part of a larger trend across the globe with climate change activists targeting artworks in various countries to bring attention to the exploitation of the environment by big corporates, overconsumption under capitalism, and global warming. Other artworks have been targeted in recent months.  Just Stop Oil, an environment activist group committed to halting fossil fuel consumption and production based in the United Kingdom had thrown a cap of soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the…

American singer-songwriter and the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Bob Dylan’s new book The Philosophy of Modern Song, was released this November, and it has garnered great attention from pop music fans, culture aficionados, and literature enthusiasts alike. Dylan had been working on the book since 2010, and this is his first release since he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Published by Simon & Schuster, they launched the book on 1st November 2022. Simon & Schuster also published Dylan’s previous book, Chronicles: Volume One, in 2004. A Journey Through 66 Songs The work consists of sixty-six essays breaking…