Three Minutes and Fame

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.

I’m Not There

She is the author of many autobiographies, none of them her own. She’ll never win the Booker for no one will know the words are hers. The ghostwriter whooshes out of the cupboard to tell her side of the story.

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.

Guru Dutt and Me

Cinematographer VK Murthy grew up dreaming of being a matinee idol. Guru Dutt, though, had other ideas. Thanks to which, we got that magical, ethereal beam of light in Waqt Ne Kiya...