Bollywood

Amitabh Bachchan: National Coach

Kaveree Bamzai

Who better than the grand patriarch of Bollywood to make caste visible and audible in his new film?

Dysfunctionally Functional

Kaveree Bamzai

What seems progressive in one era may well seem retrograde in another

Daily Heroes

Divya Unny

Three documentaries—about pioneering women journalists, brothers who rescue birds, and the lookalikes of Bollywood stars—are getting international recognition

Madhuri Dixit: The Return of the Queen

Kaveree Bamzai

Madhuri Dixit set the template for the modern-day heroine in Bollywood and now she is back to challenge it in a new series that casts her as an ageing diva

The Depths of Deepika

Kaveree Bamzai

Deepika Padukone is reshaping the idea of the Hindi film heroine and of the Indian woman, one movie at a time

Paying It Forward

Kaveree Bamzai

Shakun Batra is happy to describe himself as a team player who is eager to share credit

The Heart of the Song

Rachel Dwyer

Lata sang for all of us. Her voice was instantly recognisable. Whoever the star, she brought us into the heroine’s inner life

She showed me a gramophone record made of gold. All the songs she sang in the UK were on it. Could I give her a letter for the Bombay Customs Commissioner, asking him not to charge any duty as the record had been presented to her?