Good Food vs Bad Food

The Hungry Poet

Over 300 books, films for Satyajit Ray, a friend of Allen Ginsberg. And, of course, poetry that has redefined love, rebellion and restlessness. Just how do you define Sunil Gangopadhyay?

About Science and Sex

Tired of the same old stuff about love and loss, migrants and displacement? Delve into Ian McEwan’s Solar and encounter the discomforts of making science interesting.

Three Minutes and Fame

The gramophone era in India made stars of gaanewalis who would otherwise be heard only at mehfils. Experience the ethos of the time, and find out how vinyl records, with their three-minute format, came to change social norms in the 20th century.

One Hundred Years of Akira Kurosawa

Shakespeare, Tolstoy or American crime fiction, Akira Kurosawa fashioned them into his own unique brand of cinema. On his centenary, Open remembers the man whose films launched a thousand remakes.

The Man Who Painted Time

Kidnapped by the State

A professor in the US takes up the cause of a terror detainee of Pakistani origin who, she says, is guilty only of being a Muslim and a critic of US policies.

Come Back, Elvis

Elvis, all ye mortals, was obviously an alien with superpowers. This explains everything, from his remarkable music to the crazy love he inspired. On his 75th year, Open calls for the King to rejoin his people.

The Waterhouse Watershed

In the 1860s, a young officer in the British army in India, called James Waterhouse, compiled one of the most astonishing photographic archives in the world.

The Love of Lust

The so-called sexual revolution has created a generation of braggarts who love to flaunt their sexual prowess. Flip the coin, and what you see is a society of men and women anxious not to be seen as sexual have-nots.