Bicycle Chief

Neither Salaam, Nor Bombay

He ran away from home to Bombay and landed the lead in Mira Nair’s Academy award-nominated Salaam Bombay! But after years of looking for another role, any role, he’s back home in Bangalore driving an auto.

Who Moved My Town

What happens when you live the early part of your life in a ‘small town’, move out as you grow up, and eventually return, only to find that the small town has moved on?

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.

Being Charlie Chaplin

It was on a stolen trip to the cinema that he met his hero, Charlie Chaplin. And a chance encounter that got him the Cherry Blossom ad. So many years, so many gigs, yet he still isn’t done being Chaplin.

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.

A Desire for Celibacy

She doesn’t live the life of a cloistered nun, but renunciation of sex was key to the spiritual journey she embarked upon in her late teens.

An Unspoken Bond

She entered the house as a temporary domestic help, wordlessly captured everyone’s hearts, and then disappeared. I shared nothing more than a few silent smiles, and tears, with this woman, but found it held more meaning than words could ever do.

The Man Who Painted Time

My Life as an Extra

She’s the girl whose head is mercilessly hacked in a shot, the faceless girl who merges into the background. But Shubhangi Swarup trains rigorously and breathes professionalism. Because she believes in putting in that little bit extra.